How To Pray Without Ceasing
“Unless you have a delight and desire to follow Jesus, nothing else you learn about being a Christian is going to work. It will just be mechanics. Get into the habit of praying. You may be surprised at the results. When I think about all the answers God has provided, I wonder that I am not praying every minute of the day” (Answered Prayer by Jim Wilson, 2021, p12).
How do you feel when you read “…pray without ceasing…” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 NKJV)?
I know I’ve thought of praying without ceasing as a chore. I’ve even looked at that verse and tried to reinterpret it. It couldn’t really mean to actually pray all the time, could it?
Jim Wilson nails it in the quote above. If you have a “delight and desire to follow Jesus,” there is no way prayer could be a chore. Why wouldn’t I want to double down on delight and desire? Why wouldn’t I pray every minute of the day?
Here is the context for 1 Thessalonians 5:17: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NKJV).
Rejoice, pray, give thanks. That is what God wants for you. What if every moment of your life was joy, prayer, and thanksgiving? What would your work look like? What would your marriage look like? Parenting? Hobbies?
If joy, prayer, and thanksgiving sound like a chore, then you’ve let self righteousness creep into your life. You think joy, prayer, and thanksgiving are works you need to perform in order to please God. And yes, that would be an impossible chore.
You can’t create joy, prayer, and thanksgiving. Only God can.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV).
What do you think?
Joseph