For some time I have been wanting to write a blog on Prayer. There are two reasons I have been hesitate in writing. One, the topic of prayer is so large. Volumes of books have been written on the subject, therefore I haven’t known where to begin. And secondly, I am not an expert on the subject. I feel inadequate to give advise to others but after 50+ years of being a Christ-follower, I have learned some things about prayer even if it is from my mistakes.

This blog cannot deal in depth with such but allow me to briefly share some of the things I’ve learned:

1. Many struggle with the time they spend in prayer. As a young Christ-follower, many preachers tried to brow beat me into thinking I had to pray at least an hour a day. They quote Matthew 26:40-41 But in the context, Jesus said to stay alert with Him, not pray for the entire hour. You are not more spiritual by the length of your prayer. Mathew 6:7 says, “for they (hypocrites) think they will be heard because of their many words.”

That being said, most of us don’t have trouble Praying too much, (I don’t think you can actually pray too much) our problem is praying too little or being inconsistent. True prayer is not having a little talk with Jesus. Better pray 5 minutes consistently and then add to your time as your become more proficient.

1. Many struggle with the purpose of prayer. The true purpose of prayer is to enter into God’s presence not to force God into answering your request. I discovered a passage of Scripture that has changed the way I pray. 1 John 5:14-15 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us— whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Prayer is finding God’s will and then praying His will to be done. You have the assurance if you pray this way it will be answered. Matthew 6:33 Luke 22:42

No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, make a commitment that you will consistently pray every day.