Happy New Year from me to you. I hope your 2022 turned out great?! I wish you the best this year!
One of the most powerful prophecies I got for this year was to pray more.
Interesting right? So if you have been praying before, keep being consistent. If you haven’t been praying at all, please start praying.
One of the problems we encounter in the place of prayer is usually our inability to stay in the place of prayer. Our inability to pray for long hours.
You see, because of this major issue, a lot of people have decided to believe that you don’t have to pray for long hours, even if it’s short, God will still hear and answer. Well, you’re correct.
But praying for long hours has more to do with your relationship with God than you know.
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When you pray for long hours, you will hear your thoughts and voice less and hear God more. Your emotions and feelings will become susceptible to God’s will. You will get more from God than someone who stayed for just 5 minutes.
No judgment here.
When I mean long hours, I mean 1 hour and above (Some highly spiritual people are giving us the side eye).
And this prayer I’m referring to is not the ‘only say what you want God to do for you for long hours and leave’ type. Nop!
This prayer I’m referring to is not the ‘I’m praying in tongues and doing other things at the same time’ type (side eye).
I’m talking about Praying in Tongues for long hours and waiting to hear God as you prepare yourself with your pen and paper or phone notepad.
Yes. That one!
If you are in doubt about why you should pray and what happens when you pray, you can check my previous post on the secret to a consistent prayer life
I will be giving 10 Tips and Tricks on praying in tongues for long hours.
Disclaimer: These tips and tricks were basically gotten from experience. If you’re a lazy (sometimes), easily bored person like me who has a passion for spiritual growth, you will want to know these tips I came up with that have really helped my spiritual life.
So what are these tips and tricks on praying for long hours?
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Listen to Spiritual Songs/Sounds while praying
If you think this won’t work, try praying in tongues without spiritual songs for the first 30 minutes, then pray in tongues with spiritual songs for the next 30 minutes, and tell me if you won’t see the difference.
The importance of listening to spiritual songs is to stir you up. Music naturally affects our mood (whether spiritual or not), so listening to a spiritual song automatically puts you in a prayerful mood or atmosphere.
You can listen to songs/sounds by Lawrence Oyor (My favorite every time), or other gospel songs that stir you up. You can also leave links and recommendations of spiritual songs and sounds in the comment.
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Use Earphones
This tip sounds weird right!! Well, take it from me. Using earphones to listen to the spiritual songs I mentioned earlier is a very effective tip. There is a difference between playing spiritual songs to pray and actually plugging the song straight into your ears.
I wish I could give you a magical reason for this tip but as I said, try it and see.
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Pace Back and Forth or Take a Walk
This is an important one. Also, remember it is a trick. When you sit in a place, your body can get tired and you start to get bored. Your mind will start wandering all over the place. You could even fall asleep.
There are times I even go from sitting down to lying down and before I know it… (My spirit is praying but my body is asleep, Lol)
So what should you do, pace back and forth (don’t try to close your eyes (except on occasions of visions or trances).
While pacing back and forth or going for a walk (Prayer walks are really good options when praying for long hours) your body finds something interesting to do and something else to focus on, so you can focus your mind on the prayer.
Related Post: What Happened When I Prayed in Tongues for 6 Hours
6 Reasons you’re not consistent in Prayer + The Right reason to Pray
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Talk to God in between or Prophesy
This is the spice…
Yes, please. Try not to only pray in tongues for those hours. Add the spice of speaking to God in between. Most times when we speak in a language we can understand after praying in tongues, we are actually interpreting the tongues.
If you ever noticed, sometimes you will start making decrees or prophesying words from God into your life. Yes, that is the spice of praying in the spirit. My favorite part.
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Thank God for what He has done (You can sing)
This is a trick that has worked for me but ensure you are not doing it just to consume time but you actually want to give thanks. So, go into worship and thanksgiving mode. Remember all God has done for you and all he has promised to do. Open your heart and give Him praise. You can even pray in tongues as you thank him.
The Bible says “when we pray in tongues we give thanks well”
“For thou verily givest thanks well…”
1 Corinthians 14:17 KJV
By the time you are done and ready to continue with your prayers, you might have spent an hour.
There’s so much to thank God for!
