A Rhythm of Prayer

November 15th, 2024

How's your prayer life? When do you pray? What do you pray for? Where do you pray? In today's blog, Alyssa Glander gives us a glimpse of prayer from the Jewish perspective, showing us how to establish a flow of conversation with our Heavenly Father.

I’ve noticed something about our Western culture … in America, we have this funny little ritual while passing someone on the street, in a store, or even at church: we greet others with a “Hi! How are you?” Then, we keep walking. While our words say, “I want to know you,” the ensuing behavior or action says otherwise.

Sadly, I think we often treat God the same way. We go to church, sing the songs, and say, “Amen” when we agree with the pastor, but then we act as if we’ve completed just another checklist item and move on. Our lives become so busy―too busy―that we try to fit God into whatever time we have left over. Unfortunately, our culture often opposes and competes with God's calling. What we should be doing instead is fitting our life into what God calls us to do first.

God calls us to be with Him (Micah 6:8; Matthew 11:28).

Something that inspires me to build my life around God continually is a prayer rhythm that I’ve adopted from the Scriptures. What is a daily prayer rhythm, you may ask?

In Hebrew and early Christian tradition, there was a daily practice of pausing to pray in the morning, midday, and evening.

Psalm 55:17
Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: And he shall hear my voice.

This rhythm was easily observed in the life of Jesus and with the apostles in the early church, as seen in this sampling of Scripture here.

Mark 1:35 NKJV
Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.

Mark 6:46 NKJV
And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.

Acts 3:1
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

Acts 10:3, 4, 9
About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” 4 And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.

The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour[b] to pray.

A fixed prayer rhythm exponentially benefits our Christian growth and reminds us to center ourselves in Yahweh, the great I AM, throughout the day! Praying like this reminds us that our life and the dedication of our time rightfully belong to Him!!

Is a three-times-a-day prayer rhythm enough when Scripture tells us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), though? Is the command in this verse even possible? Yes! Granted, I have a constant inner monologue going on throughout the day, and getting off track is super easy for my brain! To be in a constant state of prayer is something I aspire to do successfully, however. When I read that Scripture, I wondered if the church reading Paul’s letter for the first time was like, “Dude, we aren’t monks. I have work from sunrise to sunset Monday through Friday” (I know ... highly unlikely, but I joke.)

In the Jewish reality during the time of Jesus and before, everything was centered around God. There was no distinction between the spiritual and secular areas of life. It was ingrained in their culture to pray constantly. They didn’t just pray the morning, noon, and evening prayers, and their lives certainly weren’t compartmentalized like ours today.

Their entire existence was based on the knowledge that God’s hand was over everything, no matter the circumstances, and that prayer was the means by which they could communicate with God concerning those circumstances.

On top of the dedicated times to pray that had already been established in their culture, the Jewish people talked to God in short one- or two-sentence prayers about everything that was happening to them during the day. They said the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4–6) three times a day and then uttered short sentence prayers to God as the day went on.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.

Each prayer started with the Jewish words, “Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam” translated, “Blessed are you, O Lord, our God, King of the Universe.” This statement was followed by what they were thanking Him for. They thanked Him for rainbows, smelling good food, thunder, sunrises, and even going to the bathroom! Everything.

The verses on praying continually make so much more sense when I understand what it means to pray from the Jewish perspective.

There were hundreds of these prayers/blessings (berakhot) that were recited to acknowledge God’s sovereign nature over everything in the universe. The verses on praying continually make so much more sense when I understand what it means to pray from the Jewish perspective. “Pray without ceasing” means having a heart inclined to prayer and gratitude, praying often, and making the discipline of prayer a high priority, just like Jesus did.

I’m going to keep trying to discipline myself in prayer. And, if you don’t have one already, I challenge you to adopt a dedicated prayer rhythm, starting with three times a day.

Author Bio:
Alyssa Glander has been walking with the Lord since she was about 17, and she's known since then that Christ has shouldered her all the way! She is a Content and Social Media Manager at Reasons For Hope, an integral part of our EQUIP Retreat team, and the second-youngest member of RforH! Happily married to her amazing husband Marc since 2018, they reside in Georgia with their beautiful baby girl, Genesis, and their certifiably insane (but sweet) Boston Terrier, Axel!