Praying Without Ceasing

Praying Without Ceasing

“Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to GOD.” Luke 6:12 NKJV

How do we pray without ceasing as Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:17? We know that Jesus could because He was the Son of GOD. Really? Jesus was also the Son of Man and He had to deal with all of the human things that we have to deal with. Jesus’ ability to pray all night was because He was GOD’s Son. So are all Christians, we are the children of GOD!

One of the problems is what most Christians think prayer is, many Christians think pray is some formal or formula that we follow to get approval and answers from GOD. Many Christians pray nothing more than their desires and requests for a better life. Some Christians don’t pray until they are in a desperate situation.

Prayer is a conversation with our Father! Jesus did not spend the night in some formal ritual process. His prayers as recorded in the Gospels are conversations with His Father, remember He did not speak in King James English which seems formal compared to modern English. I’m sure that when Jesus was in the presence of His Father they did not speak in any human language as we see in books and movies. I’m sure They have Their own personal eternal language if they even have to speak at all.

Let’s stop making prayer hard and one sided our prayer time with GOD as His children should be relaxed and familiar, whether we are asking for forgiveness or sharing our heart’s desire. We need to not be in a hurry that is we need to take time to listen to our Father’s Word for us.

Part of what praying without ceasing means is as we go through our day we need to be listening to Father as much as speaking to Him. It is a continual process of communication no matter what is happening or where we are. Remember He sees all and He hears all and He knows all so we should listen.

Study the Psalms and learn to pray especially David’s, there are prayers of thankfulness and desperation, recognition of who GOD is in His love and mercy and His righteous judgment, what He has done and what He said He will do.

Do I pray without ceasing? No, this lesson is for me and all Christians who struggle in this area. It is part of seeking GOD first and His Righteousness and that is another lesson.

I forgot about praying in the Spirit which is part of praying without ceasing, when our spirit is in fellowship with Holy Spirit whether we are awake or asleep or just preoccupied. But we have to yield our conscious and unconscious self to Holy Spirit and allow Him to speak and think through us, He will be in communion with the Father and speak to us as we wait and allow Him.