There is a beckoning or call to prayer flowing through the beautiful hymn, "Sweet Hour of Prayer."

Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer,

That calls me from a world of care.

And bids me at my Father's throne

Make all my wants and wishes known.

The prayer in this hymn is very personal.  It beautifully expresses how God wants us to pray, and how our prayers rise to Him.

Sweet hour of prayer!   Sweet hour of prayer!

Thy wings shall my petition bear

To Him whose truth and faithfulness

Engage the waiting soul to bless;

And since He bids me seek His face

Believe His Word and trust His grace

I'll cast on Him my every care,

And wait for Thee, sweet hour of prayer.

Jesus' life on earth is an example of prayer.  He would draw apart ot His Father and pray.  He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for strength to face the cross.  There the prayer wasn't so sweet--Jesus sweat drops of blood.  It says the angels came and ministered to Him.

In seasons of distress and grief, my soul has often found relief

And oft escaped the tempter's snare by thy return, sweet hour of prayer.

Whoever wrote the hymn understood prayer.  There is some question if the hymn writer, William Walford, was blind.  Others say the writer was a pastor from Coleshill, England, who wrote a book on prayer.  The poem was carried across the ocean, and first appeared in the New York Observer in 1845.

There are several more verses to the song.  One will see some variety in which verses are included in hymnals.

Sweet hour of prayer!  Sweet hour of prayer!

The joys I feel, the bliss I share

Of those whose anxious spirits burn

With strong desires for Thy return!

With such I hasten to the place

Where God my Savior shows His face,

And gladly take my station there,

And wait for Thee, sweet hour of prayer!

Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer,

May I Thy consolation share

Till from Mount Pisgah's lofty height

I view my home and take my flight:

This robe of flesh I'll drop, and rise

to seize the everlasting prize,

And shout, while passing thru the air,

Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer.