written commitments within their Burning Heart contract. Each
resonated with me personally—purity, sobriety, and
evangelism— but none as much as the first:
I am committed to the principle that Christian discipleship is
sustained solely by God alone through His Spirit; that the abiding life
of John 15 is His way of sustaining me. Therefore, I pledge myself to
a disciplined devotional life in which I promise through prayer,
Bible study, and devotional reading to give God not less than one
continuous hour per day. 13Amazing—how amazing!
Unaware of the 1947 Fellowship of the Burning Heart,
unsolicited, in 1984 I had made a similar commitment and have
since used a similar pattern to spend not less than one hour a
day alone with God.
Upon reading Amazing Faith in the summer of 2000, even
though I had known the Brights for years, I was absolutely
stunned to uncover their group’s conviction to pray one hour
a day. Why?
Since 1984, I’ve had quite a few people discourage me from
spending one hour a day with God. Many have actually tried to
dissuade me from talking about my commitment. I’ve even had
spiritual leaders ask me not to challenge their group to spend
one hour a day with God—stressing that I am only burdening
them with a discipline that is nearly impossible to maintain.
Others have suggested that I forgo asking people to designate
a specific amount of time, or downplay the “two-way”
conversation structure I use, or promote a more haphazard,
spontaneous method of talking and listening to God (as if I
didn’t take into consideration the validity of spur-of-the-
moment prayers).