Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Praying Earnestly
























Many a prayer is too long by twenty lines. It is smothered under a bed-full of words. There are times when a Christian man can pray from hour to hour; but it is a great mistake when brethren measure their supplications by the clock. The great matter is not how long you pray, but how earnestly you pray. Consider the life of the prayer rather than the length of the prayer. If your prayer reaches to heaven it is long enough. What longer can it need to be? If it does not reach the Lord, though it occupied you for a week, it would not be long enough to be of use.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "To Souls In Agony." Image by Nigel Wedge on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have always believed that, it does not matter how long you pray, but to follow the simple prayer the Lord Jesus Christ asked as to pray. This prayer encompasses everything. We must pay attention to the words and sentences and we would then understand that our prayer to God is really what He wants to hear. Anymore, we would be wasting our time and His precious time. Afterall, the bible says, we must not be like people of other faith who babble on and on in public but to go to a quiet place and say this simple prayer "our father.....".

The souls remedy said...

I agree totally! Brothers & sisters who have a relationship with Christ don't need long drawn out prayers... Likewise Preachers with solid relationships don't need prolonged sermons either... :D

Anonymous said...

Short prayer is not always the answer. Elijah prayed 7 times for the same thing before the Lord answered. He prayed earnestly and the Lord knew his heart. James 5 said the earnest prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective - not short or long - but earnest. God Bless

As Jesus prayed the night away in the Garden . . .

Sinor said...

Wow, what an eye opener. Really there are times when I fast for a day or longer but feel empty. But sometimes a short prayer makes me feel fulfilled.
I think it gets measured according to the mountain you want to climb. The position is as important, Daniel and his team prayed three times, the wall of jrco 7 times, hanna prayed till she lost words. 'Its not how long or short the prayer is BUT praying Earnestly'

Sinor said...

I always hear in the scriptures of the power of praying earnestly. Hanna prayed till she lost words, daniel and his team prayed three times, jrco was rounded 7 times. I think the challenges we face need us to take drastic measures so how we decide to pray. The position is just as important.

May God bless you