How Often Should you Pray?

How often should a Christian pray?

  • Whenever he's in the mood

  • At a set time each morning

  • At church on Sunday

  • Before sleep

  • After sleep

  • Only to give thanks for food

  • Hourly

  • When one has needs


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nuranoora

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If you ask me, you should pray several times a day. Also , whenever something good happens to you, make sure to thank God, and whenever something bad happens, pray to God and ask for His help. But if you are not that much into religion, then *at least* in the morning when you wake up, in the evening before bed, and before meal. :)
 
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jimmyjimmy

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The Jesus Prayer can be said continually and it is the objective of many Orthodox monastics to do precisely that. And some succeed.

I've already defined prayer in this thread, and there are real examples of it in the biblical texts.

Then they do so ignoring Jesus own teaching about meaningless repetition.
 
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jimmyjimmy

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I think it would be good habit to pray atleast twice in the day I.e. morning and evening depending on your convenience though there is no thumb rule

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Finally! Some practical advice! Thanks for the post.
 
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jimmyjimmy

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If you ask me, you should pray several times a day. Also , whenever something good happens to you, make sure to thank God, and whenever something bad happens, pray to God and ask for His help. But if you are not that much into religion, then *at least* in the morning when you wake up, in the evening before bed, and before meal. :)

Thanks for your post. Do you have some backing for your recommendation? Is there some biblical text that you are thinking of when you make this recommendation?
 
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Paul Yohannan

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I've already defined prayer in this thread, and there are real examples of it in the biblical texts.

Then they do so ignoring Jesus own teaching about meaningless repetition.

No, because of the key word "meaningless.". What our Lord was referring to was the glossolalia characteristic of Mithraism, several Gnostic sects and some of the Pagan mysteries.
 
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jimmyjimmy

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No, because of the key word "meaningless.". What our Lord was referring to was the glossolalia characteristic of Mithraism, several Gnostic sects and some of the Pagan mysteries.

If you could defend such practices as wasting a day repeating words to a God who already knows (which is the reason why we don't repeat ourselves), you could defend anything; however, if you would like to engage in further conversation with scripture and honesty as a basis, I'm game.
 
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Paul Yohannan

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If you could defend such practices as wasting a day repeating words to a God who already knows (which is the reason why we don't repeat ourselves), you could defend anything; however, if you would like to engage in further conversation with scripture and honesty as a basis, I'm game.

I am being honest, and our Lord did say "pray without ceasing." Your contention that this is hyperbole is not Scripturally supporter.
 
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jimmyjimmy

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I am being honest, and our Lord did say "pray without ceasing." Your contention that this is hyperbole is not Scripturally supporter.

Our Lord never said "Pray without ceasing", and we have already been there, so I have no choice but push the i button.
 
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Jonathan Mathews

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Why would you assume that a person who is asking about the frequency of prayer is seeking to understand a "minimum requirement"? He may have been seeking a maximum, most fulfilling quantity of prayer.

It's interesting that you would jump to such a negative conclusion.[/QUOTE]

Was my judgement wrong????

I assumed it because I used to be in the same position, so I know why they're asking. It seemed innocent enough to me then, but now I see that I was just seeking to justify myself before God, all the while, God just wanted to be in a continual relationship with me.

Why do you assume that I think myself any better? Did I say that? Don't you know that even LOVE points out another's faults if it will help them.
 
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jimmyjimmy

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Why would you assume that a person who is asking about the frequency of prayer is seeking to understand a "minimum requirement"? He may have been seeking a maximum, most fulfilling quantity of prayer.

It's interesting that you would jump to such a negative conclusion.

Was my judgement wrong????

I assumed it because I used to be in the same position, so I know why they're asking. It seemed innocent enough to me then, but now I see that I was just seeking to justify myself before God, all the while, God just wanted to be in a continual relationship with me.

Why do you assume that I think myself any better? Did I say that? Don't you know that even LOVE points out another's faults if it will help them.[/QUOTE]

I have no idea what you are saying above.

The purpose of this thread is to discuss the quantity of prayer that is biblical/normal/optimal/helpful - not minimal. No where was minimal explicitly or implicitly stated, so one wonders where you would come up with such a notion.
 
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nuranoora

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Thanks for your post. Do you have some backing for your recommendation? Is there some biblical text that you are thinking of when you make this recommendation?

Yes of course, you can read in Psalm 119:164 (NIV). There is also this thing with number Seven that is considered to be Biblical number for completeness, do you know what I mean? I mean I don't think people nowadays really pray like this, at least majority of Christians don't, but I do because my family sticks with traditional Christianity or however you call it. So for example, we have 7 prayers that basically go like this:
1.Evening prayer (6pm)
2. Bedtime prayer (9pm)
3. night prayer (12am)
4. morning prayer (6am)
5. 3rd hour prayer (9am)
6. 6th hour prayer (12pm)
7. 9th hour prayer (3pm)
And I understand if it sound too much especially if you are not so much into religion or so much into praying. And just because someone prays so many times a day doesn't automatically make them better person unless they prove it, so I guess just thanking God for waking up in the morning and thanking Him for the food and in the evening when going to bed is enough, but do it from your heart. Here's what Bible says: Joshua 1:8(NIV); Daniel 6:10(NIV); 1 Chron 17:25, Matt 14:23, Psa 5:3, Psa 55:17, Col 4:2 , 2 Tim 1:3. God bless :)


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jimmyjimmy

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Yes of course, you can read in Psalm 119:164 (NIV). There is also this thing with number Seven that is considered to be Biblical number for completeness, do you know what I mean? I mean I don't think people nowadays really pray like this, at least majority of Christians don't, but I do because my family sticks with traditional Christianity or however you call it. So for example, we have 7 prayers that basically go like this:
1.Evening prayer (6pm)
2. Bedtime prayer (9pm)
3. night prayer (12am)
4. morning prayer (6am)
5. 3rd hour prayer (9am)
6. 6th hour prayer (12pm)
7. 9th hour prayer (3pm)
And I understand if it sound too much especially if you are not so much into religion or so much into praying. And just because someone prays so many times a day doesn't automatically make them better person unless they prove it, so I guess just thanking God for waking up in the morning and thanking Him for the food and in the evening when going to bed is enough, but do it from your heart. Here's what Bible says: Joshua 1:8(NIV); Daniel 6:10(NIV); 1 Chron 17:25, Matt 14:23, Psa 5:3, Psa 55:17, Col 4:2 , 2 Tim 1:3. God bless :)


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Thank you for sharing. Yes, we understand, or at least we should, that the much prayer does not win favor with God, necessarily , and that people can pray, give, serve, all with bad motives.

However, some practical advice on how often people pray may be found helpful to us.

By 12:00 AM prayer, I assume you wake up to pray?
 
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