Pray Without Ceasing

PRAY WITHOUT CEASING

“Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). There is a great difference between prayer and the life of prayer. Almost everyone prays, but very few pray without ceasing. This is the habit of devotion. This is the altar of incense ever burning in the Holy Place. This is the fragrance of a heart that lives in the presence of the Holy One, and breathes the very life of God. This is the deep undertone of a sanctified life. It is from this that the sweetness, the gladness, the holiness, and the helpfulness come. Lord, teach us the habit of prayer, the prayer that springs spontaneously from the heart, and which neither secular duty, satanic temptation, nor the waves of sorrow, can interrupt, but which is only stimulated by the things that try us, until every experience becomes transformed into an occasion for communion and fellowship with God.

–A. B. Simpson

Walking by Faith

How many novels have you read in the last twelve months? Newpapers? On-line articles? Recipes? Decorating magazines? Sports Illustrated?

How much time have you spent watching TV? Listening to music? Playing cards? Dining out? Shopping on-line?

We can spent a lot of time on leisure activities. So…how much time do spend each day alone with God, reading your Bible and praying?

Your faith is probably proportionate to the amount of time you spend in God’s Word. I am not talking about church attendance or good works, although these are positives. I am referring to the time you spend alone with God. This is how you learn about Him and how you apply His truths to your life.

The time has come when we are going to have to live by faith more than ever. Why? Times are tough for many. Those who are not experiencing hardships need to be helping those who are.

So what is true faith?

1. John 17:3;  Hebrews 11:1-3    2. Galatians 2:20

 

True faith is both a knowledge of the will of God as revealed in His Word (1) and a firm trust in the promises of Jesus Christ to save His people. (2)

 

How can we have faith if we do not know God’s will as it is revealed to us in His Word? How can we trust the promises that Jesus gives in the New Testament if we do not read them and hold them close to us?  We cannot. Faith can also be described as the broad knowledge of biblical truths found in scripture and holding onto these main truths, such as Jesus Christ as the sole way to salvation. 

 

Romans 3:22-25 says, faith does not justify me in so far as it is a work, virtue, or inherent quality in me, but only as it looks away from itself to Christ alone.

 

Are you trusting the Lord with your future and trusting in Him to provide for you?  He knows what is best for us with a perfect plan, even though His plans differ greatly from what we scheme for ourselves.

I have heard it said…”Do you want to tell God a joke?  Then tell Him YOUR plans.”

 

How can you change your thinking so that He comes first? What meaningless activities are consuming your time and taking away you from God? What is God trying to burn away in your life right now?

 

Our greatest purpose in life is to give God glory. What gives him glory in your life? Anything that elevates yourself does not give God glory.

 

We must have both obedience and faith to please God. So how strong is your faith this very moment? Are you rejoicing in the Lord even though you may be suffering? Are you opening your Bible and leaning on the Lord and His Word?

 

 If not…will you?

ko 

 

Be Thankful in Adversity.

Many will thank God when He gives; Job thanks Him when He takes away, because he knew that God would work good out of it. We read of saints with harps in their hands (Rev. 14.2), an emblem of praise.

We meet many Christians who have tears in their eyes, and complaints in their mouths; but there are few with their harps in their hands, who praise God in affliction.

To be thankful in affliction is a work peculiar to a saint. Every bird can sing in spring, but some birds will sing in the dead of winter. Everyone, almost, can be thankful in prosperity, but a true saint can be thankful in adversity. A good Christian will bless God, not only at sun-rise, but at sun-set.

Well may we, in the worst that befalls us, have a psalm of thankfulness, because all things work for good. Oh, be much in blessing of God: we will thank Him that doth befriend us.

–Thomas Watson