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How Much Time Should I Spend Praying?

If you love someone, you spend time with them. You do this not because you have to, but because you want to.  Time is a major currency of love.

Those of us who claim to love God should naturally desire to spend more time with Him. We can do this by praying, worshiping, meditating upon his Word, etc.  I don’t believe in excessive formality and can find nothing in the New Testament that stipulates such.

What I do find myself conflicted about is how much time to spend in the Lord’s presence. In my youth I was inadvertently taught by some to measure spiritual growth by how much time I was spending in prayer.  “How can you still be praying for only 1 hour each day?” they would ask, “Why have you not progressed to 2?”   In more recent years I came across a minister who regularly advocated praying in tongues for at least 1 hour each day for better spiritual health.

You have the verses of Scripture that speak against making a pretense of long prayer, but then you also have Jesus himself praying all night on mountain tops.  You have “the Lord’s prayer”, short and succinct in Matthew 6, and then you also have prayers such as John 17 which are longer and see Jesus pouring out his heart to the Father.

My conclusion? It’s not about whether the prayer is long or short, but about the quality of the connection itself. I believe that because we love God, if we love God, we will ultimately gravitate towards spending more time with Him in various ways.  This will happen automatically and not out of a sense of obligation or in a burdensome way. I also believe that if we spend no time with Him at all, then this is a sure signal that something is wrong with our spiritual state and eventually, this disconnect is likely going to become apparent in our daily lives.

May God fill our hearts with more love for Him and cause us to enjoy spending time in His presence!

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Do We Always Get What We Ask For When We Pray?

Faith is an essential component of prayer. You don’t believe? Don’t expect to receive anything when you pray. It’s as simple as that.

“Without faith, it is impossible to please God because he who comes to him must believe that he exists and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6).
“Let him ask without doubting, for he who doubts is as a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:6).
“A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways; he should not expect to receive anything from God.” (James 1:8).

However, faith doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get everything you ask for, if you pray outside the will of God. Yes, the Bible says “ask and you will receive…” (Matt 7:7) but it also says “you do not receive because you ask amiss, to consume it upon your lusts…” (James 4:3) There is always danger in taking verses of scripture in isolation, because then you only get partial truth. Even Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane asked for the cup of his suffering to be taken away from him, if it was the Father’s will. He prayed, “not my will but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42).

We have this comforting verse in the book of Jeremiah: “I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts of good and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer. 29:11). God loves us, and His will for us is good. It may not be something we understand, and it may not even be something we particularly want right now, but it’s what’s good for us in the long run.

The Bible also says, you do not have because you do not ask. So it’s clearly not the answer to just keep quiet and be fatalistic about life. We do have to ask; we are encouraged, no, exhorted to ask!

I therefore end up with the following suggestions:

1. Always pray and believe that God is able to answer you, if your prayer is in His will. Realise that He is Sovereign, meaning, He makes decisions which nobody can question, but that He is good. (See Shadrach Meshach and Abednego.. “Our God is able to deliver us… but if not, we will not bow down…”). (Daniel 3: 17-18). Trust in God’s ability and in His goodness.

2. Ask God for his will to be done above yours. (See Gethsemane prayer, also The Lord’s Prayer (Luke 22:42) “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”).

3. Keep praying. Pray all the time. Keep bringing up the matter until it’s resolved (Luke 18:1-8) or until you get a clear sense that God’s will is for it to remain (II Cor 12:7-10).

May God help us, increase our faith and align our desires to His so that we increasingly pray Spirit-led prayers, asking for things within God’s perfect will for our lives.

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Turn Your Worries Into Prayers

Philippians 4:4-9 is one of my favorite portions of Scripture and I often turn to it when worries try to dominate my thought life.  When reading the Bible, I love to read various translations simultaneously, in order to give myself the best chance of getting the full meaning of the original script. It would be better if I could understand Hebrew or Greek, but that’s a whole other level.

