A Good Long Prayer

Surely, in our church community, we know of men and women in the faith who can pray for hours. As we converse with them about how they can pray for a long period, there is one thing in common with their answers: saying prayers over a long period is something they delight in doing. As they obey God’s command of praying and lifting prayer requests to Him (Philippians 4:6-7), it is a delight for them to do and never burdensome (1 John 5:3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,).

Heavenly Father, just as I admire those Christians who can pray long prayers, I pray that I could also do the same. This request is not coming from a heart of competition regarding who can pray longer. I offer it because I delight in communing with You and therefore want to spend more time with You in prayer. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

 

The Heart Behind a Long Prayer

The heart behind a long prayer surely is not trying to make a Guinness Book of World Records and have the longest prayer possible. Whenever we pray or desire to be able to pray long, we must have the right heart behind it. 

Guidance From the Bible on How to Pray

Matthew 6:6-7 presents us the essence behind why we pray. It also talks about long and wordy prayers. In verse 7, Jesus instructs us not to heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their many words.

Some people pray long and wordy prayers (making prayers longer by using more words or even repeating them), thinking that God will hear their prayers even more. It is essential to note that long or wordy prayers are not inherently wrong. What Jesus was trying to point out here is the heart behind it. In other words, why do you want to pray a good long prayer? Is it so that God will hear you?

The heart behind a prayer, whether long or short, wordy or not, is found in verse 6. It is written that when we pray, we go into our room, shut the door, and pray to our Father, who is in the secret place. God, who sees us in secret, will reward us. If you study the passage deeper, the reward there is intimacy with God. The passage does not communicate it in a way that we have to earn intimacy with God. Rather, it tells us that the main reason we pray and why we do it in secret is that we want to commune with God and have intimacy with Him.

In other words, the motivation behind our prayers is strengthening our relationship with God. We want to commune with Him, for God communicates with us through His Word, the Scriptures, and us through prayer. Hence, even if a prayer is long, as long as the heart behind it is out of pure desire to commune with God, it is a God-honoring prayer.

Heavenly Father, I thank You because we don’t have to make ourselves heard or earn Your ear. In Christ, we have received adoption as Your children. Therefore, we have Your ear as our heavenly Father. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Another reason you would want to pray good long prayers aside from pursuing intimacy with God and communing with Him is that you are concerned for those things you are praying for. In 1 Timothy 2:1, it is written that we are to make supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving for all people. Hence, we pray for as many matters as possible regarding others, which constitute our good long prayers. We pray because we care (1 Corinthians 16:14  Do everything in love.).

 

How to Make a Good Long Prayer

Initially, you can make a prayer longer by considering as many prayer points as possible. However, keep in mind that one broad prayer point can be further broken down. As it becomes more specific, it can be made into another prayer point you can say. For example, let’s say you want to pray for your nation. Indeed, the primary prayer point you can focus on is the United States of America:

Heavenly Father, I pray that the United States of America will always be a prosperous nation that will revere You as our God. May our nation always be a beacon of hope and light for other nations, and may its citizens always have a good quality of life . . .

You can further break that down by praying for the federal government, which makes a big impact on the well-being of the United States of America:

. . . I also pray for the federal government, which governs the entire country. I pray that our government leaders shall always lead with competence and sound wisdom. Give them the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding to be able to make better decisions and strategies whether in international politics, legislation, budget allocations, etc . . .

Furthermore, you can specifically pray for the three branches that constitute the government of the United States:

. . . I pray for the President. I pray that he will be able to encounter Christ. May he have the opportunity to hear the Gospel. Work in his heart, Holy Spirit, that he may believe the Gospel, repent, and commit to follow Christ and lead with the fear of the Lord. I pray for the legislative body of our government that they shall continue to make laws that protect the well-being of the people and never enact laws that are an abomination to you. May our judiciary also be swift in the administration of justice and ensure that the rule of law is always promoted . . .

From the sample, you can see that you pray for everything you can for a specific point, further breaking it down and praying for those points. From the U.S. as a whole, we prayed for the federal government, and then we further prayed for the three branches of the government. You can further break it down by praying for the citizens, law enforcement, the military, every sector of society, etc.