How Much Do You Pray Each Day?

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Ryan&Amber2013

Ryan&Amber2013

Puritan Board Graduate
The statistics say the average Christian spends about 1 minute in prayer each day, where pastors spend about 5 minutes each day.

I go through seasons where I pray a whole lot more than at other times, but I am resolved to be done with seasonal flows. I have found that the easiest way to stay focused on prayer for long amounts of time is through books that have scriptural prayers or prayers from godly people like the Puritans. There's a book called Piercing Heaven, it's a collection of Puritan prayers that I would highly highly recommend.

But yeah, I'm not ashamed to say maybe we all need to hold each other more accountable on this topic by bringing it up and talking about it and encouraging each other in prayer. I personally have these longings inside of me on a daily basis, and the only way to have this satisfied is by connecting with God in prayer. Prayer seems to be one thing that mostly all the religions have in common, so it's obviously a human need that we should be devoted to.
 
I'm in prayer for somewhere between 30-40 minutes each day. And I feel deficient. Nothing like looking at the stats to alleviate my own sense of inadequacy... I'm a veritable prayer warrior compared to most. LOL.
 
Far less than I should in the sense of sitting down "in the prayer closet". I need far more discipline in dedicated prayer time. I have a habit though of what J. C Ryle in his work A Call to Prayer calls "an endless chain of short ejaculatory prayers throughout the day". As he puts it: "Even in company, or business, or in the very streets, you may be silently sending up little winged messengers to God, as Nehemiah did in the very presence of Artaxerxes."
 
I think you should create a poll for this question, with two options: "Not enough" and "Less than I should".

I'm not sure which one I'd choose.
 
Both enough and not as much as I should for me; In addition to an hour in the morning and a time at night, I try and pray as much as I can during the day, over the events and providences of the day. However, the chief problem for me is not the time or the enough, but the distractions and wandering thoughts that one must fight. And the struggle to do this consumes much of the time one has to pray. Obviously, I need more of Steele's "Remedy for Wandering Thoughts in Worship." Additionally, old age is a factor in my praying. So, when I say I do not pray sufficiently, all of these factors come into play. Looking forward to more comments on this-maybe some help as well?
 
Ryan&Amber2013 said:
The statistics say the average Christian spends about 1 minute in prayer each day, where pastors spend about 5 minutes each day.
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It varies day to day, but I spend more time seeking what God wants me to pray than I do praying. When I think that His mind and my mind have melded in a matter, then I have confidence towards God when I pray. I don't think God is as interested in our prayer lists as he is in us finding out what His will is for us to pray, and then praying it with all our might. When I do this, I find the Spirit helps me pray; although it's very emotional and focused, it pleases God and is easy for me to pray.

Our goal should be to know God's will for us to pray, than tack on at the end, "If it be Thy will."
 
This should inspire us to pray. I came across it recently. (There's also a part 2)
sermonindex.net

(2006 Heart-Cry) Prayer and Revival Through History by Mack Tomlinson | SermonIndex

In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. He shares stories of individuals who experienced a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit and were transformed as a result. The preacher also highlights the need for continual dependence on the...
sermonindex.net sermonindex.net
 
Ed Walsh said:
I don't think God is as interested in our prayer lists as he is in us finding out what His will is for us to pray, and then praying it with all our might. When I do this, I find the Spirit helps me pray
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Love this. I have increasingly recognised my inability to pray on my own and increasingly begin by praying for the Holy Spirit to help me to pray.

In answer to the question "how much do you pray?" I genuinely don't know, it varies too much and I confess it is far too inconsistent and meagre.
 
I have a 1-hour quiet-time in the morning – consisting of speaking to my Lord, and listening to Him (i.e., reading His word). The 1 hour is minimum. And then ½ an hour in the afternoon / evening. I am just very needy.

If emergencies or unusual situations arise I can forgo the qt – it is not a law. But I generally keep it "religiously". As I no longer have my library I will sometimes go digital – to look up a word or passage on my laptop.

If I have a diminished sense of "spiritual reality" in prayer, I will ask Him for help in praying, and our Saviour is wonderful. As the apostle says, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb 4:16). He really is very gracious and kind to His frail children!

And we have so many promises to help us get ahold of His heart! :

HELP IN PRAYER 22.3.24.jpg
 
Jerusalem Blade said:
I have a 1-hour quiet-time in the morning – consisting of speaking to my Lord, and listening to Him (i.e., reading His word). The 1 hour is minimum. And then ½ an hour in the afternoon / evening. I am just very needy.
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God bless you Steve. My wife would laugh at me if I called my devotions a quiet time. Mine are anything but quiet.:-)
 
One thing I have realized about prayer is that it's not necessarily about the amount of quantifiable time spent each day.

