What Happened When I Prayed in Tongues for 6 Hours

As I stated in my previous blog post, I will be sharing my experience of the first time I prayed for 6 hours.

But before I share my experience, there is one thing I would like to make clear. 

When I share experiences about my prayer life, it is not to boast or intimidate.

It is mostly to inspire and help.

For a long time, I battled with inconsistency in my prayer life and I wished I had someone who was sincere and open with me not only about spiritual things but also about their spiritual struggles.

Everyone around me usually claimed ‘spiritual,’ and they made others who were not praying feel less spiritual (unintentionally). 

The issue was not that they condemned us or chided us to pray.

The issue was that they made prayer seem so rosy, glorious, interesting, and easy (especially praying in tongues), but whenever we went to pray, we realized praying was hard and sometimes (most times) boring.

But then, we were too ashamed to tell others or talk to anybody about it, so we stopped praying. 

Our spiritual life was greatly affected, yet we didn’t tell anyone about it.

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I am passionate about prayer. If there is one thing I will advocate for the rest of my life, it is prayer. 

Prayer is important and crucial in the lives of every Christian. You should check out this post for encouragement on why you should pray.

Because I know how important prayer is and because I am and will always be a student in the school of prayer, I decided to share with others what it means to pray. 

I decided to help others see that they are not the only ones that find prayer quite hard and there is a way they can make it easy for themselves.

So, when you read my 6 hours prayer experience, don’t see my experience. 

See how you can also step up if you have never prayed that long, and see how you can encourage others to pray if you have prayed for longer hours.

If you know how important prayer is to your life as a Christian, you will not only pray, you will help others pray.

What Happened When I Prayed in Tongues for 6 Hours

First, let me laugh. 

If you have ever prayed for more than 3 hours (alone), I hail you. You deserve multiple medals.

I must confess. It was not an easy one.

But, before you read on, you should know that I plan to do it again. Yes I do. (LOL)

Okay, let’s go on.

So, I will narrate my experience in hours:

I prayed from 1 pm – 7 pm

The First One Hour (1 pm – 2 pm)

When I narrated my experience with a friend who prays for more than 12 hours weekly, we had a great laugh because my friend could relate to my ordeal (lol). Another thing to keep in mind is that having friends who pray will motivate you to pray. My friend actually inspired me to try the 6 hours’ prayer and I’m glad I did.

The funny part is my normal prayer hour is 1 hour, but on this fateful day, this particular first one hour felt like 10 hours. 

I had intended to pray outside, take a walk, and pray as I strolled to make it easier for me. But, when I stepped out, the hot sun chased me back inside.

So, I paced back and forth in the kitchen while still praying.

As I was praying, I was wondering what part of the house to stay so I could pray without distractions.

I dreaded the bedroom because (obviously) the bed will be too tempting.

So, I decided to stay in the parlor (sitting room), the only issue with the parlor is that the wall clock was right in front and I hate seeing the clock when I’m praying. It can be so depressing.

One moment you think you have prayed for almost 30 minutes but when you check the clock it’s just 3 minutes (oh my).

But I had no choice, it’s either the parlor, the bedroom, or the hot sun outside.

So, I kept praying.

At one point, I had to check the time. 

Alas! It was just 10 minutes.

Can you imagine?

I decided to sit down on the sofa. 

While praying, occasionally, I will look up to check the time. And I did this until 1 hour passed. It was the longest 1 hour of my life (LOL).

2 Hours (2pm – 4pm)

Because of my enthusiasm, I set my alarm to remind me when I’ve prayed for 3 hours.

 To me, that was a feat.

This was to make me feel like if I could pray for 3 hours, I could go 3 more hours.

Boy, was I wrong!

The moment my alarm sounded, I did a dance of joy. I felt fulfilled and glad that I had prayed for 3 hours.

And then…

 …the enthusiasm died. 

I was tired. I wanted to stop praying.

