Have you noticed that many times in the life of your prayer our conversations with God are more us talking at God than speaking to Him? You know if you walk up to a person and have a conversation with them and all you do is talk, talk, talk and the manner of that conversation is that way all that time, what do you think about that?” Would that annoy and disinterest you rather quickly? Prayer is a conversation between two beings that love each other. It’s a conversation not a monologue. Prayer is speaking and listening, that is what conversation is. You can become more effective in this essential Christian discipline by incorporating some practical steps into your everyday life.

Add Quantity to Your Prayer Life

• Highly effective believers are prayer people.
• They pray a lot. Piles of prayer, if you would.
• Prayer by the boat load.
• Prayer by the bushel basket full.
• Prayer has two aspects.
  • Quantity
  • Quality
• In the circles I came from, we understood quantity.
  • We would have all night prayer meetings. We would fast and pray all the time.
• In the circles we are in now, we understand quality.
  • We understand that we are blood bought children of God and that we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand.
• But we know very little about waiting on God.
• We have  a microwave mentality.
  • We microwave through the laying on of hands.
  • We try to pray ten second prayers for complex situations.
  • We have a magic wand idea of Christianity.
• Effective Prevailing Prayer means both quantity and quality.
• Those that want to be much for God have to be much with Him.

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Quantity of Prayer: The Example of Anna the Prophetess

Luke 2:36–37 (KJV)
36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; 37 And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

• Anna had a prophets anointing.
• She joins the ranks of other female prophets.
• Deborah – Judges 4:4
• Isaiah’s wife – Isaiah 8:3
• Huldah – 2 Kings 22:14-20
• Anna did not depend on that anointing alone.
• Anna prayed despite the anointing.
• A prophets anointing allows you to see into the Spirit realm as the Spirit of God wills.
  • It includes revelation gifts of the Spirit.
  • All of these are as the Spirit wills.
• Her service unto God was not the anointing that she was flowing in.
  • That anointing came by the will of God to her.
• Read what the scripture said,  Anna “served God with prayer and fasting’s night and day.”
• Anna prayed and she prayed a lot.

Quantity of Prayer: The Example of Jesus

John 3:34 (KJV)
34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

• Jesus had the Spirit without measure.
• We as believers and members of His body, of which He is the Head, have the Spirit by measure.
• That is why you need one another in a corporate setting because the anointing on the corporate body all together equals the anointing that was on Jesus Himself.
• So, here is a man – and He was man who had the Spirit without measure.
• Jesus knew things by the Spirit.
• The gifts were working.
• Jesus was the ultimate ‘faith teacher’, who taught about ‘mountain moving faith’ and yet…

Luke 6:12 (KJV)
12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

• Jesus did pray short prayers
• But often short successful praying comes from long seasons of fellowship and devotion with God.

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Quantity of Prayer: Other Scriptural Examples

• Moses prayed short prayers in the Bible but he spent 40 days and 40 nights with God.
• Jacob had a victory of faith but only after he wrestled with the angel all night long.
• Daniel prayed three times a day.

Daniel 6:10 (KJV)
10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

• Paul prayed night and day – 1 Thess. 3:10.

1 Thessalonians 3:10 (ESV)
10 as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?

1 Corinthians 14:18 (ESV)
18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.

• Spend a couple of hours praying during the course of a day and watch the effect on your spiritual life – you will be amazed.
• “You may say I cannot pray that long.”
• Yes you can, break it up.
  • This idea especially works if you have a lot ‘on your plate’.
  • Sometimes we do not get to the place of prayer in our lives because we are overwhelmed with how much we have to do.
• The following statement is attributed to Martin Luther who said these words…

I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer or I would never get it all done.

• Try praying for 15 minutes of every hour of your off day and do that for an eight hour period.
  • That is pray for 15 minutes and then work for 45 minutes.
• By the end of that season, you will have prayed 2 hours.
  • Then note the difference in your spiritual vitality.
• The things of God are not cheap.
• There are no shortcuts to spiritual maturity.
• There are no shortcuts to effectiveness.
• Those who are highly effective spend a lot of time in this area of praying.
• You have to commit to this area maybe this next section will help you.

Call to Action:

Love is expressed through the expenditure and commitment of time – time spent with him. DL Moody, famous evangelist, was inspired by this quote.

The world has yet to see what God can do with a man that is fully committed to Him.

Moody said, I determined to be that man. Continual prayer can become a holy habit and when it does it will help make you a highly effective Christian. Start today. Start small. Add fifteen minutes at a time until you build yourself up in this holy discipline.

Question: What practical prayer life lessons have you learned that made you highly effective in your work for the Lord? Please leave a comment in the comments section below.

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