After we put on the rest of our Armor of God, the last piece is to Pray Without Ceasing!
1 Thessalonians
5:16-17
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
How can we pray without ceasing? The first thing we have to do is get the picture of being on our knees, eyes closed, and praying with fancy words out of our mind's eye. That is a type of prayer time that many people think of. However, as part of our continuing walk with the Lord in becoming His disciples, we need to submit time to our prayer life. Okay, I hear the moaning and groaning now: There is no time. We are too busy! I will do it later after (whatever it is you are allowing to come before your commitment to God) is done. This is NOT being stated for shaming! Instead, it is to show how easily we can be, and many times are, distracted from the things we want to do and do the things we shouldn't do instead! Just as Paul tells us of his struggles in Romans 7:15-20.
Let us start the steps of this walk by learning prayer as a habit:
Planning to pray! Here are five times during the day where we can learn the habit of prayer time.
Planning to pray! Here are five times during the day where we can learn the habit of prayer time.
- First Prayer of the Day: To make it easier, try to get in the habit of saying Good Morning to God and starting out your day in conversation with Him.
- Three more times during the day: Many of us already pray over our meals thanking God for providing.
- Last Prayer of the Day: As you are ready for bed, being quiet and reflecting on your day, speak to God about it. Whatever comes to your mind, just say it!
Learn how to talk to God! If I spend a long time in one prayer, I can find my mind wandering and I have to focus again and not get distracted. For this reason, perhaps you might start with shorter prayers. I am not all flowery words although I speak respectfully to the Lord but more as I would speak to a friend in conversation during the day! Do you call your friend on the phone and say 'Good Morn, Thou My Best of Friends! Of course you don't, neither do I! God doesn't need flowery speech that separates Him from us! He wants us to be comfortable talking with Him as friend to friend, not just when we have wants and needs to pray for. Can you imagine what it was like for God to come into the Garden of Eden and have fellowship with Adam & then with Eve? My mind fails me at the wonder of that!How many times a day do you text your friend? How many times do you call them? Do you think it is a burden to share your day with your friends? Does something wonderful, or something not so great, happen to you and the first thought you have is "I need to tell so and so this? "What would your life be like if the first thought is focused on speaking to God about it? We can view our relationship with God in prayer in a comforting and willing way!
Now that we have that perspective in mind, we need to learn to pray God's Will! It is easier for us to learn to pray about 'Me, Myself, & I' yet it seems more difficult to get our mind around praying God's Will. We are commanded to LOVE our neighbor as ourselves. Let's focus our prayer on speaking to God about others and asking His Will to be done in their lives! If you don't look at prayer for others as a burden, but more like a pleasant opportunity, you will be learning to live these pictured scriptures of Phil 4:8-9. Heavenly Father, I praise your holy name and my heart is thankful for the times I spend with you! May Holy Spirit touch each heart and mind that are called here. I pray these words help them in any way you choose, Lord. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus name. Amen!
Maranatha,
Anna