Post by Murph on Apr 25, 2024 7:19:18 GMT -6
Making Time to Pray
Somewhere along the way, many Christians started to equate disciplined prayer with rote or powerless prayer. We think, How could something as intimate as prayer be scheduled? I was shocked the first time I visited a church where someone prayed using a pad of paper. For me, the idea of prewritten prayers, or scheduled prayer, just seemed unspiritual. But it doesn’t have to be. In fact, many of us wouldn’t pray unless we forced ourselves to. From the earliest days, God’s people have been taught that healthy prayer lives must be cultivated through hard work. It takes time, often set-apart time, to ensure that prayer is prioritized like Jesus modeled in his own life (see Mark 1:35; 6:46; Luke 5:16; 6:12; 9:28).
Setting apart time to pray is biblical. In Jesus’s day, Jewish people were known to recite daily the words of Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” This confession of faith in the one true God (offered when the worshipper rose from sleep and when they prepared for bed) was accompanied by prayers that magnified God by recognizing his provision and mighty works. The pattern of individual morning and evening prayer reflected the corporate worship of the tabernacle, where sacrifices were offered to God each morning and evening (Exodus 29:38–46). Consider what the psalmist said, “Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice” (Psalm 55:17). Or think about the example of Daniel: “He went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously” (Daniel 6:10).
corechristianity.com/resources/articles/making-time-to-pray