A professor I had during my doctoral work encouraged us – pushed us, even – to pray a minimum of one hour a day. That amount of time, he said, was evidence that we had truly spent time with God, often on behalf of congregations we were leading. Because I knew of his commitment to prayer, I accepted the challenge.
My first approach was to determine to get up one hour earlier and pray each morning. That commitment, I’m afraid, didn’t last long. I tried, but it was too easy to push the snooze button and convince myself that I would do it sometime later in the day. The problem was that that “sometime later in the day” never seemed to come.
My next approach was to try two thirty-minute segments a day–ideally, one in the morning and one in the evening. That approach took me in the right direction, at least for a few weeks. When responsibilities and activities increased, though, it seemed my prayer time decreased in at least one of those two daily segments.
Since then, here’s what I’ve learned:
1. All of us do need a plan for prayer, whether we are church leaders or laypersons. I wish we would all default into being prayer warriors, but that’s not the case. In fact, I think prayer is the most difficult spiritual discipline to develop. It assumes that our love for God and our dependence on Him drive us to our knees, yet our lives don’t always reflect that. We need a plan to keep us focused and growing, trusting that prayer will become more and more a part of our lives.
2. I was connecting the efficacy of my prayer to the actual number of minutes I prayed. I’m not arguing there is not some correlation there (i.e., a believer who prays 20 minutes a day surely has a stronger prayer life than someone who prays 5 minutes a day); I’m just arguing that increasing the amount of time praying is not necessarily an indicator of a stronger prayer life.
3. While there is value in a concentrated time of prayer, 30 or 60 consecutive minutes of prayer are not necessarily more spiritual than 30 or 60 minutes of prayer spread throughout the day. That’s why I’m now okay with shorter times of prayer (e.g., 10-15 minutes at a time) spread throughout the day. The math is simple: 15 minutes of prayer that occur four times a day equal one hour just as much as 60 consecutive minutes do.
4. When we learn to pray intentionally for short periods throughout the day, it becomes easier to pray for longer periods. One of my pastoral heroes (who’s also probably the best prayer warrior I know) talks often about how much he loves his wife. You just know they talk in an ongoing way each day. Just the other day, though, he reminded me of the importance of sometimes getting away from the busyness of life to spend time with your wife and just talk for extended periods of time. “It’s just good to get away and talk,” he said.
That’s where I find myself with God today: praying throughout the day, yet looking forward to the times when I spend extended time with Him. After one of those latter times, too, I’m excited about talking to Him again the next day.
Your prayer life is likely different, but perhaps this post will help you as you evaluate your commitment to prayer today. As church leaders, we do set the example.
Posted on November 20, 2025
Dr. Chuck Lawless is a leading expert in spiritual consultation, discipleship and mentoring. As a former pastor, he understands the challenges ministry presents and works with Church Answers to provide advice and counsel for church leaders.
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