Just curious if anyone would be willing to share how much time (on average) do you spend praying on a daily basis?

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Mark Li
International University Church
New South Wales, Australia

Not nearly enough. It really depends on how much I have sinned. It is at those times when I am most conscious of sin that I pray longest and most earnestly.

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Diane
There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8.1
Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPCNA)
Beltsville, MD

None of us pray enough for sure. By God's grace have tried to follow what I believe to be a biblical example and have a time of prayer morning, noon and evening. Sometimes they are extended but most of the time they are shorter periods of time. How much time I don't know for I have never timed it. That would weird me out.

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1689 Baptist Confession

Psa 55:16 As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me.
Psa 55:17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.
James Farley, Wilderness Road Baptist Assembly.
Husband of Melissa and father of Ann.
www.wildernessroadbaptist.org

Similar here. I pray with my wife in the morning and evening, but have never timed it. Pray by myself several times each day. It usually isn't long nor is it deep, and I regret that.

But there are days on my long commute when I find myself praying most of the way--I want to say I'm kidding but some days it is literal.

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R.Vic Bottomly
Providence Reformed Baptist Church, Tacoma, WA

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

What does the bible have to say about the importance of regular private prayer times that are long and deep? This has been a source of great legalism for myself and many others and I've come to think that the bible puts the emphasis on our growth as an outworking of our participation in the public means of grace in faith. Just today I spoke with a friend on campus who was complaining about her friend who tried to give spiritual advice "without having met with the Lord yet today." What is the biblical case for the necessity of such personal piety?

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Davidius
Husband of Emilia
Member: First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Durham (RPCNA) - Durham, NC
Currently in the process of transferring membership to an as-yet-undecided church in Chapel Hill
Student: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, German Literature and Classics

Not enough.

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~Gloria G.~
Bride of Warren G.
Member of Trinity Presbyterian Church, PCA, Southeast Georgia

"Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways." Psalm 119:37

Put plainly, and pardon the redundancy, not nearly enough.

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Donald Jacobs
Marysville. WA
Cascade Church (CRCNA)

Cum vero infirmor tunc potens sum.

Me too.

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~Gloria G.~
Bride of Warren G.
Member of Trinity Presbyterian Church, PCA, Southeast Georgia

"Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways." Psalm 119:37

What does this mean David? the bible puts the emphasis on our growth as an outworking of our participation in the public means of grace in faith.

I do not know what the public means of grace in faith is. Now, it sounds very scholarly and pious in itself


The Apostle Paul is crystal clear on how prayer ranks in the life of the believer. It is indispensable.

Myself, meditating on certain verses, and running them through my head occupies my prayer life mostly.

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N. Robert; Trinity Reformed Church RCA, Holland MI

Once in a while you can get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right."

Since we are told to pray without ceasing, how does the fit into all of this?

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J Baldwin
Keowee Presbyterian Church, PCA
Pickens, SC
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27

Check Out My Blog: http://reflectjoy.blogspot.com/

Prayer has been sinfully absent in my life recently because of fatigue, hectic schedule and sloth.

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Travis Speegle
Redeemer Presbyterian, PCA (Waco, Tx)
Pacific Cross Roads, PCA (Los Angeles, CA)


"When it comes to trustworthy theologians one can usually honor the rule of thumb that the deader the better."-Dr. John Hannah, DTS (of all places)

Well, my short and undeep prayers usually fall into the "Lord help me through this problem" or "Sustain me". I think it is a good thing to remind ourselves, however briefly, of our dependence on God. But Scripture gives us a whole bunch of examples of prayer and meditation that goes beyond this sort of simple cry for help.

One example is Psalm 63:

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.
Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.
But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.
But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.

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R.Vic Bottomly
Providence Reformed Baptist Church, Tacoma, WA

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

I assure you that I wasn't trying to sound pious or intellectual with my statement about the means of grace. That is just the confessional language for the ways by which God communicates grace to us. I'm sure the phrase or something like it can be found in the Heidelberg Confession as well.

Does the scripture talk about meeting with God other than "in the assembly"? Paul talks about gathering together, singing psalms to each other, hearing the preached word, communion, etc. I've never seen much of an argument made for the modern-day primacy of individual devotional experience over corporate worship and the means of grace other than saying "hey look, Jesus went off by himself to pray." I certainly agree that it's noble to take time to pray for various needs. Sometimes I just get wary because I am prone to constantly judge myself on the basis of the frequency or "depth" of my "quiet times," surrounded by people who say things like I quoted above, that someone who hasn't "met with the Lord today" can't add anything edifying to a religious conversation.


