“Time,” William Penn reminded us, “is what we want most, but what we use worst.” Maybe that adage is nowhere more true than in our prayer lives.
Christian leaders have often advocated spending more time in prayer. For instance, the 19th century evangelical Anglican J. C. Ryle once observed, “No man ever said at the end of his days, ‘I have read my Bible too much, I have thought of God too much, I have prayed too much, I have been too concerned about my soul.’ Oh, no! The people of God would always say, ‘Had I my life over again, I would walk far more closely with God than ever I have done.’” He appears to be right. In fact, some of the most well-known Christian leaders of recent memory, near the end of their lives, actually said they wished they had spent more time in prayer.
Leonard Ravenhill’s biography, In Light of Eternity, details how the revivalist spent hours every day in prayer. Yet, near the end of his life, Ravenhill expressed regrets. He said, “If I had spent more time alone with God rather than preaching and planning how I was going to change the world, I would be a very different man.”
Similarly, on the one-year anniversary of Billy Graham’s death, Lifeway highlighted the late evangelist’s three biggest regrets. If he had the opportunity to live his life over, he said, “I would spend more time in prayer, not just for myself but for others.” Clearly, in the minds of many Christians, prioritizing prayer includes spending more time in prayer.
Jesus often spent hours in prayer (Matthew 4:1-2; Mark 1:35-36; Luke 6:12). Paul reminds us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Spending more time in prayer is a biblical desire; so, if you want to pray longer, here are some practical steps to help you begin:
Make an appointment with God
According to the Harvard Business Review, your routines and habits account for about half of your actions each day. The behavioral specialist Nir Eyal argues, “a habit is a behavior done with little or no thought, while a routine involves a series of behaviors frequently and intentionally repeated. Habits are hard to break and hard to make, but a routine is the inevitable starting place of most habits.
Praying more is not an occasional event. Instead, it begins with developing the routine of meeting with God. Scripture teaches that prayer is a daily event. The psalmist in Psalm 5:2-3 said that the Lord heard his voice “in the morning” (v.3) when his daily prayers (v.2) and sacrifices occurred (Psalm 5:3). Daniel was certain to violate a Babylonian law requiring him to pray to a false god, because he was known to pray with an open window every day (Daniel 6:10). In the most famous prayer in history Jesus taught us to pray “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). Clearly, Jesus expects us to pray every day.
So, to pray more, put God on your daily calendar. Determine a starting and an ending time just like any other appointment. Even if you add only 15 minutes a day, something will likely have to change in your current schedule in order to make room for your new daily prayer appointment. That will probably mean getting up earlier and, conversely, going to bed earlier the night before. Whatever times you choose, commitments make demands of us. We make our choices, then our choices make us!
Develop a prayer list
A prayer list keeps you focused. To some a list may seem mechanical; but remember, you’re building a good routine. Even if it feels awkward at first, you’ll soon appreciate the way you’re now doing it better than the way you previously didn’t do it! Prayer is spiritual, but the logistics of building a prayer life are simply practical, repeatable disciplines. Besides, have you ever thought about the Lord’s Prayer as the most well-known prayer list ever drafted? It covers all the important components of a powerful daily prayer life: praise, confession, intercession, supplication, submission, and other matters. Use the Lord’s Prayer as your list or as a guide to craft your own prayer list. Adjust your list as your habit of prayer grows. Make paper or electronic copies and keep them handy so the prayer list is always ready whenever you want to pray. A list helps you avoid the familiar dilemma of wandering thoughts while you pray, and it allows you to maximize the time you have.
Pray more than once
Daniel was one of the greatest men of prayer in the Old Testament. He was a busy government leader, but he prayed three times a day (Daniel 6:10). By keeping a prayer list and by praying more than once a day, you can complete your list and add more time to your prayers. So, for instance, calendar a main time for prayer in the early morning and add more time at noon or in the evening. Daniel did it. So can you. Adrian Rogers once said, “I’ve rarely spent two hours in prayer, but I’ve rarely gone two hours without prayer.” Devoting multiple, scheduled times to pray during the day will deepen your Christian life.
Vance Havner once quipped that “God doesn’t time our prayers He weighs them.” There may be truth in his statement, but there’s a reason why Jesus spent 40 days – not 40 minutes – in the desert praying and fasting. How we spend our time says something significant about our priorities. For instance, the average American spends over five hours a day in leisure activities. If we can spend five hours a day online, watching television, or playing video games, is 30 minutes a day with God too radical? If you want to grow in Christ, you will find a way to spend more time with Him every day.
