Does it matter when and where we pray?
1 Kings 8:29-30 King James Version (KJV) 29 That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place. 30 And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.
1 Kings 8:29 - 30
ESV - 29 That your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, 'My name shall be there,' that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. 30 And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
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Asked January 24 2020
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Jack Gutknecht
Supporter
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Tim Maas
Supporter
Although Jesus spoke of praying privately in passages such as Matthew 6:5-6, it was not because of God being any more or less accessible to Christians based on the environment in which they pray. Rather, He was contrasting such guidance with the practices of hypocritical individuals who made a point of offering long prayers in public settings where they would be seen praying by others, solely so that they would be praised by those other people for their piety. Praying in a private setting may be spiritually useful from the standpoints of removing external distractions, and of allowing greater personal concentration on the activity of praying, but God is accessible by prayer to any Christian in any place, and even when not praying aloud. (As the English Christian commentator C. S. Lewis put it, since God is not bound by worldly time constraints, He can listen to even the shortest human prayer for all of eternity.)
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