When Should We Pray?

I Thessalonians 5:17
Pray without ceasing.

Once we've established that we ought to be praying, then that leads to other questions. One of those is when should we pray?

Do we pray only at church? Do we pray at a set time every day? Maybe just at mealtimes? Maybe at bedtime? Is any specific time required...or are they all just suggestions? Psalm 55:17 says "Evening and morning, and at noon, will I pray..." Does that mean we're required to pray three times a day? (Conversely, does three times a day get us "off the hook" and that's all we need to pray?)

The answer is that Christianity doesn't have any set times or amounts that we need to pray. Many families do give thanks before each meal, and that's a good practice because it gives a specific time to be in particular thankful. But there's no requirement to be prayerful at that exact time. Like many things in Christianity, when to formally pray is a matter of conscience.

However, though Christianity doesn't have set times to pray, there is a very high standard for Christians about prayer. Like many things in the New Testament, the requirement under grace gives more freedom and no strict law...while at the same time holding an even higher standard than any law could. In this case, the standard is "Pray without ceasing."

So what does that mean? It seems impossible on the surface, but God would not give us a command that is impossible. Obviously, we're not to be bowing our heads and praying in a spirit of deep communion twenty-four hours a day. For one thing, many hours are spent asleep, which is certainly not time spent in prayer. And if we try to pray with closed eyes and head bowed while we're driving down the road, we'll end up with our front bumper communing with the rear bumper of the next car.

I shied away from writing about this verse at first becasue, honestly, it's a spiritual discipline that I'm not very strong in. But I believe what this verse means is that we should always be in a spirit of prayer. When something bad happens, instead of trying to figure out how to solve a problem ourselves, our first response should be prayer, asking God for wisdom to address the situation or for provision. When something good happens, our first response should be, "Thank you, God!" And when we have a pause in life's routine, instead of letting our minds wander aimlessly, we should turn our thoughts to God.

What a difference it would make in our lives if we spent our days always ready to pray at the first opportunity!