WHAT TIME OF DAY SHOULD WE PRAY?
QUESTIONS ABOUT PRAYER
NATURE OF PRAYER
1 Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people.
Often, people have questions about prayer that are more about the formula than the substance. Are prayers more powerful in the morning or at night? What order of words will be most effective to get my prayers answered? Is God more likely to respond to long prayers or short prayers? Are certain words trigger words that God is waiting to hear? The truth is anyone who is asking these types of questions is missing the point of prayer and the heart of God in prayer. God hears your prayers at all times, long or short, wordy or simple. Whether they are in the morning when you wake up or at night, or anytime in between. We see examples of this all over Scripture. Jesus prayed in the morning, yet also late at night in the garden of Gethsemane. Paul prayed in the morning and afternoon and even prayed while in jail at around midnight. Some prayers were long and some were only a few words. Some prayers were out loud and some were spoken only in thought. The power is not in the formula or in how you pray. The power resides in who you are praying to and the heart of the person praying. More important than the length or verbiage is the motivation and heart behind this spiritual discipline as a vital part of your relationship with Jesus.
The great evangelist F.B. Meyer once said this: “The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but un-offered prayer.” The reality is Christians often overlook prayer instead of it being an essential part of who we are; like breathing, eating, walking, and talking. For many, prayer has become a little glass-covered box on the wall that says, “Break in case of emergency.” People come to a place where they turn to prayer as a last resort in times of relational or health crisis. We tend to think of prayer like a spare tire. We are glad it’s there but hope we never have to use it. In reality, prayer is not a last resort, it should be our first response to whatever comes in life. This has been mentioned in other questions in this resource, but it bears repeating because our perspective of prayer is so important. For the believer, prayer remains one of the greatest gifts our Lord has given us outside of salvation. Think about it; we have the ability to communicate whenever we want with the Creator of the Universe! That is amazing! What a privilege and joy it should be for God’s children to speak and hear from their heavenly father.
Most people don’t hold this view of prayer in their minds but desperately need to embrace it. We often pick and choose what to pray for and when. We don’t pray about certain things because we refuse to even acknowledge their existence. That noise in the car, the numbness in your left arm, the trouble in your marriage. Maybe it’s the bills you received and immediately buried in a panic. Or it’s the family member losing their battle with addiction. Many people avoid real open and honest prayer and instead opt for formulaic recitals of rehearsed prayer because to pray for that thing in a real and vulnerable way is admitting there is a problem. And if you acknowledge the existence of this problem, you are compelled to act on that issue or challenge and admit your own vulnerability. This can be a difficult thing that entraps us in justifying a superficial or emaciated prayer life.
Think about this in your own life. Is it time to cut through the tired, rehearsed formulaic prayers and pray truthfully about what is in your heart? Why not do it right now? Because the best time to pray is right now!
The great evangelist F.B. Meyer once said this: “The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but un-offered prayer.” The reality is Christians often overlook prayer instead of it being an essential part of who we are; like breathing, eating, walking, and talking. For many, prayer has become a little glass-covered box on the wall that says, “Break in case of emergency.” People come to a place where they turn to prayer as a last resort in times of relational or health crisis. We tend to think of prayer like a spare tire. We are glad it’s there but hope we never have to use it. In reality, prayer is not a last resort, it should be our first response to whatever comes in life. This has been mentioned in other questions in this resource, but it bears repeating because our perspective of prayer is so important. For the believer, prayer remains one of the greatest gifts our Lord has given us outside of salvation. Think about it; we have the ability to communicate whenever we want with the Creator of the Universe! That is amazing! What a privilege and joy it should be for God’s children to speak and hear from their heavenly father.
Most people don’t hold this view of prayer in their minds but desperately need to embrace it. We often pick and choose what to pray for and when. We don’t pray about certain things because we refuse to even acknowledge their existence. That noise in the car, the numbness in your left arm, the trouble in your marriage. Maybe it’s the bills you received and immediately buried in a panic. Or it’s the family member losing their battle with addiction. Many people avoid real open and honest prayer and instead opt for formulaic recitals of rehearsed prayer because to pray for that thing in a real and vulnerable way is admitting there is a problem. And if you acknowledge the existence of this problem, you are compelled to act on that issue or challenge and admit your own vulnerability. This can be a difficult thing that entraps us in justifying a superficial or emaciated prayer life.
Think about this in your own life. Is it time to cut through the tired, rehearsed formulaic prayers and pray truthfully about what is in your heart? Why not do it right now? Because the best time to pray is right now!