Sunday, February 22, 2015

How Many Hours a Day do You Pray?

When I went to a traditional church years ago, I used to hear this from the pulpit... "If you aren't praying everyday, something is wrong. There was a man who had so much on his agenda for the day that he had to add an extra hour of prayer. That put him praying for four hours a day."

This was repeated often over the 9 years I attended there. No other explanation was given. I was a stay at home mom with three toddlers. How on earth was I supposed to pray for four hours a day? It would have been nice to have some of the older ladies come along side me and say, "Honey, you can pray while you wash dishes. Or while you change diapers."

I literally thought I would have to sit still somewhere in my house and pray for 4 straight hours. I lived such a guilty Christian life back then. 

1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to pray continually. 

That also doesn't mean just sit in a room or on your knees to pray for hours on end.

My Jesus Calling devotional words it this way, "Make Me central in your consciousness by praying continually; simple, short prayers flowing out of the present moment. Use My name liberally, to remind you of My Presence."

When someone asks for prayer, I have started doing it right then. I will text or type out a prayer in a minute, if that's the only way I can. (Otherwise, I would pray right then out loud with someone.) I am honored to pray for others and do it regularly.

However, sometimes, I do forget to pray for myself.

God is concerned about everything in our daily life.

I just had a friend on Facebook ask for prayer for his dog. Then, he apologized and felt a little silly. Several people said it was totally cool to ask for prayer for his dog. That's important to my friend, so it's important to God.

God is in the big and small stuff. He loves us so much and He wants to be a part of everything we do. He is not a vending machine where we put our prayer in and get our answer out. It's a relationship and praying continually means you are talking continually to the King of King who loves you unconditionally. 

What happens in your life is very important to Him.

Talk to Him about it.

You'll be glad you did.

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