James 5:16
Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much
Many often chastise themselves for not being able to pray for long hours. What is the significance of long prayer times? you might want to ask. Well, God never said we must spend long hours in prayers for Him to hear us. He never told us how long our prayers should be and doesn’t demand from us many hours of prayers as the definition of time by some is. But if you spend long hours, that’s great. Remember, He lives in eternity; therefore, He’s not regulated by minutes and hours as we are in the earth. So, in a sense, the significance or essence of prayer is not in its protraction in terms of the number of hours spent praying. It’s not “how long” you pray that really makes an impact; it’s “how right” you pray.
Many spend long hours in prayer, saying the wrong things, hence their lives are unfulfilled, being void of the spiritual results and impact of prayer. They have missed the true essence of prayer, which is fellowship and communion with the Lord. That communion not only builds your relationship with Him, but also helps transform your personality from glory to glory.
What God wants is for you to spend quality time alone with Him, away from everything else. For example, you’d be amazed how much impact a fifteen or thirty minute time alone with the Lord, spent praying intensely in the Spirit, will produce in your life.
Of course, it’s desirable and advisable to spend longer periods with the Lord in fellowship. All that’s required is discipline. You have to learn to stay at the place of prayer. Lately, we’ve been observing intense moments of prayer regularly, as I notify those following on Twitter. And many who have been disciplined enough to participate in the prayer times have shared testimonies of how they were able to go beyond the regular fifteen minutes of prayer to twenty or thirty minutes, and some others to even an hour. This happened, not because they were hitherto doing it but because they found they had so much more to say to the Lord during such blissful atmosphere of fellowship.
The significance of prayer is therefore not its length, especially in the eyes of others; it’s the beauty of fellowshipping with the Most High, away from everything else. That fellowship enriches and strengthens your spirit, while improving your life in a tremendous way.
Matthew 6:5-8
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 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. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
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