The point of prayer is to talk to God. And so in some sense, every time we seek the Lord's face, or seek to discern the Lord's will according to Scripture, or thinking about what God would want - we are seeking the face of the Lord.

I don't mean for that to excuse the importance of actual prayer time. Nor should Spurgeon's excellent thoughts on prayer and on the acceptability of being somewhat business-like about it preclude extended times of prayer or emotional outpourings before the Lord.

My main point is that I think for me, and most of us, our prayer life is inadequate and always will be inadequate. But that realization can become a weight and a burden that drives us to seek relief in some sort of man-made legalism. I've gone through periods where I made "prayer resolutions" and they helped in a way, but after a time the resolution itself became the focus even as the prayers became less and less meaningful and more perfunctory. So I think that we should certainly maintain an awareness of the inadequacy of our prayer life, but in response we should ponder the totality of our lives and how regularly we seek the Lord's face, and we should look for the fruit of his Spirit in our lives as a balm to those moments of discouragement. And, of course, if we are not seeing that fruit, then that is the matter to be addressed.
 
Sorry if I've just missed it, but where is this statistic coming from?

This makes me really sad to read. Not surprised, but really sad.
 
This question leads me to greater reflection: what does or doesn’t exactly constitute as prayer? I find myself uttering thanks or apologies to the Lord frequently throughout the day; a great deal of that I suppose wouldn’t count as prayer. What makes prayer genuine, then? Is a practical step like kneeling and/or clasping of hands involved, for example? Does it have to be in complete silence? These are the sorts of things I ask myself about prayer. Because do direct my thoughts to the Lord often throughout the day, but I’m sure a great deal of it is surface-level.
 
Yeah I wonder that as well. Biblically with the examples I think of, I see mainly intentional, focused, set aside time with God. But I agree that's not the only way to pray. If God's Spirit is inside of us, I would imagine even our thoughts are communication with him, and at the very least known by and cared for by him. So it definitely seems like both are very important.
 
I think the idea of quiet time is something I don’t fully understand. We know we cannot audibly hear God. So what exactly is quiet time?

I would love to hear more about that.
 
John Newton encourages us to bring large petitions to our almighty Triune God.

Come, my soul, thy plea prepare,
Jesus loves to answer prayer.
He Himself has bid thee pray,
rise and ask without delay.

Thou art coming to a King,
large petitions with thee bring,
for his grace and pow'r are such,
none can ever ask too much.

With my burden I begin,
Lord, remove this load of sin!
Let Thy blood, for sinners spilt,
set my conscience free from guilt.

Lord! I come to Thee for rest,
take possession of my breast;
there Thy blood-bought right maintain,
and without a rival reign.

While I am a pilgrim here,
let Thy love my spirit cheer;
as my Guide, my Guard, my Friend,
lead me to my journey’s end.

Show me what I have to do;
every hour my strength renew;
let me live a life of faith;
let me die Thy people's death.
 
I think we all can relate to our feeling our prayers are inadequate, and so we are given Romans 8:26, 27 to help us in this.

Early on, studying the prayer lives and habits of the older saints, at one point, before deciding on how long I should pray, I chose the very least amount among those godly men – a mere 2 hours – at first. That later changed to 1 hour. There was a period (a year) when I did not have a set-aside time to pray at all, but just rejoiced in the presence of the Lord (this after listening to an anointed sermon by A.N. Martin, which profoundly impacted my spiritual life). I've written about these things in the book, A Great and Terrible Love.

Eventually, when I had souls in my care, I stuck with but 1 hour in the morning. That struck me as adequate.

This does not mean I am always happy with my two set-aside times for prayer. I'm sure we all have battles with distractions, or various things coming up to hinder us. But at least I have two set-aside times. Hey, I set aside around an hour or a little more with my meals daily (I don't even want to talk about fasting here!), so when the Lord says, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Matt 4:4), that signifies something.

Quiet-time simply means I quiet my heart before the LORD (I shut the door to my study so my wife doesn't hear me)

Even now, as I decline in strength, and deteriorating cognition & memory, there are many souls on my mind and heart I wish to bring to the Lord, and I pick of those – daily – who are most on my heart.

Most of you reading this are not pastors, and do not have the care of others to such an extent as those in ministry, so less time is needed. I speak not of "legalized times" but simply of what is on the heart. As I said, it is not a law, the omission of which as to timing, is not a source of condemnation. Some ministers may pray very intensely in less time, and not need an hour.

