“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” - I Thessalonians 5:16-18
If this means that we are to be contantly praying, then we will be going around our jobs, school, and home mumbling the whole time totally distant from anything else going on around us. Where would we find time to witness to others? When would we learn new things if we are talking all the time. It is obvious that “pray without ceasing” does not mean a constant prayer that never ends. It does mean that we are always to come back to prayer with everything.
The verse before and the verse after give us a great clue into what verse 17 means. In every trial that we face, we need to rejoice and give thanks to God in prayer. In every triumph that we encounter, we need to rejoice and give thanks to God in prayer. No matter what your situation is, we need to bathe it in prayer before during and after. Our focus ALWAYS needs to come back to prayer.
Here is the normal Christian prayer life. Pray in the morning when you get up (5 minutes). Pray before meals (2 minutes total). Pray in the evening before you go to sleep (5 minutes). That’s 12 minutes for the day. That’s not a whole lot of prayer time. That means that person is praying 1 hr. and 24 minutes in a week. That seems pretty small compared to the people who pray that much in one setting.
Homework for the week: Pray for one hour straight (here’s how you can)
1. Write down a list of EVERY family member and friend that you know who is not saved. Pray for each one individually.
2. Write down a list of EVERY attribute of God that you are thankful for. Tell God why you are thankful for each individual attribute.
3. Write down a list of EVERY thing that God has blessed your life with. Thank God for each individual thing.
4. Write down a list of EVERY request that you want to present before God. Ask God for each individual thing.
A lot of times are prayers are shortened because we just say to ourselves that God knows what I want to pray for, so I won’t take up much of His time. Have you ever watched a great movie that your been friend has already seen? What do you do? Do you go up to them and say, “That was a great movie” and end the conversation because you know that they already know which parts you are talking about? NO. You recount all your favorite parts. You reinact different scenes from the movie. You even talk about the parts you thought were dumb.
So instead of praying, “Dear God, please help all the people I know to get saved. In Jesus name, Amen.”
You should pray, “Dear God, please help Billy see his need for You in his life. He is lost and wandering down a path of uncertainty. He is obviously looking for satisfaction and joy outside of You. I pray that you will open his eyes to the truth of Your Word. Please help me to be a better witness to him. Give me the boldness that I need so that I do not shy away from the gospel. Help me to remember all the verses I should say when it comes time to share them. Give me clarity of thought so that I might present the whole gospel and not leave anything out. Please do not let Billy spend eternity in Hell. In Jesus name, Amen.”
To put it another way, pray as if you deeply care for each request. Don’t pray as if you have something better to do.
If you have any questions or comments please post below.