Last week we considered making a dedicated time and space for prayer (Mark 1 and Matthew 6. Setting aside uninterrupted time to withdraw from the busyness and distractions with the goal of spending alone time with God.
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Another important aspect of prayer involves continual prayer. Paul tells the believers at Thessalonica to “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18).
Paul’s first instruction is to “rejoice always”. We are to live in joy. The motivation for making prayer a lifestyle is a life lived in joy, a life that overcomes obstacles. And this happens through continual prayer in which we seek to develop an ongoing, never-ending conversation with God throughout our day. It affords us the opportunity to express our gratitude and experience His presence in any circumstance.
In Philippians 4:6–7, we see Paul instructing the church on prayer.
“6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Paul first instructs us not to be anxious about anything. Fear and anxiety are natural responses when something goes wrong or when we are faced with an emergency. It is during these times Prayer should be our first response. No matter the circumstance praying without ceasing offers us the ability to cast our cares on Him immediately.
Paul tells them that in “everything” PRAY. My mother defined it by saying “We are never more than a thought away from prayer.” Making prayer a lifestyle means we are training ourselves to be in an attitude of prayer in which we listen and talk to God through silent prayers (or quiet prayers throughout our busy days.
A Month of Thanks…
Having an attitude of gratitude is important. We see people post something they are grateful for every day in the month of November. But really we should be grateful every day of every month and Paul is consistent with his instruction on this. Both 1 Thessalonians 5:18 and Philippians 4:6 he instructions that our prayer is to be with thanksgiving. Here Paul is stating that we should give thanks in all circumstances and at all times.
An Invitation
Prayer is inviting God continually into our daily circumstances, into our hopes, into our fears, into our dreams, and into our pain. Prayer is not working our way through a grocery list of requests that we desire God to perform or to answer the way we expect him to.
In his study “Experiencing God” Henry Blackaby says Believe and experience daily God’s infinite love for you. Hear when God is speaking to you. Identify God’s unmistakable activity in your life. Believe Him to be and to do everything He promises. Adjust your beliefs, character, and behavior to Him and His ways. Identify a direction He is taking in your life, and recognize what He wants to do through you. Know clearly how to respond to what He shows you. Experience God doing through you what only He can do.”
Continual prayer allows us this experience. The experience of God’s presence at any time and any place. When we do all the “churchy” things we are in obedience to God but this experience, this idea of making prayer more than a lifeline is about a relationship with God. To experience this relationship with God to the fullest we must have that continual communication.
“Make It So”
Now that we have an understanding of praying continually, next week we will look at how we can do that. But to get us started today, let’s make one change to our prayer time.
I am not a big SiFi person but my husband is. I have sat through a number of episodes and moves to catch little bits. In Star Trek (I had to look this up as I usually confuse it with Star Wars) Captain Picard’s top catchphrase is “Make it so”. Whenever I hear him say this I think to myself “Amen”. You see Amen’s true definition means “may it be so” not how we typically use it. As a kid sitting around the table hearing “Amen” was the go-ahead to start eating. When we hear someone say “Amen” we hear a sign-off much like “goodbye”.
So my challenge to you this week instead of saying “Amen” when you finish praying, do not conclude your conversation rather leave your line of communication with God open.
Simply ~ Jess
Lifestyle of Prayer: We have only just begun to scratch the surface of the topic of continual prayer. Let’s take some time to dig deeper into the Word. Look up the scriptures below to see what else the Bible tells us about praying without ceasing.
