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Daily we all have to determine how we’ll spend our time budget.  Time budget?  Yes, we all have a budget of 24 hours.  While many of us wish we could get more, we all get the same amount.  It is up to us to determine how we use it.  How much of your time is devoted to prayer?  How often do you pray?  How do you know what God’s will is for you if you don’t spend time with Him?  You are in serious trouble if your prayer time is limited to saying grace at dinner and listening to the prayers at church.  How do you spend your day?  We realize the Jews went to the synagogue and prayed several times a day.  I’m certain you don’t have time to do this.  But, how do you spend your day?  Let’s do a little math.  There are 24 hours in a day.  No one can get more time than this.  Many will get less.  Therefore, you want to be certain you’re in a relationship with God before it’s to late.  Let’s subtract 8 hours from your allotted 24 hours if you are working or in school.  So, you have 16 hours left.  The typical person sleeps around 8 hours.  So, we’re down to 8 hours.  You have other obligations such as going to the grocery store, reviewing your child’s homework, watch TV, read, etc.  Let’s just say those items take 5 hours.  It shouldn’t be difficult to carve out 10 minutes of prayer from the remaining 3 hours you have in your day.  Obviously, those numbers are loose.  I just wanted you to see that we have a lot of time to devote to our Lord.  I would image you’ve found time to ask God for things you want.  Why not put in time to simple talk to Him about where you are and where you want to go.  As you talk with our Father, you’ll gain a clearer view of where He wants you to go and what He wants you to do.  Remember, prayer isn’t about you.  Rather, it’s about you finding out what He wants you do to.  This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask for things.  Just don’t have all of your prayer time in with Him as a selfish endeavor.  The goal of prayer is the ear of God.¹ 


I challenge and encourage you to find out how much time you spend with the Almighty.  Anyone “seeks an example to follow does well to turn to the life of Jesus Himself. Our belief in the necessity of prayer comes from observing His life.  Surely if anyone could have sustained life without prayer, it would be the very Son of God himself.  If prayer is silly or unnecessary, Jesus would not have wasted His time at it.  But wait! Prayer was the dominant feature of His life and a recurring part of His teaching.  Prayer kept His moral vision sharp and clear.  Prayer gave Him courage to endure the perfect but painful will of His Father.  Prayer paved the way for transfiguration.  To Jesus, prayer was not a hasty add-on, but a joyous necessity. Commit to spend time in prayer with Him if you aren’t doing already.  In fact, right now is a great time to start. According to Oswald Chambers, “All Christians need more teaching in the art of prayer, and the Holy Spirit is the master teacher.  The Spirit’s help in prayer is mentioned in the Bible more frequently than any other help He gives us.  All true praying comes from the Spirit’s activity in our soul. ¹

1.  Sanders, Oswald J., Spiritual Leadership, (Chicago: Moody, 1994).