As many of you understand, I think I am near the close of my life here (but who knows how long the LORD will keep it going), and have weathered some furnaces that have – in some respects, wasted me – so I am not a "normal" person any longer.

We can get to a place with the LORD where we are in continual communion with Him, through His gift of imputed righteousness, clothed in Him, robed in Him. This is something He gave me a little while ago: "Thy perfection on me; my sin on Thee." And so it stands.

Perhaps it will take intense suffering to get to a point of great neediness. Perhaps that will come to you saints in the U.S. sooner rather than later. I do not wish it on you, but suffering can be a wonderful / terrible gift.

A Great and Terrible Love II: Heading into Armageddon, or here on Amazon, can prepare your hearts and minds for what is to come – where all will become amil by default. I may or may not be here to see it.

I saw a little sign on the street near our church building a couple of days ago, which said, "Prepare for no internet." We here in the Middle East are in great danger zones ourselves, on a number of fronts. We take so much for granted. My love and prayers for you all (seriously).
 
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Jerusalem Blade said:
I think we all can relate to our feeling our prayers are inadequate, and so we are given Romans 8:26, 27 to help us in this.

Early on, studying the prayer lives and habits of the older saints, at one point, before deciding on how long I should pray, I chose the very least amount among those godly men – a mere 2 hours – at first. That later changed to 1 hour. There was a period (a year) when I did not have a set-aside time to pray at all, but just rejoiced in the presence of the Lord (this after listening to an anointed sermon by A.N. Martin, which profoundly impacted my spiritual life). I've written about these things in the book, A Great and Terrible Love.

Eventually, when I had souls in my care, I stuck with but 1 hour in the morning. That struck me as adequate.

This does not mean I am always happy with my two set-aside times for prayer. I'm sure we all have battles with distractions, or various things coming up to hinder us. But at least I have two set-aside times. Hey, I set aside around an hour or a little more with my meals daily (I don't even want to talk about fasting here!), so when the Lord says, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Matt 4:4), that signifies something.

Quiet-time simply means I quiet my heart before the LORD (I shut the door to my study so my wife doesn't hear me)

Even now, as I decline in strength, and deteriorating cognition & memory, there are many souls on my mind and heart I wish to bring to the Lord, and I pick of those – daily – who are most on my heart.

Most of you reading this are not pastors, and do not have the care of others to such an extent as those in ministry, so less time is needed. I speak not of "legalized times" but simply of what is on the heart. As I said, it is not a law, the omission of which as to timing, is not a source of condemnation. Some ministers may pray very intensely in less time, and not need an hour.

As many of you understand, I think I am near the close of my life here (but who knows how long the LORD will keep it going), and have weathered some furnaces that have – in some respects, wasted me – so I am not a "normal" person any longer.

We can get to a place with the LORD where we are in continual communion with Him, through His gift of imputed righteousness, clothed in Him, robed in Him. This is something He gave me a little while ago: "Thy perfection on me; my sin on Thee." And so it stands.

Perhaps it will take intense suffering to get to a point of great neediness. Perhaps that will come to you saints in the U.S. sooner rather than later. I do not wish it on you, but suffering can be a wonderful / terrible gift.

A Great and Terrible Love II: Heading into Armageddon, or here on Amazon, can prepare your hearts and minds for what is to come – where all will become amil by default. I may or may not be here to see it.

I saw a little sign on the street near our church building a couple of days ago, which said, "Prepare for no internet." We here in the Middle East are in great danger zones ourselves, on a number of fronts. We take so much for granted. My love and prayers for you all (seriously).
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I really like everybody's reply, but a special thanks to you for this one right here.
 
Hello Luke, I wrote about it in my book, A Great and Terrible Love. It might have been some 40 or so years ago, dealing with the antediluvian patriarchs. Maybe you can glean where it is among his sermons:

The last major influence, and perhaps the profoundest, was the Reformed Baptist pastor, Albert N. Martin. He had sermons being aired on a local radio station, one dealing with the antediluvian patriarch Abel, whose blood he compared to Christ’s. Abel’s cried out from the ground for vengeance, retribution, and judgment, while Christ’s cried out for better things: expiation, pardon, acceptance, and reconciliation. Hearing this sermon, and by faith knowing that Christ’s blood was sprinkled on me, His disciple, and that on the basis of what that blood spoke to the Father, I was beloved and received into my Father’s heart apart from my works, the disciplines and austerities: it was simply the blood that spoke on my behalf to Him. Heaven was actually opened to me and I basked in the glorious love and acceptance of God because of the shed blood of Christ I knew was for me.

