When to Pray

“Devote yourselves to prayer...with an attitude of thanksgiving.”  Colossians 4:2

There is no set time to pray, for it is always appropriate. Our text tells us to “devote” ourselves to prayer, this is the same word used in Romans 12:12, which urges us to be “devoted in prayer.” In fact, the admonition of 1 Thessalonians 5:17 is to “pray without ceasing.”

Children should pray, as did little Samuel. When the Lord called him, he could answer, “Speak, for Your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10). Young people should pray, as Timothy, who was exhorted by Paul to make “entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings...on behalf of all men” (1 Timothy 2:1). Adult men should pray, as did Paul himself, who could say to the Christians of Philippi that he was “always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all” (Phil. 1:4). Old men should pray, like Simeon, and old women, like Anna,“serving night and day with fastings and prayers” (Luke 2:25, 36-37). And even dying men should pray, as did Stephen who, as he was being stoned to death, “called on the Lord and said, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’” (Acts 7:59).

We can pray at dawn like David, who said, “In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch” (Psalm 5:3). In a Philippian prison, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God” (Acts 16:25). Daniel “kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God” (Daniel 6:10). There is no time that is not a good time for prayer. One should pray in times of sorrow and also in times of joy, as did Hannah in both circumstances (1 Samuel 1:15; 2:1).

It is a most marvelous privilege that we have through Christ, that we are able to speak to the infinite God in prayer, and to know that He hears and cares!
Therefore, pray!