the everywhere + the somewhere

When is a good time to pray? And where is a good place to pray?

Simple: always and everywhere …right?

According to passages like Acts 4:23-31; yes! Here Peter and John show us an amazing picture of Christian community. They had just been arrested and held for healing a lame beggar, and when they are finally released, they rush to tell their friends.

They probably weren’t at a church.

It probably wasn’t during an appointed “prayer meeting”.

But goodness, the Word tells us, “when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God,” and prayed a prayer of thanksgiving. “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”

Always! And everywhere! Pray!

We are to pray without ceasing (I Thess. 5:17), whether we are alone, in a group or one-on-one in conversation with a friend. He wants us to be in such a relationship with Him that a talk with a girlfriend (or our spouse or our children) would naturally flow into “Let’s go to God about this”, or “can I pray for you now?”.

But… those questions I asked earlier? The ones about when and where to pray? There is more to be said.

Not only should we feel free to approach the Throne anytime and anyplace with any need; but relationship with the Father also develops through meeting regularly at a specific time and an appointed place.

Corrie Ten Boom said, “Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees.” So what about you? Do you have a standing appointment with The Lord?

Perhaps you have a specific place that is quiet, private, screen- and distraction-free? Maybe it’s a place that is comfortable (but not too comfortable), set up with your Bible, pens, highlighters, a journal, maybe even a candle. Do you go there before the kids wake up or after they’ve gone to bed? Do you meet Him at a coffee house, in your cubicle, on the front porch or – as I once heard – in your “Jesus chair”?

Do you look forward to this time? How do you feel when you’ve missed it?

Sisters, tomorrow we will talk more about putting praying alone and praying in community into practice. In the meantime, I encourage you to take some time today looking up the following short passages to read more about quiet prayer times in the Bible: Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16, Luke 6:12, Acts 10:9, Daniel 6:10.