1 Thessalonians 5:17
Pray without ceasing. (KJV) (NASB) (ESV)
pray continually, (NIV) (TNIV)
constantly pray, (NETBible)
No matter what version of the Bible I read this verse in, I still come up with the same question, “How DO you pray continually?”
I like the following answer from Thelma Wells. She has challenged me to use yet another way to fellowship with my heavenly Father.
…I tend to pray when there’s no apparent reason to pray. I just love to fellowship with my heavenly Father.
Some of my prayers sound like this:
- “Lord, have mercy.”
- “Help me, Lord.”
- “Thank You, Jesus.”
- “Speak to my heart, Lord.”
- “Lord, are You listening?”…
- “God, why are You so slow?”
- “What’s this all about, Jesus?”
- “Do You hear me, Lord?”
- “Am I supposed to keep asking You to do this, Sir?”
- “Look, Lord, I need an answer!”
- “Praise the name of Jesus.”
- “I love You, Lord.”
Some of those prayers may sound as if I’m a little sassy with God or disrespectful of Him, but the truth is, God is my Father and yours. He knows all about us. We can come boldly to Him and He will understand exactly what we mean and the attitude with which we mean it. In other words, we can come clean with God. When we realize that prayer is simply expressing the heart’s sincere desire to God, in silence or aloud, prayer can become as natural as breathing.
…Praying continually involves abiding in the Father’s presence, whether formal prayers are uttered or not.
Thelma Wells in Opening Windows – Spiritual Refreshment for your Walk with Christ
Thank you for this very wonderful reminder.
I love praying during my morning walk. Then, when getting ready for my day, I listen to my favorite audio Bible with Max McClean (www.listenersbible.com). On the way to work, I listen to The Bible Experience (http://www.amazon.com/Inspired-ByThe-Bible-Experience-Testament/dp/0310926335)–it gets my day started on right foot
I love the hygendrea –a beautiful reminder of our Father’s creation!
Maria
Comment by mkeckler — May 1, 2007 @ 7:44 am |
When I woke up, I will say: “Good morning Father, Good morning Jesus and Good morning Holy Spirit”…I thank our Father for yet another day which He has planned for us and I know it is going to be full of His goodness…I thank Him for His Grace, Mercy and Forgiveness…I praise and worship Him…say all my prayers, read the Bible and pray for the nation, family, church, business, people and other nations I know will need our prayers for their salvation…. I pray when I am driving to work or just fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit,,,listening to Christian music….
I pray whenever I can, whereever I go, at work, walking around and even I am doing something or nothing, praying in tongue or just praising and thanking Him, thanking Jesus, thanking the Holy Spirit, or just talking to Him and many times and many times, it gives me much joy to know He is there listening just by the joy leaping in my heart and the peace, such good peace…and when I did have to go through all the trials…He was there to show He cared….I love especially Isaiah 43-2 :”When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindly upon thee”….What an awesome and wonderful God!… Once, He made me go prayer walking in the streets of Casablanca, in winter….and it was a wonderful experience…it is good to fellowship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit all the time….indeed…Praise the Lord!!!
Comment by makarios1 — May 1, 2007 @ 8:23 am |
Maria, I will have to check out those audios. Thank you!
Makarios, thank you for stopping by. I am going to start doing this: “Good morning Father, Good morning Jesus and Good morning Holy Spirit”…
What a wonderful start for the morning. Thank you for sharing!
Blessings on both of you.
Comment by airmiles — May 2, 2007 @ 7:18 am |
Hi Airmiles – Thanks for your note….I was busy and did not see your note…Our church just embarked on a 21-day Church-wide fast and pray and we are having prayer meetings every evening from 7.30pm…So many things to pray about…the world is going so crazily tipsy-turvy….among others salvation for people….peace, our nation’s well-being, spirtual growth, may His Will be done, may His Kingdom come in all nations to the ends of the earth! Amen.
Comment by makarios1 — May 9, 2007 @ 9:38 am |
Praying with you! Come Lord Jesus Come!
Amen!
Comment by Lana G! — May 9, 2007 @ 9:42 am |
This is such a great post. Thank you! I am still struggling with the ability to pray constantly. Certainly, I have quiet time and prayer time with the Lord throughout the day but staying in the Spirit constantly is such a challenge some days. I will start out in the Spirit and then my flesh takes over. These recommendations from Thelma Wells and your other readers are very helpful.
Recently my son was hurt playing baseball and I found myself saying to God: “I prayed for protection, Lord, why did this happen?” On the drive to the ER through his tears and with an icepack on his mouth, my 7 year old proclaimed, “Mom, I know God has a plan in all of this”. Wow, I was blown away that my son could see through the temporal into the eternal while I was in complete panic mode. My son and I began praying together for healing and praising God that the injury wasn’t worse. He is doing very well now and I can see how God did a work on his heart (and mine) through this accident.
If we are constantly walking in the Spirit, we will be in direct communication with God. There is a great post over at Grace County about walking in the Spirit. http://timbob.wordpress.com/
God Bless!
Scotti
Comment by Scotti — May 9, 2007 @ 5:53 pm |
From the mouth of babes! What a wonderful testimony of your love for God being communicated to your children. Your doing a great job mom! What a wonderful Mother’s Day gift to see your children walking with the Lord!
Thank you for the post referral. I am headed there now…
Blessings to you and your family.
Comment by Lana G! — May 10, 2007 @ 6:40 am |
“Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, KJV).
True success is being in the will of God for your life. If you know you are in the will of God you know you are successful.
Paul notes three things which He says is the will of God for us.
1 – Rejoice evermore.(The difference between someone that rejoices in life and one that doesn’t is that one chooses to meditate and think about the things that are good and the other one on the things which are not. Keep your heart and mind focused on the things of God for the joy of the Lord is our strength)
2 – Pray without ceasing(This means to be in continual communication with God. To walk with God. The bible tells us that Enoch walked with God and that God literally took him to be with Him. He so walked with God that he didn’t even die. The apostles so walked with God that their shadows healed people. God is the same now as He was then. I believe that we could also walk with God in this manner)
3 – In every thing give thanks(God lets everything work together for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His will. In other words, we always have something to be thankful for, even if we don’t fully understand what the purpose and the reason is.)
My prayer is that God will make us affective prayer warriors with a disciplined life. I pray that he will make us prayer fit and teach us to walk in His presence and be spiritually minded at all times.
Comment by Loock — September 28, 2009 @ 3:18 am |