Our Prayer and Devotional Life. Chapter 9. Developing a Strong Prayer Life. What a shame is this to us, that God is more willing to be prayed to, and more ready to hear prayer than we are to pray. Matthew Henry. What is the reason that some believers are so much brighter and more godly than others? I believe the difference in 19 cases out of 20 arises from different habits of private prayer. J. C. Ryle.
William Law observed, "Prayer is the nearest approach to God, and the highest enjoyment of God of which we are capable in this life." Yet the average Christian spends less than 10 minutes a day in prayer. I'm not speaking about nominal, inactive Christians. I'm talking about active, church-going Christians. Are we among them? Since so many Christians find prayer difficult, why does God require it? The reason goes back to God's purpose in creating angels and humans in the first place.
He loves having children for the same reason we do. We cherish our relationship with them. There is little joy in being a parent if we have no meaningful rapport with our children. It's the ongoing love and relationship between parent and child that brings joy. That's why God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden. He loved interacting with them, and He loves interacting with us today. But God already knows my needs.
Yes, you may object, but the reason I talk with my parents is to keep them up to date with what's going on in my life. Also, I want to communicate my needs to them and express my gratitude for things they've done. But God already knows all those things before I even open my mouth, so what's the point of telling Him? It's true that God already knows all things before we tell Him, but He still wants to hear about them from us.
When my children were little, they typically engaged in fun activities with my wife, Deborah, while I was away at work or in school. When I got home, Deborah usually filled me in on everything she had done with the children that day. So did that mean I didn't ask the children what they had done? Not at all. I still asked them what they did that day. Why? Because I wanted to hear it from their own lips. It brought me enormous pleasure to hear them tell it to me themselves.
I wanted to see the joy on their faces or their concerned looks. I wanted to be able to interact with them personally, even though I already knew all about their day. It's the same way with God. He wants to hear you and me tell Him what's happening in our lives. He already knows our needs, but He wants to hear us express those needs. He wants to know that we're dependent upon Him rather than taking Him for granted.
He already knows whether or not we're thankful for the things we receive from Him, but He still wants to hear us express it. If I give my children gifts, I know they're thankful without their having to say it. But it still means a lot to me to receive a thank-you card from them. It's hard to have much of a relationship without communication.
With every beam of sunshine, every drop of rain on the thirsty ground, and every page of the Bible we read, God is telling us how much He loves us, and He wants to hear personally from us how much we love Him. Prayer is not meant to be a burden. God never intended prayer to be a burden. As William Law noted, "When our hearts are full of God, sending up holy desires to the throne of grace, we are then in our highest state. We are upon the utmost heights of human greatness.
We are not before kings and princes, but in the presence and audience of the Lord of all the world. We can be no higher until death is swallowed up in glory." If you find that prayer is more of a burden to you than a joy, don't despair. Like so many other things in the Christian life, God will help bring you to a point where you will find prayer a delight instead of a duty. However, you have to start where you are. Get on the victorious cycle and ride it.
Pray regularly and often, even if at present you do so only out of duty. The mere act of praying regularly will help you reach the point where prayer becomes a delight. As God changes your heart in so many other matters, He will change it toward prayer as well. Special Times of Prayer. When should you pray? Anytime and everywhere. Yet that doesn't mean that you shouldn't schedule regular times of prayer. In biblical times, God's people had regular set times of prayer throughout the day.
Today, the average active Christian prays only before meals. If he is more serious than average, he also prays when he gets up and before he goes to bed. But that's about it. That used to describe my prayer life as well. So I was quite surprised when I first read the early Christian writings and discovered they had more regularly scheduled times of prayer than that. For one thing, they always prayed both before and after meals.
They all also prayed at the third, the sixth, and the ninth hours, that is, at 9 a.m., 12 o'clock noon, and 3 p.m. At first, I thought these prayer times were some sort of man-made custom invented by the early Christians. But later, when I was reading the Scriptures, I realized that the apostles and prophets had similar prayer times. For example, did you ever notice that Daniel had three set times of prayer each day? Even when Persian law forbade prayer to the true God, the Scriptures say this about Daniel.
Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home, and in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. Daniel 6:10. Daniel's prayer times were evidently more than his personal custom. Daniel no doubt prayed at the third, sixth, and ninth hours, the special hours of prayer for both the Jews and the early Christians.
We read in Acts, "Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour." So the ninth hour was not just the apostles' special hour of prayer, but that of the Jews as well. Again, we read in Acts that Cornelius gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God.
And still again, the next day as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray about the sixth hour. Acts 3:1 and 10:2, 3, and 9. Of course, maintaining these prayer hours is not a commandment from God. Yet the discipline of keeping regular times of prayer throughout the day is one of the secrets to living the kingdom life. It's been one of the great losses of the church that so few Christians keep these ancient prayer times.
Imagine the power the New Testament church experienced when the entire church prayed together at these hours of the day. Picture the sense of unity individual Christians felt in knowing that when they knelt to pray at these special times, the entire church was praying with them. Whether or not you're ready to work these ancient prayer times into your daily schedule at present, there are two times each day, in addition to meals, that no Christian should neglect to pray: morning and night. Early Morning Prayer.
Seventeenth-century Welsh minister Matthew Henry wrote, "Morning is the first part of the day, and it is fitting that he who is the first should have the first and be served the first." What should we pray about each morning? Virtually everything is fitting. Have you had a peaceful and restful night's sleep? Thank God for it. Did anxieties or ailments keep you from sleeping well? If so, pray about those anxieties or ailments. What sins seem to easily entangle you on most days?
Pray that God will enable you to be victorious over them today. Is there a family member, neighbor, or coworker with whom you often clash? Pray that God will help you say and do the right things today concerning that person. It's fitting to pray the Lord's Prayer along with our other early morning petitions, for in it we ask, "Give us this day our daily bread." Then there are our work and family responsibilities. Surely we want to ask for God's guidance and blessings on these.
During morning prayer, we should entrust our families and loved ones into God's care. We also need God's guidance and strength to help us with any unexpected events that may arise during the day. And we should pray about the problems we face on a daily basis. We not only need strength and wisdom to meet these but to handle them in a godly manner. In fact, we need to commit each day to God's service so that we can be a help and blessing to all those with whom we interact.
Perhaps you have a list of people to intercede for. Morning is a good time to make such intercession. Jesus said that we are to seek first the kingdom. Make it your morning prayer that you will put kingdom interests first throughout the day. The list is almost endless. There is so much to pray for in the morning that many committed Christians schedule their daily devotional hour in the morning. We'll be talking more about the devotional hour in the next chapter.
However, if it does not work for you to set aside an extended time for morning prayer, then you can pray about all of these topics while dressing, showering, commuting, or doing other mundane tasks.