Empower Our Activities With Prayer—Part 13
READINGS – Part 2
In an era of anxiety and opportunities in which time is one of the most carefully guarded personal resources, why would people commit time to pray to a God with whom relatively few of them have a personal, life-defining relationship? Quite simply, Americans believe that prayer works. Americans are practical in using their resources. Those endeavors that demonstrate or maintain the promise of a good return on the investment of resources will continue to reap a commitment of those resources. Prayer, to date, meets the standard.
Almost 6 out of 10 adults (56%) say they are, “absolutely certain” that prayer really makes a difference in their lives. An additional 1 out of 4 adults (23%) are “somewhat certain.” Overall, this is 8 out of 10 people who remain at least partially persuaded that prayer has the power to affect their lives in a real way.
Interestingly, one out of five people wlio pray perceive prayer to be a gamble. They contend that they have no assurance or confidence in the power of prayer to make a difference, but they are hopeful it will work on their behalf.
“Look, it’s a tough world out there. Does prayer really work? How would I know? How would anybody know? It’s a chance you take, but I figure it doesn’t cost me anything and it can’t hurt. It’s kinda like playin’ the lottery. You lose, you haven’t lost much. You win, you hit the jackpot, and it’s all worth it.”
There may be reason to doubt whether many who pray are doing so with total confidence, but a surprisingly low proportion (just 11%) say they generally rely upon prayer as a last resort in difficult times. Rather, four out of five praying adults (82%) said that prayer is a regular part of their lives, regardless of the circumstances in which they find themselves.
Among the adults who pray to God, the frequency of their prayers is surprising. Almost 6 out of 10 (58%) claim that they pray every day. Just 1% state that they pray less than once a week; the rest of the respondents were distributed fairly evenly in terms of how many days a week they pray.
Again, the types of people most likely to pray daily included women, nonwhites, churched people and Christians. Add to that senior citizens, people of lesser means and Protestants, and you have the segments most committed to regular prayer sessions. The types of people who stand out as the least likely to pray during the course of a week are residents of the Northeast and suburbanites.
When people pray, they usually pray more than once during the day. Among the people who pray, half (52%) say they usually pray more than once during the days they speak with God; 8% say that it varies, sometimes more than once, sometimes once; and about 4 out of 10 claim they typically pray once during those days they pray at all.
For most people, prayer is not a prolonged activity. The average amount of time adults spend in prayer is about 5 minutes. Overall, the study discovered that 1 out of 14 people (7%) who pray claim their average prayer time lasts between 15 and 30 minutes; another 6% stated that they usually prayed for more than 30 minutes each time they pray.
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Absolute Confusion, George Barna, Regal, pages 95-96.
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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?
Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?
David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.
We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.
For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.
You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.
