A recent survey conducted by Lifeway Research found that 65% of people who attend protestant churches have a daily devotional or time alone with God, with 21% saying they do it more than once a day, the Christian Post reports.

Of the remaining 35%:

• 17% stated that they spent time alone with God multiple times a week;
• 7% stated they had a devotional at least once a week;
• 5% said they did it a few times a month;
• 3% said less than once a month;
• 2% said once a month; and
• 1% not at all.

The survey conducted in the last half of September 2022, pre-determined that those surveyed attended a protestant church at least once a month.

The survey also found that when it came to devotionals 48% of women said they did it daily compared to 38% of men.

These times included reading from the Bible or devotional and prayer.

The importance of spending time alone with God

It is interesting that Jesus emphasized the importance of being alone with God:

“When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.” (Matthew 6:6a)

He was comparing this to the Pharisees who liked to make a public display of their fasting and prayers (Matthew 6:16-18).

But it can be difficult with our hectic schedules and myriad of distractions to set aside this time, but it is vitally important.

Considering Jesus’ ministry only lasted three years, it would have been easy for Him to fall into the trap of always having to do.

But being alone with God remained a priority for Christ.

The Gospel writers recorded the several times that Christ pulled back from the crowds and spent time alone with God in prayer.

At times, He would do it in the early morning (Mark 1:35) or late at night (Luke 6:12).

At other times, Christ would find isolated locations during the day, to spend time in prayer (Luke 5:16), but more than once the crowds tracked down his location (Matthew 14:13).

The Apostle James writes that there are times we need to draw near to God (James 4:8), when we bare our hearts, and confess our sins, and we are told these times alone gives God the opportunity to draw near to us.

READ: Survey reveals who spends more time alone with God: Men or women?