David Smith, pastor of First Baptist Church in Linden, Florida, suggests that praying through the night might be a great time for offering petitions to God.
According to Smith's article in the Christian Post, many churches nowadays have different schedules for their prayer meetings but gathering at 3am might be a prime time based on the early church's example.
He cited chapter 12 of Acts from the Bible where Peter was released from prison because of the faithful's prayers through the night.
The chapter is all about King Herod, who just killed the apostle James and threw Peter in prison planning to do the same to him. However, the king had to wait until the Passover feast was over to execute his plan.
But while Herod was waiting, the disciples were 'earnestly praying' through the night for God to rescue Peter from the hands of Herod. On the last night when Peter was about to get killed, an angel woke Peter and guided him past the guards, through the gates and out of the prison into the city. Peter made his way through the dark alleys of Jerusalem and arrived at John Mark's house where he found his spiritual family praying for him. This was in the middle of the night.
Smith then reflected on how the early church can challenge the churches today.
He mentioned that the disciples did not turn to social media or the press to raise awareness of Peter's condition. They did not file a petition or march the streets to protest against Peter's ordeal. But instead they prayed earnestly through the night.
Smith continued that he does not suggest discontinuing the church's regular prayer schedules, but he suggested to follow the example of the early church - pray until God answers.
"If you think it sounds crazy to pray late at night, consider our preferred method of dealing with trouble: worrying through the night. Yep, the early church willingly forfeited sleep to pray, like Jesus often did; today's church mindlessly loses sleep to worry. In the end, both churches lose sleep...but only one gets the miracle," he wrote.
