God wants a relationship with us. He doesn’t want a religious experience. He wants relationship.

When we attempt to approach God in a religious way, we’ll never live up to its expectations because religion is never satisfied. We may have an idea to pray for 10 minutes. If we consistently pray for 10 minutes, religion will tell us God would be even more pleased if we prayed for 30 minutes. Once we get to 30 minutes, religion will tell us to pray for an hour. It’s the same way with reading the bible, fasting, and going to church. It never stops.

But when we have a relationship with God, time and our performance are irrelevant. We pray because we want to spend time with God. We’re not looking at a clock or worried if He’s pleased or not. We’re just having a good time talking with our Creator. We’re not fasting and reading so that God can be happy with us. We’re reading and fasting because we want to know Him more intimately.

Once we establish a relationship with God, we’ll talk to Him throughout the day and we’ll understand He loves us and is pleased with us whether we talk to Him for 2 minutes or 2 hours.

Mark 14:23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone,