How long should I pray each day?
The Bible doesn't set a number of minutes. It shows people praying at set times each day (Daniel three times, the psalmist "evening, morning, and at noon") and tells us to "pray without ceasing" in between. For most people, a good place to start is 10 minutes once a day, at the same time, plus short prayers through the day. Keep that for a few weeks before you make it longer.
Below: what Scripture actually says about time in prayer, why short and daily beats long and rare, a table of realistic lengths for different seasons of life, what to do with 5, 10, 20 or 30 minutes, how to grow the time, and what to do when you can't keep it.
What does the Bible say about how long to pray?
No verse says "pray for an hour" or "pray for fifteen minutes." What the Bible does give is a picture of rhythm and of heart.
Set times in the day
- David: "Evening, morning, and at noon, I will cry out in distress. He will hear my voice" (Psalm 55:17, WEB).
- Daniel, even under a law that forbade it, "knelt on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before" (Daniel 6:10, WEB). Notice "as he did before": it was a long habit, not a one-off.
- The early church kept hours of prayer too: "Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour" (Acts 3:1, WEB), about 3 p.m. Peter also went up on a housetop to pray at about noon (Acts 10:9).
- Mornings: "Yahweh, in the morning you will hear my voice. In the morning I will lay my requests before you, and will watch expectantly" (Psalm 5:3, WEB).
Jesus' own prayer life
Jesus prayed early and alone: "Early in the morning, while it was still dark, he rose up and went out, and departed into a deserted place, and prayed there" (Mark 1:35, WEB). He often "withdrew himself into the desert, and prayed" (Luke 5:16, WEB). Before choosing the twelve apostles, "he continued all night in prayer to God" (Luke 6:12, WEB). In Gethsemane he asked his sleeping friends, "Couldn’t you watch one hour?" (Mark 14:37, WEB).
That last line is sometimes used to say every Christian should pray an hour a day. It was said on one night, to three men, about one crisis. It shows that Jesus wanted his friends with him in prayer; it isn't a daily rule.
All through the day
Paul wrote, "Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, WEB). That can't mean being on your knees all day. It means prayer runs through the day: short words to God at the sink, in the car, before a hard phone call. A set daily time and an all-day conversation go together.
Length is not the point
Jesus warned against long prayers for show: "don’t use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking" (Matthew 6:7, WEB). And in his parable, the man whose short prayer was heard was the one who said only, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" (Luke 18:13, WEB). God isn't counting minutes. But time with him is how we get to know him, and like any relationship, it grows with time spent.
Why 10 minutes a day is a good start
If you're starting out or starting again, a short daily time works better than a long one, for plain reasons:
- You'll actually keep it. A target you can hit on your worst day is one you'll still be keeping in a month. An hour a day usually lasts until the first busy week.
- It's long enough for a full prayer. Ten minutes holds a short Bible passage, praise, confession, thanks and your requests, with a minute of quiet.
- Daily beats occasional. Ten minutes every day is 70 minutes a week with God, spread over seven conversations. One long session on Sunday night isn't the same thing.
- It grows on its own. Many people find ten minutes turns into fifteen on the days they want to stay. Let that happen; just keep ten as the promise.
Our guide on how to have a consistent prayer life goes deeper on the habit: picking a time, tying it to something you already do, and what to do the day you miss.
How long to pray: realistic options by season of life
There's no one right length; there's a right length for your life right now. These are starting points, not rules.
| Your season | Daily set time | When | Through the day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting out or starting again | 5–10 minutes | One fixed time | A grace before meals |
| Young kids at home | 5–10 minutes | Before they wake, or nap time | Breath prayers, praying aloud with them at bedtime |
| Full-time work | 10–15 minutes | Before work or at lunch | A minute before meetings, a prayer on the commute |
| Caring for a sick parent or partner | 5 minutes, guided | Whenever there's a gap | One-line prayers, Psalm 23 |
| Retired or kids grown | 20–30 minutes | Morning, unhurried | Praying through a list of people |
| A crisis or a big decision | Extra time, as needed | Morning and evening | Constant short prayers |
| Lent, Advent, a fast | Add 5–10 minutes | Same time as usual | A short daily reading |
If you'd like help finding the length and time that fits you, a few questions build a free 40-day plan around your mornings or evenings and what you're praying about, with each day's prayer read aloud.
What to do with 5, 10, 20 or 30 minutes
Knowing how to use the time matters more than the number. Here's a plan for each length. Each uses the same simple shape: read, praise, confess, thank, ask, be quiet.
5 minutes
- Read one verse, slowly, twice (1 minute).
- Thank God for one thing about him and one thing in your life (1 minute).
- Bring the one thing weighing on you most (2 minutes).
- Sit quietly, then close with the Lord's Prayer (1 minute).
10 minutes
- Read a short passage, such as a psalm or 5–10 verses of a gospel (3 minutes).
- Praise: tell God what the passage shows you about him (1 minute).
- Confess: name anything that's between you and him, and receive forgiveness (1 minute).
- Thanks: three specific things from yesterday (1 minute).
- Ask: for today, for your family, for one or two others (3 minutes).
- Quiet, then amen (1 minute).
This is the ACTS shape; our ACTS prayer model guide explains each step with verses and a full example.
20 minutes
The 10-minute shape, with a longer reading (a full chapter), time to journal what stood out, and a longer list of people. Our prayer journal prompts help if you want to write.
30 minutes or more
Add praying a psalm line by line, praying through your week's calendar, and a prayer list split by day (family Monday, church Tuesday, friends Wednesday…). Longer times work best when you've kept a shorter one for a while and want more, not as a starting point.
How often should I pray each day?
At least once at a set time, and as often as you think of it. Scripture shows two to three set times (morning, noon, evening) as a common pattern, and many Christian traditions have kept morning and evening prayer for centuries; the Book of Common Prayer, for one, has short forms of both for individuals and families.
A practical rhythm for most people:
- Morning: your main time, 5–15 minutes. Our morning prayer to start your day has words for it.
- Meals: a short grace, 15 seconds.
- Through the day: one-line prayers when something comes up.
- Night: two minutes. Thank God for one thing, hand him one worry, and sleep.
How to grow your prayer time
If you'd like to pray longer, grow it slowly, the way you'd build up to running a longer distance.
| Weeks | Daily set time | What to add |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | 5 minutes | Just show up at the same time each day |
| 3–4 | 10 minutes | A short reading before you pray |
| 5–6 | 10–15 minutes | A list of people, a few each day |
| 7–8 | 15–20 minutes | Journal one line; a minute of quiet |
| After that | What you want to keep | A second short time, at night or noon |
Only move up when the current length feels easy to keep. If you miss three days in a row, drop back a step. There's no prize for a number; the point is that you keep meeting with God.
Signs your prayer time is the right length
- You keep it most days, including busy ones.
- You end it before you're watching the clock.
- You sometimes want to stay longer.
- It fits around your duties to family and work, not against them.
Signs it's too long for now: you skip it more than you keep it, you dread it, or you spend it feeling guilty for not doing more. Shorten it. A kept ten minutes is worth more than a skipped hour.
What if I can't keep my prayer time?
Everyone misses. Babies are sick, shifts change, grief flattens everything. When it happens:
- Don't make up the minutes. Just pray today. God isn't keeping a tally.
- Shrink it, don't drop it. On a hard day, one verse and one sentence is still keeping the habit.
- Use guided words. When you're too tired to think, let someone else's prayer carry you: a psalm, the Lord's Prayer, a guided prayer read aloud.
- Move the time, not the habit. If mornings stop working, try lunch or bedtime for a season.
And if the hard part isn't the time but the words, our guide on how to pray when you don't know what to say has short prayers and a 5-minute prayer you can follow word for word.
Mistakes to avoid
- Starting with an hour. It's a common New Year's goal and a common reason people stop by February.
- Measuring faith by minutes. Time with God matters; a stopwatch doesn't. The tax collector's one line was heard (Luke 18:13-14).
- Comparing to famous Christians. Stories of people who prayed for hours come from their whole lives, not their first month.
- Only ever praying at the set time. "Pray without ceasing" means God is welcome in the rest of the day too.
- Filling the time with words only. Read, listen, be quiet. Prayer is a conversation.
Common questions
Is 5 minutes of prayer a day enough?
It's a real start, and far better than nothing. Many people begin with five, keep it for a few weeks, and find themselves wanting ten. Add short prayers through the day too.
Should I pray for an hour a day?
If you can keep it and you want to, it can be a rich time. But the Bible doesn't require it, and Jesus' "Couldn't you watch one hour?" was said in Gethsemane on one night, not as a daily rule. Most people do better starting much shorter.
How many times a day should a Christian pray?
Scripture doesn't set a number. David and Daniel prayed three times a day (Psalm 55:17; Daniel 6:10), and Paul says "pray without ceasing." A set morning or evening time plus short prayers through the day fits that pattern.
Is it better to pray in the morning or at night?
Whichever you'll keep. Morning has the example of Jesus (Mark 1:35) and Psalm 5:3, and it shapes the day. Night suits people whose mornings are chaos. Many people do a main time in one and a short prayer in the other.
Does a longer prayer get answered more?
No. Jesus said people are not heard "for their much speaking" (Matthew 6:7, WEB). God answers out of his goodness, not our word count.
How do I pray longer without my mind wandering?
Use a shape (like ACTS), have a passage open, pray out loud or write, and turn wandering thoughts into prayers. Grow the time slowly.
If you'd like ten minutes a day already laid out, a passage, a guided prayer read aloud and a moment of quiet, answer a few questions to get your free 40-day prayer plan, or see all our prayer guides.
Sources
Scripture: World English Bible (public domain), eBible.org. The Book of Common Prayer (1979), "Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families". Pages read for this guide: Christian Today, "How long should a 'true Christian' spend in prayer each day?"; La Vista Church of Christ, "How many times a day should a Christian pray?".