[P]ray without ceasing… 1 Thessalonians 5:17
And He said to them, “It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’…” (Matthew 21:13)
In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there (Mark 1:35).
As noted above, we are to “pray without ceasing.” And in Ephesians 6, the Lord says to us in verses 18 – 20,
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
So, among other truths we can learn from these passages, we can see that apparently, God sees prayer as very important.
If God sees prayer that way, we would be wise to seek to see it as important to us as it is to God.
It is obvious that God wants us to maximize the benefits of ceaseless prayer.
A wise way to approach a command like that is not to say “That’s impossible.” Rather, we are to pray “Lord, help me and teach me how to ‘pray without ceasing.’”
God doesn’t ever command us to do things that we cannot do. He commands us to do things that we can only do in His power, in His wisdom, and in His grace.
So, a starting place with this command can be “Lord, teach me how and guide and strengthen me to pray without ceasing.”
Another way to pray to help us in this matter is to pray the prayer of Jabez over your prayer life every day. (See 1 Chronicles 4:9-10)
As we do this, our prayer life can grow stronger and stronger becoming much more fruitful in many ways.
The Holy Spirit is our divine Tutor. He can teach us how to pray without ceasing and empower us to do just that.
So here is a prayer to pray daily over your prayer life :
“Dear Lord, I praise you and I thank you for the privilege of being able to talk with you in prayer every day.
Dear Lord, bless my prayer life indeed, expand its territory, place your hand anew upon it, and keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain. In Jesus’s Name, Amen.”
And then, trust God to teach you new insights about prayer. And pray, pray, pray.
Both now and as you learn more, be a disciple that is living a prayer-filled life.*
*1. https://www.afa.net/the-stand/faith/2023/12/kingdom-prayers/
* 2. https://www.afa.net/the-stand/faith/2021/04/accessing-the-vast-ocean-of-god-s-grace/