Something kept coming to my mind that praying for 3 hours was also a good one and I didn’t have to continue.

But I resolved in my heart that I will continue.

So, I started using every trick in the blog post I wrote about praying for longer hours. 

It was hard to remember it all but one of the tips that really helped me was the ‘listening to spiritual songs and sounds’ tip. I even listened to a charge that ignited me to pray more.

And before I knew it, I had lost track of time.

4pm – 6pm

By the time it was 4 pm, the time went faster than before. 

I didn’t even notice when the clock struck past 5. 

But, around this time, my body was tired. I was bored. 

All the supernatural experiences, visions, God speaking, and the excitement that comes with praying that I had, was already starting to wear off.

I can remember dozing off more than 5 times while I sat down on the sofa.

Sometimes, I will hit myself just to keep my eyes awake. Other times, I will stand up and pace about the sitting room until sleep leaves my eyes.

6pm – 7pm

By now, it already felt like I had finished praying.

I kept checking the time wondering when the clock would strike 7. But, it wouldn’t budge.

The sun was already setting and the evening was cool so I took a stroll and paced around the compound.

But the time still won’t budge.

By now, I was already thanking God for helping me pray, even when I still had like 40 more minutes to go.

I even lay down on the floor to quicken the prayer pace.

Okay, let me tell you a secret I discovered.

Whenever I lie down or kneel down while praying, the time moves faster.

No! This is not some magic related to kneeling down. It is just the mind.

When you lie down or kneel down, your mind is less focused on the time passing by and more focused on what you’re telling God or the discomfort of your posture.

Sometimes, it happens when I’m talking to God, before I know it, time will pass by and I won’t even realize.

7pm

Finally, it was 7 pm. Imagine the joy, the fulfillment, the happiness.

It was definitely worth it.

I felt like I won a medal. 

I was so happy I didn’t stop praying when my body felt weak and my mind told me to.

I was so happy I stuck through the discomfort. 

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What I Learned from Praying for 6 Hours for the First Time

One. I learned that you will get really tired. Trust me, God will speak. You’ll see visions if you open your heart to receive. You might even get some supernatural experiences but at a point, you will get tired. 

You will yawn. You will ask yourself if this really matters. You will ask yourself if it’s compulsory to pray. You will wonder what the prayer will change in your life. 

 But one thing to never forget is, if you decide that no matter how you feel you won’t stop praying, you will actually pray for long hours.

Two. This was something my friend told me. Don’t have a goal for praying. Wait, don’t misquote me. 

I don’t mean, don’t have a reason. I mean ‘Don’t have a goal.’

You know normally when you have a goal you need to achieve, you will work so hard to achieve it especially if it’s important to you but after you achieve it you will no longer feel the need to do anything concerning the goal again. Right?

So also, if your goal for praying is to get supernatural powers from God, or see Jesus, or see angels, or pass your exams, and all those beautiful experiences that come with praying, then, when those things happen, you will no longer have a reason to pray or if they don’t happen within the stipulated time you expect it to happen, you will no longer want to pray again.

So, instead of having those goals, why not decide to pray because you want to pray.

Pray every day because it is what you must do. It is a way to fellowship with the father. It is a way to talk to God and connect with him.

Whether you have a request or not. Pray.

Whether you feel like it or not. Pray. 

Whether God has answered your request or not. Pray.

Even after those beautiful supernatural experiences come, still keep praying.

And that is when you truly know you have grown because you’re not enticed by what you can get from God but you have come to stay with God for a bigger reason.

Three. Pray to God to help you pray and to help you to be consistent. He is that father that will give you instruction and still help you to carry out the instruction.

A good and loving Father.

So tell Him to help you have a consistent prayer life and you will begin to see Him at work even when you’re tired and you don’t feel like praying.

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I hope and believe you laughed and learned from my experience. It was a beautiful one indeed and who knows, it might inspire you to start praying again or to pray more.