I don't disagree that prayer is discussed in the New Testament. But again, what is clear is that our main sources of growth/sanctification are the preaching of the word and administration of the sacraments, both of which take place during public worship. Forgive me if I'm being reactionary to my previous experience in the charismatic church but I just get easily on edge when people start making what appears (to me at least) to be an unnecessarily big deal over prolonged times of personal prayer.

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Davidius
Husband of Emilia
Member: First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Durham (RPCNA) - Durham, NC
Currently in the process of transferring membership to an as-yet-undecided church in Chapel Hill
Student: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, German Literature and Classics

I was terrible about prayer for a long time. Especially just after embracing the DOG. I have finally settled into an habitual prayer and scripture reading time every morning. Now I don't know how I did without it. The length of prayer time depends on my prayer list for that day. Some days I don't get to it, like this morning, because of some crisis or other. This morning we had to euthanize our beloved cat Ursula who we had for 10 yrs. It really is a blessing to me that I look forward to now and miss terribly if I don't get it. Then there are the meal prayers and things that come up during the average day.

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Traci
Lynnwood OPC
Psalm 52:8-9
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.
9 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.

As far as scripture how about these:

1 Timothy 5:5
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.

1 Peter 2:2
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

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Traci
Lynnwood OPC
Psalm 52:8-9
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.
9 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.

I'm in and out of prayer all day, but it's still not enough...

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J. M. - Baptist - Ontario, Canada - Feileadh Mor

Okay, okay, not nearly enough. I'm burdened by my lack of prayer. I find that the more I'm involved in people's lives I pray for them throughout the day, and am reminded of them during times set aside for meditation/devotion/prayer.

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For the Glory of our King,
Joe Johnson
Married up in 1988 and blessed with two wonderful sons
TMS graduate
Preacherboy at Cornerstone Community Church, Escanaba, MI
SoundLife.org

Here's what Gill has to say about praying without ceasing:

1Th 5:17 - Pray without ceasing. Not that saints should be always on their knees, or ever lifting up their hands, and vocally calling upon God; this is not required of them, and would clash with, and break in upon other parts of religious worship, and the duties of civil life, which are to be attended to, as well as this, and besides would be impracticable; for however willing a spiritual man might be to be engaged in this work always, yet the flesh is weak, and would not be able to bear it; and it requires food and drink, sleep and rest, for its refreshment and support; for all which there must be time allowed, as well as for other actions of animal life, and the business of a man's calling. But the meaning is, that believers should be daily, and often found in the performance of this duty; for as their wants daily return upon them, and they are called to fresh service, and further trials and exercises, they have need of more grace, strength, and assistance, and therefore should daily pray for it; and besides certain times both in the closet, and in the family, in which they should attend the throne of grace, there is such a thing as mental prayer, praying in the heart, private ejaculations of the soul, which may be sent up to heaven, while a man is engaged in the affairs of life.

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Bob Howes
Framingham, MA

A reoccurring thought:

Rev 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Just want to share my thoughts about this. No time to reflect on what have been said. I think almost every Christian acknowledges that prayer is both a lifestyle and a spiritual discipline. Personally, my emphasis on prayer as a lifestyle tends to a kind of life that is loose and indiscipline. On the other hand, thinking of prayer as a spiritual discipline has this inclination in me to be legalistic and "self-righteous" somehow. I do not know a clear cut answer to this tension but i still maintain that Christian life as whole is a life of prayer. But this does not negate the fact that we have to maintain a regular schedule to devote ourselves in prayer. Another thought that comes to my mind is related to the zeal of the Reformed tradition in the discipline of scholarship and study. If I ma not mistaken, a Jewish philosopher by the name of Abraham Heschel once said and I paraphrased that if only our zeal for prayer could only equal the time that we devote in our study and academic scholarship, this world, the church and society, would be in a better state than what we have at present (By the way, this is not what Heschel actually said but I think I expressed his central idea). I say this to myself as a reminder.

