“There are situations where you need to grab hold of the horns of the altar and refuse to let go until God answers. Praying through is all about consistency. Praying through is all about intensity. It’s not quantitative; it’s qualitative. Praying through doesn’t just bend God’s ear; it touches the heart of your heavenly Father.”
The Circle Maker, by Mark Batterson, pp. 35 & 36.
I recently shared with my brother that I think God just wants to spend more time with His called people. It’s not enough to just believe, attend church once a week, or even be part of a Bible study group. God wants to be part of our daily lives, not our “once in awhile” lives. And if we’re called to do a ministry or activity with the Lord, then we definitely need to spend more time with Him.
It might seem obvious that God wants to spend more time with us, but how many of us are actually doing it. It’s like reading through the Bible. Most Christians (and I’m referring to long time 10+ year Christians) have read through the Bible at least once; some have read through it twice. But, the numbers drop significantly after that. “Oh yeah, I read through the Bible once. Isn’t that enough?” From my perspective and experience, no, it’s not enough. We need to read through the Bible as many times as it takes for God’s Word to live in our heart.
“Pray through the Bible.
Prayer was never meant to be a monologue; it was meant to be a dialogue. Scripture is God’s way of initiating a conversation; prayer is our response. The Bible was meant to be prayed through. And if you pray through it, you’ll never run out of things to talk about.”
Ibid, p. 96.
I learned some time ago that reading the Bible is a form of prayer. Especially the Psalms. When you read some of the chapters in Psalms, it’s like you’re worshipping and praying to God. It’s a great way to pray without having to figure out what to pray about.
The whole point of this blog is to encourage the reader (and especially the Christian believer and follower) to pray to God more. At the very least, more time spent with God can only help you. And you don’t have to start off with a long prayer time. Start with 5 minutes and build up from there. If you already have a set time, then double it. I think a good goal is to pray for at least 1-hour per day. The 1-hour prayer time can include the following elements:
Worship
Thanksgiving
Asking for forgiveness
Prayer requests
Bible reading or study
Also, the 1-hour doesn’t have to be all at once. You can split your prayer time throughout the day. For example, you can do two prayer times: 30-minutes in the morning and 30-minutes at night. Or break it up in threes: 20-minutes in the morning, 20-minutes around lunch time, and 20-minutes in the evening. What matters is spending time with the Lord to soften your heart and get deep in prayer.
Yes, prayer time isn’t just quantitative (about how much time), it’s qualitative (it’s quality time). Sometimes it takes a bit of time to warm-up and get past the “pat” prayers that we hear in church or learned from others. The point is to get to a point that you’re just being you when you’re praying to God. I’ve found the longer you pray, the more you just start being you.
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