In fact, Christ indicates that praying for “one hour” can have powerful results (Matthew 26:40-41). Let's begin by reading the prayer from Matthew 6:9-13. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. (10) Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
There is no prescription in the Bible that we 'must' pray for an hour, but there are many people who would like to spend more time in prayer, but do not know how to do it in a meaningful way. 3. These guidelines are simply examples of how to spend meaningful time in prayer.
How long we pray does not matter as much as how often we pray and the spirit we bring into our prayer. Some, in trying to be pedantic say that we should pray for one hour. The reason they give is because Jesus said to His disciples, “Will you not watch with me for one hour?” (Mk. 14:37).
Prayer can be long. Sometimes long is very good because it gets us into a mind-set of quieting our own thoughts and preparing us to listen for God's direction. The Bible tells us, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalms 46:10).
Every believer should attempt to have a prayer life that is “without ceasing” as the scripture commands us. The Bible never tells Christians how long or how often we are to pray each day, but it does give examples from men and women of God that we would be wise to follow.
In addition to this, Jesus said grace before the feeding miracles, at the Last Supper, and at the supper at Emmaus. R. A. Torrey asserts that Jesus prayed early in the morning as well as all night, that he prayed both before and after the great events of his life, and that he prayed "when life was unusually busy".
John 17:1–26 is generally known as the Farewell Prayer or the High Priestly Prayer. It is by far the longest prayer of Jesus in any of the gospels.
ANSWER: Absolutely not! The Bible tells us to persist in prayer and to pray about everything. God doesn't always answer the way we think He should, or when we think He should.
Augustine of Hippo (5th century) preferred “very brief, quickly dispatched prayers.” Thomas Aquinas (13th century) held that frequency, not length, is the important issue in prayer. Frequent short prayers are of more worth than a few lengthy prayers.
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. The World English Bible translates the passage as: In praying, don't use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.
Canonical hours
In Apostolic Tradition, Hippolytus instructed Christians to pray seven times a day "on rising, at the lighting of the evening lamp, at bedtime, at midnight" and "the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, being hours associated with Christ's Passion."
If you want to prayer longer, the Prayer Cycle could come in handy. Go somewhere that is quiet where you can get alone with God. Track 5 minute increments: You can do this by set a repeating alarm for 5 minutes or just keep an eye on a clock.
The typical schedule for the Divine Hours follows a three-hour pattern, with prayers at 6:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., noon, 3:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m. In addition, there are evening prayers and morning prayers outside of these times.
So, yes, God does hear our prayers. It may be that the answer He is giving is for you not to give up praying, it may be to stop certain sins in your life, it may be a silence that calls you closer in order to learn the sound of His still small voice. But He hears.
When we don't know how or what to pray, the Holy Spirit graciously helps us as we read or recite (or even sing!) these prayers, making them our own. Written prayers help you convey exactly what you want to say and can diminish distractions from poor wording and mental lapses.
Jesus simply replied, “Come.” As Peter walked on the water, he was (understandably) afraid and began to sink. That's when he came up with the shortest prayer in the Bible: “Lord, save me!” Clear, simple, straight to the point.
1) Simply sit in God's presence
You don't need a lot of words (or any) to pray. Sometimes what I need most when I'm soul weary is to simply sit in the presence of God and let him refill my heart. So, find a quiet place (go hide in your closet or bathroom if you need to – I have!) and sit in the silence with God.
The mention of “pray” or “prayer” in the Bible depends on the version and context of the word. For example, you'll get 547 instances of the word “pray” and its variants when you search through the King James Version of the Bible, but not all of them are used in the context of praying to God.
Prayer Three Times a Day
There is also ample evidence for patterns of praying at three set times per day, which is corroborated in the New Testament as a pattern picked up by first-century Christians.
It is called the "Jesus Prayer", and it consists simply in uttering the single word "Jesus" (or "Lord Jesus", or "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner") in any situation, at any time and place, either aloud or silently.
The Prophet once stayed for nineteen days and prayed shortened prayers. So when we travel led (and stayed) for nineteen days, we used to shorten the prayer but if we travelled (and stayed) for a longer period we used to offer the full prayer.
Instead, God's answers come according to His timing and that may span a long period of time. Daniel fasted and prayed for three weeks. After this season of prayer, he stood on the banks of the Tigris River where he saw a man who had a glorious appearance.