Pray Without Ceasing

The Lord has laid it on my heart to study and teach on prayer. This is the first of a series of postings on prayer. May Our Lord teach us what we need to help us with where we’re at on our journey. In Jesus name...Amen!

Prayer is a vital part of our Christian lives. Prayer is simply talking with God. He wants nothing more than for us to spend time talking and listening to Him just like we do with anyone we love. The more time we spend talking with God the more we will learn to know Him, love Him, and recognize His voice. Our faith, confidence, and trust in Him will grow as we see our prayers being answered. Just knowing that He hears our prayers and cares about every detail of our lives should cause us to want to spend more time talking with Him.

“But certainly God has heard me; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, Who has not rejected my prayer nor removed His mercy and loving –kindness from being [as it always is] with me.” Psalm 66:19-20

We are to be in a constant state of prayer; praying without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17) I don’t mean walking around looking like a crazy person. I mean we need to be aware that we are not ever alone. His Holy Spirit is with us all the time. The Lord has given us His Spirit to guide and leads us all the days of our lives. He is there when we wake up, when we are driving to work or school, while we are going through our day, and when we come home. He is always with us not only protecting us and watching over us; He is there wanting to be the first one we call if we just want to talk or are going through something.

Psalm 139:7 “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?”

Joshua 1:5, 9 The Lord said, “I will not leave you nor forsake you.” “The Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Almighty God is our Heavenly Father who cares about everything that goes on with us. He wants to provide for ALL our needs. That’s why He says, “Do NOT fret or have any anxiety about ANYTHING, but in EVERY circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.” (Philippians 4:6) This scripture should give us confidence that we can talk to Him about everything and anything. We can talk to Him about our jobs, our bosses, our enemies, our friends, our spouses, and children. We can ask Him to give us more patience, understanding, wisdom, and compassion. We can request direction and guidance for our lives. There is nothing that we can not talk to our loving God about.

Prayer keeps us dependant on Him. He doesn’t want us to fret, worry, or have anxiety. He wants us to cast all of our cares on Him through prayer, trusting Him to care for our needs. Prayer is our stress relief because once we have prayed and spent time in his presence the peace of God which surpasses all understand will guard our minds and our hearts as we trust Him. Then we can begin to mediate on the fact that He has always been faithful to answer our prayers in the past and we can rejoice and praise Him for His faithfulness and mercy. (Philippians 4:7)

Lord, you are an Awesome God that loves us so much that you long to talk to us and spend time with us through prayer. Remind us that you are always there ready to listen and answer our prayers. Thank you for your Son who as given us full access to your throne room. In Jesus name..Amen