In general, my life is like that of a very busy man, and the events that have taken place in my life over the past three years have made me even busier than I was before. I know what it’s like to be tired at the end of the day, after being in three different offices, hearing and solving other people’s problems, teaching, and also striving to live out what one teaches others in one’s own relationship and family.

I admit that in the evening at home, I feel like doing nothing else but throwing myself into my bed and sleeping until morning. Added to this is the awareness that before sleeping, one must prepare for the next day, plan work, foresee a surprise visit to staff, a small gift for the children, a report to submit at the office, grades to deposit at the academic office, a candlelit dinner with Nadège “my wife,” etc.

Yet, nothing will replace in my heart the joy I have in taking time for prayer. I know it becomes difficult to find room for prayer when you’ve already done everything in the day, yet among the things that must be done, prayer must find its place.

You may certainly think, yes, that’s him, he’s too busy and that’s understandable…! But I have learned over time that prayer is not something to be put last on our list of things to do in the day, and duties can wait to finish with “emergencies and duties considered important for life” before attending to prayer. No! And no! That never works!

Experience and history prove it. What is better to do is rather, literally, to fight with your schedule so that the day does not end without you having a few minutes or hours to contemplate the Lord in the intimacy of personal prayer. Do everything in your power so that nothing prevents you from praying.

King David, knowing how busy his days were, preferred to rise before dawn to begin praising God before attending to the many demands of royal life.

“Awake, my soul! Awake, my harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.” Psalms 57:8

“Awake, my harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.” Psalms 108:2

“I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.” Psalms 119:147

It is written of Christ Jesus that he prayed early in the morning and late at night, he knew how to have time with his Father to the point that this life of prayer prompted the disciples to ask him to teach them also how to pray like him (Luke 11:1).

From experience, there are better hours of the day that should not be missed if one wants to regularly answer the call of personal worship. Rather than giving specific hours, I suggest that we study together the common characteristics of all these moments that I refer to here as “favorable times.”

This text is an excerpt from the book “Redefined: Praise, Adoration, and Worship” written by Athom’s Mbuma.

We invite you to read the following article “Stop the World to Pray.“

Do everything to pray.