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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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Choosing To Love Though We Disagree

“If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.” – I Corinthians 13:1-3, The Message Bible.

It amazes and saddens me to see and hear about how many hateful acts are perpetuated in the name of religion. Looking closely at the teachings of Jesus Christ, you see that the central tenets of his message revolve around love.

“God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” (John 3:16)
“Love the Lord your God with all you heart, all your soul and all your might..”
“Love your neighbor as yourself..” (Matt 22:37-39)

The gospel message is birthed in, drenched in and fulfilled in love. We can never spread that message authentically, nor can we expect to see long lasting fruit, if we speak out of hatred, pride, superiority or any sort of disdain for our fellow humans.

If one holds true to the tenets of one’s faith, if one is not to compromise based on the social norms of the day, then it is inevitable that doctrinal conflicts will arise between proponents of different religions, and between the religious and the secular-minded folks. How you and I handle these conflicts ought to show who we are, and whether or not we truly follow Christ.

“By this men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”, said the Lord Jesus. (John 13:35)

Does this mean that I have to agree with, or approve of things that are contrary to my faith or my sincere convicted interpretation of scripture? No, a thousand times no. To love someone is not necessarily to agree with them. It is to decide, despite the disgreement, to show kindness; to endure wrong; to be humble; to seek the well being of the other person.

There is much for us to debate about in our society today: religion, politics, race, sexual orientation, immigration, and so on. You will find committed Christians on many different sides of the respective arguments. Not everyone is right, but the result does not have to be hatred and strife.

I choose to love you, though I disagree with you. That sentence, sincerely lived, can change our world for the better.