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Don’t Pray for Long Hours at First
This is one important tip to note.
Personally, this has caused a prayer drought in my life for months.
It happens when you pray for one hour for like a week and suddenly you believe you are now consistent and you should increase the hours. This can cause you to stop praying for days, weeks, or months. Because you will eventually get tired or stretch yourself more than your body and mind can bear.
So, what do you do?
Take it slow. If you are just starting out, you can start with 30 minutes or one hour. Ensure you pray everyday consistently for that 30 minutes or one hour.
Consistency is important because God trusts a child who prays for 30 minutes everyday more than a child who prays for 5 hours, once a month.
How so?
In building a relationship, there has to be constant and everyday communication, which is why praying everyday is important.
God always speaks to us, this is why we must set out time to hear Him everyday. Because if you don’t listen or talk to him today, you might miss what he has for you today.
God will not stop loving you just because you don’t pray every day, the Holy Spirit will not leave you either. The main problem is you will not grow as He wants you to. You will not do His will for that day (because you won’t know it), and you will not make His will for you come to pass on that day.
Prayer is fundamental!
So take it slow and be consistent. When you notice you are strong and consistent enough to increase the timeframe of your prayer. Do so! Gently! Maybe by 30 minutes or one hour.
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Trick your Mind with the Time
A funny trick that works for me. This is what I do when I want to pray. You might have a particular time you go to God. You might not. But, what I do is, if I plan to pray for one hour, instead of praying from 8:00am to 9:00am, I will start from 8:30am to 9:30am.
You still don’t get the trick?
Your mind sees 8:00 – 9:00 as long but your mind sees 8:30 – 9:30 as short.
When you start praying by 8:30, before you know it, it’s 9:00, and then it’s 9:30, which is a different scene for 8:00 – 9:00.
Try it and let me know if it worked. Lol.
You can also pray from 8:40,8:45 etc… This is not only limited to 8/9, you can try it anytime.
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Write Down Words from God as you Pray
We must go to God with a heart ready to receive. Like I mentioned earlier, God speaks to us every time.
So, when you pray, get your pen and paper or if you prefer, use your phone notepad.
As words drop in your heart, write them down. As you prophesy or decree into your life, write them down.
This not only helps you enjoy your time with God and know His will for you, it also takes your mind off the time.
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Don’t Give in to the Voice
There is that voice (I don’t know if it’s the devil or our weak flesh but I know there is a voice).
That voice that whispers things like this into your head just few minutes into the prayer:
“I’m tired,” ” Why can’t I just find something else to do right now. I will mumble in tongues as I do it,” “I will pray later,” and many others.
Shut your mind off that voice and say NO to it and keep praying.
A post was made on The Avid Planner that gives us a little glimpse to the voice that speaks in our head. It was not a spiritual post but it gives us a clear explanation of the reasons we procrastinate, stop halfway, and leave things undone.
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Is this you?
The only solution is to silence that voice and keep praying. By ignoring the voice, you gain power over it and you will eventually be happy you made the decision to pray!
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Understand that it will Get Tiring
This is one thing we are not often told when we are encouraged to pray. It is made to seem like we will always enjoy it. Well, not everytime.
Sometimes, your prayer for that day might be boring and exhausting, another day, it will be very powerful and ground-shaking.
There are even times the first 30 minutes will be fiery, and the next one hour will be dry and vice versa.
But remember, what matters to God is not how ground-breaking your prayer is, but the relationship you form with Him as you pray and His will been done. So even if you’re not feeling it, still pray.
The bible says, “For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.”
1 Corinthians 14:2 KJV
You will get bored. You will yawn. Your eyes will get misty. You will feel like sleeping.
It is your body simply reacting to the absence of comfort.
At that moment, all you need to do is understand that praying is important. Also be determined to keep praying no matter how tiring it is.
If it gets hard, don’t forget to go over the tips and tricks above again. The point is we are trying to trick our comfort-loving body to become subject to our praying spirit. And it is possible.
We have heard of ministers of God with like-passions like us who have prayed for 12 hours and above consistently. We can do it too.
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These tips and tricks are progressive, so there might be more. If you have more, please share with us in the comments. I will be checking there for some tips for myself too.