Al Martin had said, referring to Hebrews 9:19, 20, that by the sprinkled blood God bound Himself “in covenant engagement” to His people, that blood crying out to Him and His response to it of saving activity in omnipotent power born of love toward His children. (Even the Old Testament blood – the sacrifices – were typical of / pointed toward Christ’s sacrifice.) The power of the blood was efficacious – apart from my activities – and His engagement in caring for my life was operative regardless of what and how I was doing. As Paul said, “If God be for us, who can be against us? . . . [Nothing] shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31, 39).​
 
Jerusalem Blade said:
Hello Luke, I wrote about it in my book, A Great and Terrible Love. It might have been some 40 or so years ago, dealing with the antediluvian patriarchs. Maybe you can glean where it is among his sermons:

The last major influence, and perhaps the profoundest, was the Reformed Baptist pastor, Albert N. Martin. He had sermons being aired on a local radio station, one dealing with the antediluvian patriarch Abel, whose blood he compared to Christ’s. Abel’s cried out from the ground for vengeance, retribution, and judgment, while Christ’s cried out for better things: expiation, pardon, acceptance, and reconciliation. Hearing this sermon, and by faith knowing that Christ’s blood was sprinkled on me, His disciple, and that on the basis of what that blood spoke to the Father, I was beloved and received into my Father’s heart apart from my works, the disciplines and austerities: it was simply the blood that spoke on my behalf to Him. Heaven was actually opened to me and I basked in the glorious love and acceptance of God because of the shed blood of Christ I knew was for me.​
​
Al Martin had said, referring to Hebrews 9:19, 20, that by the sprinkled blood God bound Himself “in covenant engagement” to His people, that blood crying out to Him and His response to it of saving activity in omnipotent power born of love toward His children. (Even the Old Testament blood – the sacrifices – were typical of / pointed toward Christ’s sacrifice.) The power of the blood was efficacious – apart from my activities – and His engagement in caring for my life was operative regardless of what and how I was doing. As Paul said, “If God be for us, who can be against us? . . . [Nothing] shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31, 39).​
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The series on Cain and Abel can be found here: https://albert-n-martin.trinitymontville.org/series/cain-and-abel/

The specific sermon referenced here is likely to be "The Voice of Blood."
 
I used to pray 30 min every morning (getting "prayed up" before work), and then again after work to kind of cleanse myself after working around unsaved people all day. It's a good thing I work from home now because I don't pray nearly as much - I grow complacent, and I desperately need renewal in my life.
 
Because I work midnight shifts at my university’s library - that is, we close at midnight, so I get home around 12:30 - I’ve had a nagging irritation with getting plenty of sleep while also getting up with the sun to pray and get into working out. Since school started this past week, I keep getting out of bed at 8:30, which is late, to me.

I would love to make a morning prayer a real distinction in my life. But is it unusual to pray instead at 1 in the morning as a routine? On one hand, I suppose it allows one to pray for the new day and then rest in sleep knowing your trust is in the Lord to help order your affairs in several hours..has anyone ever done serious prayer past midnight before? What are your thoughts on that?
 
SojourningSøren said:
Because I work midnight shifts at my university’s library - that is, we close at midnight, so I get home around 12:30 - I’ve had a nagging irritation with getting plenty of sleep while also getting up with the sun to pray and get into working out. Since school started this past week, I keep getting out of bed at 8:30, which is late, to me.

I would love to make a morning prayer a real distinction in my life. But is it unusual to pray instead at 1 in the morning as a routine? On one hand, I suppose it allows one to pray for the new day and then rest in sleep knowing your trust is in the Lord to help order your affairs in several hours..has anyone ever done serious prayer past midnight before? What are your thoughts on that?
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I try to pray for at least an hour after my kids go to bed. That's around 10:00 at night. I'm totally a night person, so for me it's natural and easy. I have no desire to wake up early to pray or work out, or do anything. Lol
 
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I also have a thought if anyone wants to try to share an opinion. I have a book that is basically scripture taken and put in the form of prayer, meant for praying with other people together. I often find myself praying these prayers for just my family, but I'm wondering, what's stopping me from always including the entire global Church? Like why restrict prayers just to a certain group of people when with just a few extra words we can pray them up for millions and millions? For whatever reason I feel as if God would be more inclined to answer such prayers if they were for a smaller group rather than the entire Church as a whole. Maybe I'm underestimating the power of God.
 
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