Enjoy with me the various translations of Philippians 4:4-9 and let the truth sink in that in order to access the peace of God in all circumstances, there are steps to follow:

1. Always Praise God.

The power of praise is amazing.  It can shift your focus right off your problems to the One who can either solve them, or give you the strength you need to walk through them.  Praise God for who He is; the all-sufficient One.  Thank Him for what He’s done.  Remembering past interventions is a great way to build faith for the challenges ahead.  Thank Him for all He’s promised, knowing that the One who has promised is faithful to fulfill His word.

2. Instead of Worrying About Anything, Pray About Everything.

I know, it’s easier said than done, but it’s true. In the darkest periods of my life I’ve found the deepest solace in just hiding myself away and speaking to God in prayer – simply, candidly, talking to Him about my feelings, hopes, fears, worries and desires and letting him replace them with His inexplicable peace. Some of us are prone to worry because we think we can control the world and its outcomes if we just work a little harder at it. We can’t control everything though, and we need to cede control to the one who can. We need to stop worrying and start praying – about everything. We need to pray in faith, because a double-minded person will receive nothing from God. If we lack faith, we can pray about that too!

3. Meditate on Positive Things.

This isn’t just a self-help mantra or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, useful as both of those can be.  This is scriptural.  In fact I would argue that a lot of self help and CBT principles can be gleaned directly from Scripture.  Paul exhorts the Philippians to meditate on excellent and praise-worthy things – things pure, lovely and admirable.  Focusing on the negatives can really pull us down, but making a decision to think on the bright side of things – to focus on the good – can give us a real boost.  It’s Biblical to be a “glass half full” person!

Living in this way, we will increasingly recognise how God’s peace which we can’t explain will sink into our hearts and begin to govern our thoughts and actions.

Simple, but hard. I know.  We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Here are excerpts from my favorite translations of these verses:

“Do not be anxious about anything…” -v.6 (NIV)

“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” (v. 6-7‬ ‭MSG‬)

“Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything” (v.6, CEVUS06)

“Don’t ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise.” (v. 8‬ ‭CEVUS06‬‬)

“Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” (v6, NLT)

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Life More Abundantly – An Awesome Promise

“I have come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). What an awesome promise this is. Being a Christian does not mean being sour, sad and deprived of every good thing that life has to offer. It does not mean that we can or should no longer enjoy life. Quite the contrary; the pursuit of Jesus is supposed to bring true fulfillment, true life – life more abundant than what we had before.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…” (Galatians 5:22). If we are lacking these them we are deficient in our journey. We are lacking the essentials of our walk. Perhaps sin has snuck in through the back – or front – door and robbed us of our joy and peace. Perhaps it’s a lack of faith that has taken our eyes off the Master and placed it on the billowing waves at our feet. It’s no wonder then, that we sink. (See Matthew 14:22-33).  If we can only learn to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, then we can learn to run this race, walk this walk, and do so with a hop, a skip and a jump.

I’m not too naive as to think that true devotion to Christ will not bring its share of suffering, because it will. Blessed are you when people persecute you and say all manner of evil against you for falsely for His sake. Rejoice because they did the same to the prophets before you! (Matthew 5:11-12)

And there you have the full truth; following after Christ does not eliminate problems from our lives, but faithfully following Him unlocks the ability to be joyful and at peace in the midst of whatever life may throw at us.

Worry about nothing. Pray about everything. Turn your worries into prayers, and then the peace of God which is greater than we can understand will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Philippians 4: 6-7)

Life more abundant – not based on how much is in the bank, or how well our relationships are going, or how healthy or comfortable we feel, but based on the faith that God is in control no matter what, and will work it all out for our good. The circumstances become less important, and trust in the One who holds it all together takes center stage.

Derek Tidball told the story of a young boy who trusted his father was good, despite everyone telling him his father was a Frankenstein who cut people up. He knew his father cut people open at work and but he also knew that his father was good. It was only after he grew up a bit more that he full understood that his father was a surgeon, and he cut people up to heal them.

I have always loved that story. We can’t understand everything God does or allows now, but we know that He works all things together for the good of those who love Him. (Romans 8:28) This is the source of our joy, our strength and our peace. Our God is good, our God is in control and He’ll make it alright in the end, on this side of eternity or the next. (I Corinthians 13:12)

Rest, trust, and begin to live life more abundantly.