Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Pray... WITHOUT CEASING?


Pray without ceasing…

If you've been around the church for any length of time, you've heard this verse quoted quite often. It's recorded in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NKJV).

Pray without ceasing. That's a lot of prayer.

My problem is I like to eat and play sports and sleep and read and drink coffee with friends and, and, and... well, you get the picture. And, I don't think I'm that different from most people. I have a very busy life full of stuff I like to do and full of stuff I feel that I'm supposed to do. If I'm totally honest there are sometimes during the day that I am not praying.

"Pray without ceasing" can't mean that prayer is the only thing we get to do, because if that's what it means I would suggest we have all failed.

Let's take a closer look at "pray without ceasing"in a few different translations.

The New International Version says. "pray continually".

The Living Bible says, "pray and never stop".

The Amplified Bible says, "Be unceasing in prayer (praying perseveringly).


Check that last word, "perseveringly". It means to "continue in some effort or course of action  in spite of difficulty, opposition, etc. - to be steadfast in purpose .

I think we're getting closer to the real meaning behind the words. Let's look at some of Jesus' teaching to verify these thoughts.

In Luke 18, Jesus tells us that we should "pray and not give up". After he makes this statement he tells the parable of the persistent widow that kept going back to the judge to get the verdict she wanted. Many times the judge turns her away, but eventually he grants her request in what appears to be his final effort just to get rid of the lady. 

In Matthew 7:7 and 8, the words of Christ are recorded. Here he says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 

Most commentaries suggest that a more literal translation of these words are "ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, knock and keep knocking". Then he adds that if earthly Fathers know how to give good gifts, how much more does our Heavenly Father long to give good gifts to us, His children.

I want to add here, that the description Jesus gave of the summary of his life's mission on Earth was that he "only did what I saw the Father doing" (John 5:19).

Let's pull this all together and see how this can play out in a practical way in our lives.

First, we spend time with God to see what his desires are - what He wants to do, or is doing - and see how we can partner with that. We do this by listening more than we talk when we are with Him. Rather than coming to Him with a list of things we think we need, we seek His kingdom and plans first realizing that this will actually lead to what we really need (Matthew 6). In our times with Him, He will give us insight and foresight into what He wants to accomplish in and through us.

Then, with God's desires in mind we move forward, conscious of our need of His strength and guidance to fulfill His plans in such a way that pleases Him. In doing so, we recognize our need to persistent in prayer until we have seen in the natural realm what God showed us through the eyes of faith. The timeline on this can be a few minutes or many years. But, we are already committed to praying and walking it out until we see God's intended end to any given situation.

In this model or more specifically this lifestyle, we exemplify the words of 1 Thes 5:17... to pray without ceasing. 

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"Prayer postures us to partner with the prophetic"




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