I am sure you have heard or read I Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing.” When I was a child, I used to wonder how in the world you could pray without ceasing, after all, to cease means to stop, if you pray without ceasing, that means you are always praying. A little background here…I was not raised Catholic, I was raised in a different Christian faith and when we prayed at our church you bowed your head and closed your eyes, at home when we prayed at meal time, we bowed our heads and closed our eyes, when we prayed before bed…well, you get the picture. I was always bowing my head and closing my eyes. So, when Paul wrote, “Pray without ceasing” I envisioned walking around with your head bowed and your eyes closed praying all the time. Now…how in the world was I supposed to do that? I would walk into things; I would not be able to see where I was going. The naive thoughts of a child…fast forward to adulthood…
It wasn’t until I was in my adult years that I realized that prayer is more than just the words we say when we pray, prayer is an attitude. And I do not mean the attitude that your adolescent or teenage child may occasionally display! I believe that what Paul was saying when he wrote to “pray without ceasing” is that we should always be in a prayerful attitude. Prayer is vital to our Christian walk…just as vitamins and minerals are vital to our health. Setting aside a few minutes each day to read a few verses in God’s word and spend a few minutes in prayer with him will do wonders for our attitude…or at least it helps my attitude. We can pray anywhere, anytime…God will always hear us.
Lord, help me to be in a prayful place today. Please help me to be pray without ceasing in my heart and mind. Give me the wisdom to discern the decisions I have to make, help me to seek and find your will. Bless my family, keep them safe. Bless the readers of the blog and their families. Help them find their prayerful place.
Peace……..
The idea for this post came from Billy Graham’s book Hope for Each Day, February 21
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