The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

A FORMER Barbados and International fast bowler (Cricketer) Pastor Courtney Selman, now radio Evangelist, believes that he was Divinely called to “make this clarion call globally in order to make our world a better one.” He thinks, “this can be achieved by calling the 2.2 billion Christians and 1.2 billion Catholics world-wide to regular corporate daily prayer.

He believes, with the appalling moral state of the world presently, prayer is needed now more than ever. Pastor Selman opined “that during the Old and New Testament times prayers were a daily diet.” He said, “recorded in the book of Daniel, chapter 9 verse 21 and 2nd Kings chapter 16 verse 15 respectively, in the Old Testament era, the hours of prayer were known as the hours of “Oblation or Sacrifice.” The scripture records that Daniel prayed three times a day and I wish to respectfully suggest that his prayers were divinely instructed and were also mentioned and adhered to in the New Testament.

Pastor Selman thinks that prayer is an essential exercise to an experiential relationship, between mankind and God. At one point God said, “His church, meaning the people, or the Ecclesia, “shall be called a House of Prayer.”

Biblical scholars believe that there are specific hours of the day, divinely ordained by God for prayer, which this writer believes, are very beneficial to the Christian Spiritual way of living. The three biblical powerful hours for prayer are the third hour, the sixth hour, and the ninth hour – 9:00 AM, 12 Noon and 3 PM. Selman suggests that these hours were extremely necessary prayer disciplines. They were faithfully observed by the Old Testament patriarchs and matriarchs of God, the New Testament church, and by Jesus Christ himself.

Pastor Selman said, “the book of Acts, chapter 3 verse 1, records that the New Testament church attended church or the Temple at the hour of prayer. It says, “now Peter and John, went up together into the Temple at the HOUR OF PRAYER, BEING THE 9TH HOUR” it was not a random time, but they did so, at the time for prayer.

The story of Peter and Cornelius also mentions Cornelius praying at the ninth hour, and Peter praying on the housetop at the ninth hour.

He said, “other religions, such as the Mohammedans or Muslims, pray faithfully five times a day, whether they are in a plane, an office building, the subway, the bus, a restaurant, or even on the street. Similarly, the Jews, also pray three times a day in given circumstances. Sadly, the Christian community are not that committed or diligent and have not immersed ourselves in this life changing act of daily prayer practice. We as Christians have no standardized prayer system. To really say the truth, Christians have been given a divine prayer system by God, but we have woefully neglected the divine call, and are now paying the price. I wish to say, Pastor said, “that praying is productive, praying at any time, but when it is done at a divinely given time, we achieve more, and get more rewards.” Pastor Selman said, “praying regularly enables a person to build their relationship with God, and can exponentially change the landscape of our homes, our schools, our communities, the church and indeed make the world better.”

He is therefore, prayerfully calling church leaders, heads of religious churches, preachers, Gospel TV and radio stations around the globe and especially the Christian population to corporately give their blessings and support to prayer at 9:00AM, 12:00 NOON, and 3:00 PM and of course other times of your choosing during the day. I appeal to Christians globally to set their cell phone to alarm on March 4th, the day that this initiative will officially start, as a reminder to pray. If we heed to this Clarion and Divine call, we will, together make this world a better place to live.

PASTOR COURTNEY SELMAN

Former Barbados and International Cricketer

February 17, 2023