I, as a recent believer (3 months now), am wondering how often other people who are more mature in Christ pray. I have listened to several of Leonard Ravenhill's sermons on prayer and its importance. I myself try to pray at least an hour a day.
I think the question aught to be, how do you pray? It's not the length but the quality of prayer. Most times it's not so much what is being said but waiting to receive from God what He would say.
That really is what is going on it's not the length, but it's getting into the place to receive and that can take some time because the mind is so full of the cares of this life and we dump our heaviness to the Lord with requests that are yay long and once we have tired ourselves out with talking, we then start to really pray by listening to what the Father has to say.
I remember some years ago when a buddy and me were given to prayer every evening for several weeks praying for revival. Every night I would start to pray and my friend would say, "lets talk first and then pray". I saw that he needed to unload his frustrations so we would talk first and then once our minds were clear we would pray. We'd do that every evening and God was doing things with us. It's a blessing to have a praying partner. After we'd shout the rafters down and did our hallelujahs and praise the Lord, then we would get real quiet, it was here that prayer was prayer, communion became communion.
Luke 10:42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
Jesus taught us to "always pray" and the apostle Paul, "to pray without ceasing. " If you focus on making prayer a way of life, you will give less attention to how many hours you actually spend locked in your prayer closet. That's not to say you shouldn't have long and regular periods of devotional times in prayer, but though brothers as Ravenhill made much about the actual time you spent praying, in living a life of prayer, such questions as to exactly how long one prays becomes irrelevant. :-)
Pray always, and without ceasing.
Many blessings.
Jimmy
I completely agree with Bro. Jimmy.
I think as a new believer, one should be careful of not ending up as a legalist- like how many hours to spend or how many chapters of Bible to read everyday.
Jesus made it clear in Luke18:1 that "Men ought to pray always..."
Paul told us in 1Thessalonian5:17 to "Pray without ceasing..."- that is to maintain an attitude of prayer/dependance upon God all the time.
Jesus commanded in Matthew ch6 to pray in Secret and its very important to obey that scripture.
Its wonderful to spend much time with the Lord in prayer or in meditating the Word- but i think we should not determine of how many hours or minutes to spend.
Ravenhill and other men of God should only drive us to see the importance of prayer and the tragedy of neglecting it.
I agree with what the others have said. I also want to share that the longer you are a believer and the more you come to know and love the Lord with your whole being, your entire life will just become a prayer....most every thought you have will be a communing with God. I am not sure quite how to put it, but it becomes as natural as breathing. That isn't to say that we don't need specific and longer times in the prayer closet - we do. But as long as we keep our sins confessed, and make sure that we are right with other people, the flow between us and God is continual. We are truly praying without ceasing. I hope I am making sense. The longer you walk with Jesus, you will see what I mean. Praising Him for your salvation!
These quotes go along with many of your comments. Approved makes some very good points on the "quality of prayer" being more important than the "length of prayer."
From Sermon Index "Quotes on Prayer".
"I live in the spirit of prayer; I pray as I walk, when I lie down and when I rise, and the answers are always coming." George Mueller
"In souls filled with love, the desire to please God is continual prayer." John Wesley
"True prayer is measured by weight,-not by length. A single groan before God may have more fullness of prayer in it than a fine oration of great length." C. H. Spurgeon
"Often times God wants us to sit before Him in quietness. He doesn't want us to do all the talking. As Is. 30:15 says "In quiet and confidence will be your strength." Charles Stanley
I don't often spend more than half an hour in prayer at one time, but I never go more than half an hour without praying. Smith Wigglesworth
“There is a mighty lot of difference between saying prayers and praying.”John G. Lake
Amen. Well said brethren.
It is a blessing to have communications with believers around the globe, and receive such inspiring words. Thank you for those quotes, and I fully agree with the quality of prayer being more important.
It brings to mind the story of Elijah. The pagans danced around their circle for hours and fire never came. Elijah called down fire from the Lord, and He answered immediately.
John G. Lake's quote is something we should spread to those involved in the sinner's prayer evangelism.
God Bless all who replied, thanks very much.
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