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

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

Prayer

It has been said that a Christian is only as strong as his prayer life. Prayer is your communication with God. When you read the Bible, God communicates with you and when you pray, you communicate back.

Prayer is simply talking with God. When we pray we are to address it to the Father, in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit. I love the way this involves the Trininty when we speak with the Lord our God.

We are to pray everywhere and anytime, always without ceasing. Luke 18:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:17. All day long. Psalm 55:17

Jesus’ instruction  is that when we pray, “do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men.” Matthew 6:5. It has been said that the Pharisees liked to be on  a busy street corner when the bell rang for mid-day prayers. When we pray, for instance in a restaurant, we should be discreet and not pray for show, but in thankfulness for His provision.

We are not to babble or use vain repetitions.  The right kind of prayer does not use repetitions, which is any and all prayer which is all words and no meaning, all lips and no mind or heart.

From Matthew 7, prayer is asking, seeking and knocking. Never be afraid to ask for what you need, seriously…urgently. Keep knocking so that the Lord knows of your earnest desire that you prayers be answered. Persevere.

Consider ACTS when praying

A. Adoration – Praise and worship God first.

C. Confession – Come to God with a clean heart. He is holy and requires his people to be holy.

T. Thanksgiving – God loves a grateful heart.

S. Supplication – Then come to God with your intercession for others and yourself.

We do not always get the answer we desire when we pray, because God will answer with His will, which may be a yes, a no, or a wait. Know that God hears our prayers and pray by faith. Hebrews 11:6

There are conditions for answered prayer. We are not to ask for selfish things, James 4:3. We need to be a true child of God by being saved therefore righteous. (Right before God) Proverbs 15:29. Ask according to His will and not your own. Matthew 26:39. Always be walking with Christ and do not come to Him only when you are in trouble. John 15:7. Make sure you are not in rebellion to the truth of God’s Word and commands. 1 John 3:22.

When you are in a tough situation, facing temptation, discouraged what is your first response? Is it prayer?

While we are to go our Bibles for answers our immediate response when walking with the Lord should be  to turn immediately to Him.