Do You Have To Pray Every Day?
ONE HOUR vs.TEN MINUTES
There are wide-ranging opinions on how frequently a “good” Christian should pray. I’ve heard ministers passionately contend that neglecting to pray for an hour every day was a half step below blasphemy. Proponents of this viewpoint often quote Jesus when he asked his disciples, “Can you not pray with me for one hour?”
On the other hand, there are those that emphasize QUALITY over QUANTITY. They reason that 10 minutes of sincere, focused, time with God is far more productive than an hour of just “putting your time in.” Proponents of this viewpoint use Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees for using “vain repetitions” in their long-winded prayers.
Personally, I don’t believe that there is a one-size-fits-all prayer template. I’ve got four, very different children that interact with me in four, very different ways.
So I don’t know if YOU should pray EVERY DAY. But I do know this…you need to keep your garden weeded.
DOING A GARDEN RIGHT
I love those scences in Downton Abbey that show two people strolling through one of those Voctorian Era gardens. The hedges are tightly trimmed, the colors are radiant, and the fragrance must have been amazing.
I often wonder how much money Lord Grantham paid annually just to keep those gardens in tip-top shape. Given what we know about weeds and the stubborn tendency of foliage to trend toward chaos, it had to have been significant.
Daily attention had to have been paid to the weeding, trimming, and nurturing of the garden. This principle remains true for our minds as well.
For the sake of this post, think of your mind as a flower garden. And just as there is no shortcut to keeping a physical garden weed-less, there is no shortcut to keeping your mind clean either.
You’ve got to get on your knees, get your hands dirty, and pluck out the intrusive growth….often.
FROM SEEDS TO WEEDS
Every action of ours begins with a seed thought, planted in the garden of our mind – every adulterous affair, every business venture, every conversion to Christ, every proposal of marriage.
These hundreds of thoughts per day thoughts only grow into actions if they are allowed to burrow into the soil, extend their roots, and force their way up through the surface.
Stop and ask yourself this question:
Which of my seed thoughts are growing into actions?
- Do my seeds of fear grow up to become diblitating anxiety?
- Do my seeds of attraction mature into illicit sexual acts?
- Do my seeds of criticism burgeon into destructive spoken words?
Is it possible that your mind is becoming overgrown and overrun with invasive growth?
If so, there’s only one way to fix that.
Get on your knees, get your hands dirty, and pluck out the weeds.
GIVE YOUR THOUGHTS SOME TOUGH LOVE
I’m not going to tell you how frequently you SHOULD pray. I will, however, tell you that the sooner you hold that weed accountable, the easier it is to get rid of.
In other words, affording a seed thought the luxury of flying under the radar for a month gives it free reign to extend its roots and take hold. Let it skate for another six months and it’s choking out the tulips.
Catch the weeds early. They’re easier to pluck out that way. This is why regular prayer is so important.
WHY YOU SHOULD PRAY REGULARLY
The psalmist wrote it this way:
Psalm 139:23-24English Standard Version (ESV)
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
In this prayer, David is forcing all of his thoughts under the God’s interrogation lamp. He is giving God the permission to differentiate the good seed thoughts from the bad.
Because of this, seeds of fear, lust, and entitlement never get to grow up and have babies in our brain. The moment they show their heads, we are able to pluck out toss them out.
A CHANGE OF MIND
I recently had a pretty good MMA match with a particular thought. For a few days, I was bothered by something that I felt was an injustice. As I’m prone to do, I developed a game plan as to how to effectively deal with this matter.
After about the third day of praying about it, however, my game plan was completely scrapped. Why? Because God showed me that the way that I was thinking about this situation was completely wrong. My philosophy was wrong, my attitude was wrong, and my game plan was wrong.
This particular seed that was growing in my mind did not need to be watered, fertilized, or harvested.
It needed to be plucked out.
Prayer revealed this.
I shudder to think of the negative consequences that I would have brought on my own head had I taken the month off in prayer.
SHOULD YOU PRAY EVERY DAY?
I’ve gone through seasons of my life when I was faithful to prayer daily. I’ve also gone through seasons where it was a struggle to find the altar every several days.
Here’s what I’ve found:
It’s awfully dangerous to give your thoughts a free pass for any considerable length of time.
Therefore, while there is no frequency-of-prayer law, there is a law of sowing, growing, and weed-plucking.
How is your garden looking?
