King David has a very impressive track record throughout scripture. He killed a lion, a bear, and even Goliath when he was just a young man. He was one of the best warriors that Israel has ever known. He was the most successful commander throughout all of Israel before he became King. While He was King, Israel thrived and by his death, He basically put a temporary end to all of Israel’s enemies.
Needless to say, King David was a mighty man of God!
Although David did amazing things for God and His people, there is one thing that stands out in David’s life more than anything else and that is his relationship with God.
The one thing that caused David to be so successful was his intimacy with the Lord. Nothing compared to his time spent with Him.
David not only enjoyed spending time with God, but God also enjoyed spending time with David. In fact, it is the reason God chose David to become King in the first place.
“He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’” (Acts 13:22)
God took note of the love that David had for Him and it was the deciding factor in His decision to make David the King of Israel.
If there is any one thing we can learn from David and his life, it’s not the way he conducted military strategy or the wisdom in which he led a successful country, but the way in which he spent time with the God of the universe and how he became a man who desired what God desired.
How did King David pray?
King David often prayed by first entering God’s presence with praise and thanksgiving. After that, he would give his requests to the Lord as anyone else would, but often, in times of urgency, his requests would become a crying out to God than just a dainty plea.
Of course, we see this pattern of prayer flipped in a lot of the Psalms that David writes. Sometimes he would start with requests and end his time of prayer with praise and thanksgiving. This often happened when he was in an urgent situation or when he had something weighing on his heart.
However the order, the way in which he prayed was the same; he would spend time in praise and thanksgiving, and he would spend time in supplicaions and requests. [Related article: How to Spend an Hour in Prayer (8 Helpful Tips)].
We see this pattern of David’s hinted many times throughout the book of Psalms.
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” (Psalm 100:4)
Here David mentions that we should enter God’s gates and courts with thanksgiving and praise. When he says to “enter his gates” or “enter his courts,” all he is talking about is when we come before God in prayer.
“In my distress I called upon the Lord,And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.” (Psalms 18:6)
As you can see from the two verses quoted, David did a lot of requesting things from God (crying out) and he did a lot of praise during his time of prayer.
This balance between asking God for things and praising Him for who He is, is a balance that many men of God practiced in their prayer lives. In fact, it is probably the only two things the Bible ever mentions when it explains what prayer is and how to do it.
A good example of this is when the Bible mentions the prophet Daniel and how he spent time praying. The Bible says,
“And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.” (Daniel 6:10)
Daniel did something very similar to what David did; prayed and gave thanks. But they’re not the only ones.
The aposlte Paul also taught that we should have a balance between prayer and praise in our devotion time. In fact, every time Paul mentions prayer, thanksgiving is right there with it.
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Phillipians 4:6).
“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2).
Now these are just two of the examples. And believe me, the list could go on but I think you get the point; Paul never separated prayer from praise.
To him, prayer is communion with God, so if we are communing with our heavenly Father it is only natural to thank Him for what He has done for us, and it is natural for us to ask more from Him. This is a natural part of our spiritual walk with Christ because we are His sons and daughters, we have a right to come before Him.
Finally, Jesus also taught that our times of prayer should be split between asking for things and praising God. (Related article: Prayer Life of Jesus & How to Pray Like Him).
We know this because He gave us an example/model of how to pray in Matthew chapter 6 and Luke 11.
“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:9-13)
Before I break this down remember, it is important to understand that this prayer is a model prayer. It is not a prayer that is meant to be recited word for word. It is simply a prayer that acts as a structure for our prayers.
That’s why Jesus says, “In this manner, therefore, pray.”
Now that we mentioned that, let’s continue. If you pay close attention, you can see the shift that Jesus gave in the prayer.
At first He says, “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” This of course is praise. But then he immediately transfers to “Your will be done on earth” which is just another form of requesting things from the Father.
This section of requesting things from God continues until the end where Jesus tells His disciples to end the prayer with “Yours is the glory forever”, which is obviously more praise.
So, as we can see, King David spent his time in prayer with supplications and praise, just like every other man of God did in the Bible. And if it was a successful way to pray for them, then it certainly will be for us.
How many times did David pray daily?
The Bible says that King David would pray three times per day. We know this because King David said himself that he prays “evening and morning and at noon.”
“Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice.” (Psalm 55:17)
Surprisingly, praying three times per day was a fairly common thing that multiple men of God did in the Bible.
We see David practice it. We see Daniel practice it. We see hints of this practice in the life of Peter. We even see it in church history. [Related article: Praying Three Times Per Day (What the Bible Says)].
Now, I’m not trying to convince you to pray three times per day because the Bible never tells us how often or how long we should pray.
However, it does give us examples from people who were successful in their walk with God. So if we desire to be successful like them then we should adopt their best practices and begin to implement them into our lives if we are able.
How did David Worship?
David worshipped God through thanksgiving and song. He regularly sang to the Lord and danced before Him without any care for what people thought about him. We see throughout the scriptures that worship was the primary way in which David connected to the Father.
David loved to sing to the Lord. (Which is quite obvious, he was a musician after all). His primary way of worship was singing, and sometimes, dancing before the Lord.
“Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.” (Psalm 100:1-2)
“Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod.” (2 Samuel 6:14)
The very next two verses in second Samuel say that David was “leaping and whirling” before the Lord. David is no doubt a very passionate worshipper and praised God through song. (See Singing in the Spirit: What it is and How to do it).
How many times did King David worship in a day?
The Bible says in the book of Psalms that David would worship God seven times in a day. “Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous judgments.” (Psalms 119:164)
Now the verse above could have been written by David, Ezra, or Daniel, as most scholars agree that Psalm 119 was written by one or all of these three men of God.
Even though we do not know exactly who wrote this specific verse, we can assume that it was David because he wrote majority of the Psalms, more so than any other writer.
It is no doubt impressive to worship God 7 times per day but it is not impossible. I wrote an article recently that covers How to worship God in everything you do. Sometimes we think we are too busy to spend time worshipping God but the truth is we have plenty of time. Check out that article if you think you will benefit from it!
Does the Bible say David fasted?
The Bible makes several references to King David fasting. In fact, King David has more mentions of fasting than possibly any other man/woman of God in the Bible. No doubt, fasting was a major part of David’s relationship with the Lord.
There were multiple times in scripture where the Bible mentions that David was in a state of fasting. In most of these instances, David is fasting because some tragic situation was occurring in his life. A perfect example of this is when his baby was dying because of his sin with Bathsheba.
Its true that fasting should be used in times of trouble, but it is also true that we should fast on a regular basis so that our soul remains humble and so our heart remains close to God. [Related article: How Fasting Helps Your Relationship With God (A Brief Guide)]
A couple of verses that make reference to David fasting are throughout the book of Psalms and 2 Samuel.
“When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, that became my reproach. I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them.” (Psalm 69:10-11)
“My knees are weak through fasting, And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness. I also have become a reproach to them; When they look at me, they shake their heads.” (Psalms 109:24-25)
“David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground” (2 Samuel 12:16).
Fasting is a great tool to walk closer to God and be more sensitive to His presence. If we desire to walk with Him as David did then we should adopt his practice on fasting.
King David and the Law
King David loved God’s Law (a.k.a God’s Word). Throughout the book of Psalms, David makes several mentions about how much he adores God’s commands and how meditates on them on a consistent basis.
King David would not only spend three times a day in prayer, seven times a day in worship, and fast often, but he also loved God’s word! [Related article: Spending Time Reading the Bible (Common Questions Answered)].
Throughout the Psalms he makes multiple comments and exhortations about the word of God. A perfect example of this is Psalms chapter 1.
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.” (Psalms 1:1-2)
Back then, the only word of God that David had was the law of God passed down through Moses, so when David says “the law” we can apply it to us by replacing it with “Gods word” and still keep the scripture accurate.
And in this passage, David says that a righteous man meditates in God’s word continually and his joy is found in the Bible. Not only does this man love God’s word but he also obey’s it by not surrounding himself with sin.
Final words
As you can see from this study, David was a mighty man of God who lived his life to know and walk with God.
It might seem intimidating to look at how he conducted his day and the amount of devotion surrounding it and then compare it to your life, but just keep in mind that you and I have the same 24 hours in a day that King David had and we are completely capable of accomplishing just as much as he did.
Also remember, the way David conducted his day may not work for you or for me. However, the principles that David lived by are the same principles that we should live by because we are worshipping the same God.