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Ruel Z. Chavez
Chaplain/Instructor, Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Pulpit Minister, Fount of Blessing Presbyterian Church

Also want to emphasize what have been mentioned in the previous posts about prayer as a means of grace. For me this would mean that prayer is a channel for the grace of God to flow into our lives. Our society needs the grace of God. The church needs the grace of God. The grace of God is not confined only in matters of a one time event of experiencing the salvation of God, I mean our conversion experience in the past as a result of the regenerating work of the Spirit and believing in the Gospel though I believe that conversion is a lifetime experience. In this second sense that I use the word "conversion," we need a lot of grace. And prayer is the means, the channel to shower that grace upon us. I understand this grace in its various manifestations such as the grace of humility, the grace of perseverance, of love, of zeal in kingdom service, and even the grace to maintain both a discipline life of prayer and to live the Christian life as prayer itself in its entirety. I have this question in my mind. I love the church and included in this love is to speak what I believe concerning what I see regarding the current state of the church. My perspective is possibly wrong and confined and perhaps does not really describe the current condition of the church. My question is related to the current life of the church. I am thinking, why is there not much zeal, passion, love, humility,joy,... in the church today? All of these one way or another is a result of understanding and expriencing the greatness and power of God's grace. And such understanding and experience aside from other means of grace such as the word and the sacraments, prayer is indeed a channel a means for the church to experience the abundant grace of God. In short, why is the life of Christ not that evident in the life of the church today? Is not that one among the possible reasons is our negligence to use the tool that God has given us to experience his grace, which is prayer? Again, I say all of these to myself.

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Ruel Z. Chavez
Chaplain/Instructor, Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Pulpit Minister, Fount of Blessing Presbyterian Church

I was being sarcastic David. Please do not be offended.

Well david, you have not looked hard enough then. If our relationship with God is based soley on an hour a week on Sunday, maybe 2, then we are at best going to continue to limp through life as a believer.



If you are looking at this through the grid of your charismatic experience, it is no wonder your reaction is as such. Yet a wrong emphasis one way does not allow one to swing the pendulum completely in the opposite direction. I doubt our sanctification depends on meeting on the Lord's day and receiving the sacraments. Actually we are only left with one, the Supper, and if this is done quarterly, then again we are miserable creatures. I could take your line of reasoning and go to 'church' daily and receive the supper daily, now I know you would disagree this would make me more sanctified.

5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

So it is not clear at all that are main resource of sanctification is Sunday Service. It is one, but definately not the biggest. Scripture most certainly talks about "meeting with god" everywhere. He is not located in the temple anymore, or the cloud only. Christ is IN YOU. The emphasis, by whoever as proposed this elevation of corporate Sunday service as to being the only or the greater place to be with God is contrary to the written word. "Worship has ended, now service begins" should be a motto we follow continuously.

SInce this thread is about personal prayer life, that is my focus, I am in no way discounting the biblical examples of corporate prayer. Which is very important also. Just magnifying personal prayer life becasue it is either distorted into some legalistic ritual or absent in the believer.

Other than the scripture you provided, where does the Apostle Paul emphasise corporate prayer during the worship service over a constant heavenly focused life in prayer? I cannot find one in a premature search in the Scriptures.

The wroship service is the beginning of our week to prepare us and give us nourishment. Yet 2 hours on Sunday cannot compare to 6 days and 22 hours the rest of the week...

Arthur Pink is indispensible here: OF which I hope he only not only disagrees with your "means of grace in faith during the assembly" quip, but also shows anyone who proposes this to be in error. For mine and your sake David

Private Prayer

by Arthur W. Pink

“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” (Matt. 6:6). Eight times in the space of this verse is the pronoun used in the singular number and the second person—a thing unique in all Scripture—as though to emphasize the indispensability, importance and value of private prayer. We are to pray in the closet as well as in the church: in fact if the former be neglected, it is not at all likely that the latter will be of much avail. He that is an attendee at the prayer meetings in order to be seen of men, and is not seen alone in his closet by God, is an hypocrite. Private prayer is the test of our sincerity, the index to our spirituality, the principle means of growing in grace. Private prayer is the one thing, above all others, that Satan seeks to prevent, for he knows full well that if he can succeed at this point, the Christian will fail at every other.

Alas, how remiss we have been, how sadly we have failed to discharge this duty, and what irreparable losers are we by this sinful neglect. Is it not high time that some of us heeded that word, “Consider your ways” (Hag. 1:5, 7)?! Shall this year witness a repetition of the sad failures of the past? Can we go on robbing God of His due, and our souls of the blessedness of communion with Him? The secret place of the Most High is one of vision, peace, joy. The closet is where strength is renewed, faith is quickened, graces are revived. It is not always the cares or pleasures of this world which are the hindering cause—some allow the discharge of public duties to prevent the performance of private ones. Beware, my reader, of being so busy in running from one meeting to another that personal dealings with God in secret are crowded out. Some are so busily engaged in reading, and preparing sermons, that private communion with God is prevented.

Not a few are puzzling their brains over prophecy when t