Missonas: Gosh dis rules!lol
Prayer either short or long frm a sincere heart is acceptable.compare a short and lengthy prayer with a long and distracting one.itz frm ur heart 2GOD'S ears.

ifeness:
God's ears?

Missonas: Gosh dis rules!lol
Prayer either short or long frm a sincere heart is acceptable.compare a short and lengthy prayer with a long and distracting one.itz frm ur heart 2GOD'S ears.

striktlymi: Good morning fub,

I am of the opinion that there is nothing like a 'short prayer'...prayer is meant to be a consistent thing in our lives...St Paul admonishes us to pray without ceasing in his epistle to the Thessalonians:

1 Thessalonians 5:17
King James Version (KJV)

17 Pray without ceasing.

Now what exactly does this mean for a Christian? Are we supposed to shun every other thing we need to do in our lives and focus on prayer?...this really is far from what I mean. For a Christian...everything and any activity is turned into prayer.

Colossians 3:23
King James Version (KJV)
23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

The work we do, the places we go to, the movies we see etc can be turned into prayer e.g when one offers his job to God as a prayer offering, asking God to bless and sanctify the works of his hands...that work we do becomes a form of prayer that is pleasing and acceptable to God...all we need do now is do that work very well in order to please God...same goes to other activities.

Romans 12:11
King James Version (KJV)
11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;


Now this does not mean you should not find some quiet time to be with God in some vocal or mental prayer...this indeed is very needed and like someone said what you need here is sincerity of heart...

Matthew 6:6
King James Version (KJV)
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

For this kind of prayer, you pray as the spirit leads but be mindful of your other activities...it's really not about the time spent but the quality of the time spent...one can indeed spend 3 hours in prayer and achieve very little results and one can spend just a minute and achieve a lot...just like the Pharisee and the Publican...

Luke 18:11-13
King James Version (KJV)
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

fubbyy: nice 1
But in that case why did people spend much time in prayers since short or long is the same thing
Are you saying that 30 mins prayer and 1 min prayer is the same thing?

kambo: it depends on wat u ar prayg about. Sometimes even a word of prayer is a waste of time.
War fare:
in the OT moses lifted up his arms while isreal fought its enemies , while he did, isreal was winng but he got tired and had 2 b supported by 2 ppl.

Daniel's prayer was answered on d first day, an angel was dispatched but an opposition , prince of persia and his gang,
delayed the results.

Joshua fightg his enemies,
asked God to make d sun stand still so he cud hav more daylight to wrk with.

Morale pray(fight) till d job is done. Complete victory.



2. Intercessory prayer

abraham kept askg God wat if x amount of men in sodom and g were righteous.
E.g a mom prayg 4 a wayward child, or prayg to break a habit - ths kind of prayer takes time.. It is compared to travailg in child birth. Not biscuit and chewg gum prayer.

Prayer to know God's will:

in som matters, God's will isnt expressly known. U hav 2 job offers,whch dyu chose.
Who shd i marry? Shud i travel ? Etc.
Ex. Jesus in d garden of gethsamene prayg tht God take d cup he was to bear, he prayed till his sweat bcame blood. Till his will was totally submerged wth the father's will.
David , wen his wives and children were taken hostage by an enemy army kept askg God thru an oracle shud i pursue.

Thanks givg:
the idea is to praise intensely - can take time. Paul and silas in prison. Praised and praised till God reacted and shook d prison with earthquake.

Petition prayers:
gimme prayers. This require d least time but d one ppl often wear themselves out on.
The principle is know wat is urs as a child of God and take it, as your faith can bear.
E.g som1 havg insomnia , wud find d verse sayg "he giveth his beloveth sleep.", believe, thnk God 4 it and go to sleep. And keep blvg (fightg the gud fight of faith) till his insomnia levels totally dissapear.
Same goes for askg for bigger thngs but ppl like to blv only wen the problem dissapears (walkg by sight) and thts not how it works so they pray at the top of their lungs, increase d prayer time, add fastg etc and generally end up frustrated.. . because theyre doing it wrng!