One of my goals for 2013 is to spend the first ten minutes of my daily devotional time in prayer. I had been praying at the end of my devotions and found that I usually ran out of time. This new plan is working very well!
We are told in I Thessalonians 5:17 to pray without ceasing. What a blessing it is to know that we can pray anytime and anywhere. Indeed, we should always be in an attitude of prayer.
However, in studying Bible passages on prayer lately, I’ve been motivated to look at setting more specific times of prayer. David says in Psalm 55:17, “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud…” After learning of the king’s command that no prayers were to be offered except to the king himself, we read in Daniel 6:10 that Daniel “kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.”
These men are an inspiration to me to set aside 3 times a day to pray. I have the morning covered, but I would like to add a few minutes to pray in the middle of the day, perhaps right before or after lunch. That part of our day tends to be busy, so I will have to be purposeful in making this happen. I also want to add a time of prayer just before I fall asleep.
At each of these times, I want to pray for specific needs. In the morning, it’s my family and friends. At lunch time, I can pray for missionaries and our country. In the evening, it could be for our church, its ministries, and the needs of fellow members.
Strengthening my prayer life is a focus for 2013 and I hope that establishing this habit will help in that area.
Do you have any other suggestions for setting specific prayer times?
I love the idea of praying in the middle of the day! I generally offer prayers as they come to mind, but the idea of a specific prayer time is a great!