Also, another disclaimer, these tips and tricks were based on my experience, so there might be differences in how they turn out for you. But I hope you try them and find out which works for you and also discover new tips and tricks for yourself.
I look forward to a generation of praying men and women, young and old, who are unashamed about Jesus and are prayer warriors.
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Amazing. I got light in this. Thanks for sharing sis.
You’re welcome sis. I’m glad you learnt.
I am an old timer that prays for hours a day. I don’t pray with music. I pray much with tongues but also with the mind. The easiest thing is to pray early in the morning, may be from 04h00 to 07h00. Then a hour or two in the afternoons and again in the evening. If you treat prayer as an integral part of an intimate relationship with the Lord it will become easy. Don’t treat it as a duty you must perform to please God. If you use prayer and intercession to meet with God every time you will start looking forward to it. With time you will start to break through into His presence and glory. It will not happen every time. Praying for hours is one of the best ways to experience the work of the cross. It teaches you submission to the Lord, humility and the surrender of your will to God. If you are faithful your relationship with God will grow into a deep knowledge and experience with Him. The above is my experience.
Thank you so much for sharing, Andre!
Thanks sis, this will go a long way…
You’re welcome sis
Thanks. Inspiring!
Thank you so much for the tips avid, I noticed last year that praying with spiritual songs really helped me, and walking helped with not just prayer but my health. I also realized that listening and writing what God says is the best cus you might end up forgetting. I’m so glad these tips are relatable. ❤️❤️
Exactly. Walking and praying has two benefits ?? I’m glad you can relate to this sis.
beautiful write-up dear.
These tips will help anyone to become a prayerful Christian.
Thank you sharing ma
Pastor Isaac. This means a lot coming from you sir. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing this. I hope I’m able to apply some of them in coming months.
You’re welcome sir. I hope so for you too??
Awe inspiring spiritual guide.
Thank you so much. I’m glad you found it useful.
Beautiful and inspiring write up, Sarah. More of God’s grace upon your life in Jesus name. God bless you
Thank you so much ma. This means a lot to me. Amen and Amen ma.
Nice one and well done ma……
Another tip I have learnt by the help of the LORD HOLY SPIRIT is to meditate on GOD’S Word while praying…….. You’re praying in the Spirit and simultaneously thinking about what you have learnt/read in the Bible………try it, it really helped me
This is very true. it also helps to keep your mind on God while you pray. Thank you for this Xindel!
This was very helpful!
Thank you so much Seyi, I’m glad you got value!!
Thank you for the tips.
I’ve also discovered a tip like setting a timer countdown eg. 1 hour.
The timer sound at the end of one hour gives a feeling of accomplishment and motivation. This might encourage me to set another hour to add
Wow. I am glad it works for you. It’s a great tip!
Please keep me in your prayers.
I sure will, Elvia.
I was in the middle of a supposed 6hour prayer in the middle of the night, I’ve done it twice before but that was quite a long time ago. After two hours I started dosing and I said I’ll come and sleep. I just thought of checking my phone and searched how to pray for long hours and mehn I saw this 🥹🥹🥹 I am going back to pray and I’m not stopping till I’m done. Thank you ma.
This made me so emotional. You are welcome Ezekiel. The Lord will give you the grace and strength to keep praying. Well done. You’re strengthened.
Find this article really helpful ,and I think me and you (author )encountered the same issue that cause prayer drought.I increase my prayer duration too early which made it difficult for me to be consistent, reading this article Made me diagnose the fault with my consistency.and now I’ve been maintaining an hour of prayer for almost a month and is becoming easy but I usually feel little bit tired towards the end .my question is when can I increase the frequency?
Hello Seun, It’s a pleasure to hear from you. I will say you should increase your prayer frequency if you can maintain a consistent prayer life at this frequency for 6 months or more. If you can do that then you can increase it. Just ensure you set a time frequency that works for you and other areas of your life so nothing will be affected. And remember, it’s not about the quantity but the consistency.
Hai sister this article is very much helpful. I want to pray for more hours , so I need time to read and study Bible. How can I reconcile it.?
I’m glad you find it helpful. Try to create a stable time for both prayer and bible study. You can make it 30 mins to 1 hour bible study right after your prayer time. Just ensure you find time for it.