Tentmaker Forum

To begin with, I believe that the phrase pray without ceasing can make many people cringe.  I believe this happens because of a misunderstanding of what prayer really is.

If prayer is only this ritual of getting on our knees,  head bowed, eyes closed,  speaking in tongues, etc etc,  then our Lord Jesus did not pray without ceasing.  And if he didn't do it, why should we?

I think Jesus life was a continual prayer with time taken in a physical positioning on occasion for dire circumstances.  See, I am not against bowing our heads, being humble before the Lord or having time set aside in the day to focus soley on getting direction through prayer.

I just think that if the Lords burden is light, then we must see something different in what we are told to do in scripture.


I've seen people get confused over Matthew 18:19 because they pray and pray with others and nothing happens.  We then hear other things to help with those emotions to explain the unanswered prayer,  "they really weren't in a position to receive", "their heart wasn't right", "who was being prayed for needed to take ownership", etc. I'm not writing to debate those specific reasonings because my own life proves a contradiction to many of them.  I have had answered prayer in my most dark and pathetic moments and the opposite is also true. 

I just think the explanation is not an opinion, it is scripture.  It is important to teach and remind people the realities of prayer.

1John 5:14 And this is the boldness which we have toward Him, that if we should be requesting anything according to His will, He is hearing us.

Matthew 6:9-13 tells us to pray after this manner and we are to pray that Gods will be done.
 We are not going to receive anything that is not Gods will no matter how much we believe that what we want is pure and good.  I also know that one argument is scriptures wording plus a difference between personal and agreement prayer.  Well, if we extract that one verse from scripture then we can imply that because it says "anything" then there is no limit and two people could agree to pray against someone and it should happen.  In order to keep a contradiction at bay, "anything" has to be in context with what the rest of scripture says.  The term anything must be confined within the boundries of Gods absolute statement concerning his will.   


1Thessalonians 5:17 Be praying unintermittingly.
Thats a tall order, or is it really?   I thought, man, just how do I do that?   Quit my Job and spend all my time praying and God will take care of me?  Well, I suppose thats one thing that God could cause to happen,  but I am not going to encourage anyone to do such a thing when I know I wouldn't on my own.  My spirit however tells me thats not really what scripture is intending to say, so I studied more.

I found this verse that to me answers the question of how simple it really is to pray without ceasing, it is so simple in fact, that some do not believe it is that simple.

Phl 4:6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known toward God,
 The wording here is the key because of how we are as beings.  Notice it says "do not worry ABOUT anything" ,  we can worry about something when not in the midst of the problem.   But then notice it does not say  "about" everything.   It says "IN" everything.  We are always "in" something every second of the day.

In everything, all day, in our thoughts, reside in the spirit of God in a simple constant attitude that we be directed by Gods will.  His burden is light, is it not?

We can indeed pray without ceasing.   This is not to say that we shouldn't  take some time to reflect, but we shouldn't believe that God does not honor a busy day thats not some kind of routine or ritual about praying.

A day where  along the way we just think in everything, what God would have us do, a thought comes to mind about someone, think just a thought toward God to protect someone, heal someone, honor someone, help someone and however long that list could possibly go.   

In just a days time we can pray a thousand prayers and they are just as valid as anyone elses or prayers made through any other physical routine.

Hi there Paul,

What an excellent topic to bring up. We all wonder what constant prayer is and what praying is in general.  Like you say, you can pray till doomsday, but if is not in alignment with what God wants, then it's no use.
I believe constant prayer is living in the Now. Like you said 'in everything'.  The Now is always Now, we are always living in the Now. We have to accept from God what is Now. The ego (devil) always looks to the future for salvation, thinking that in the future, something will happen to make oneself whole. But God doesn't live in the future or the past but Now.
Godbless
Nancy

willieH: Hi Paul... :hithere:

To "pray without ceasing" means to me, ...continual SUBMISSION...  :blush:

If we are submitting to GOD's WILL in our lives, then we abide in His presence and in communication and fellowship WITH HIM...   :boogie:  And thereby abide in PEACE and OBEDIENCE, which is EXACTLY what JESUS did...

I agree with Nancy that to pray without ceasing means simply to practice remaining in the Eternal Now moment with God.  As the OP said, it can be done through all the many little things a day we do.

Years back I wanted to learn how to pray without ceasing.  I figured I could start with 5 minutes a day, then increase it, but there still was the problem OP mentioned--life had a few demands of it own.  How did I integrate the two?

Over a period of about 2 years I learned contemplative prayer practices, how to focus my mind and simply sit in adoration of God, who is Love.  I learned then that the time we give to the formal prayer (such as Jesus going alone on the mountain to pray), was the time during which God accomplishes in us everything we will be doing after that.  I cannot pray without ceasing without giving some part of that day for God to accomplish this in me.  When I do, the rest of the day becomes a continual ongoing silent conversation with Him.

We can learn how to stay in the Now moment by discipling ourselves to notice every time we step back into the past (worrying over something that was done, said, hurt us etc) or into the future (wondering what will happen, what we will say at that meeting, or how we will react to an upcoming event, where we will go, what we will do etc).

I learned that we cannot change the past, so we live in frustration if we focus on that.  We cannot change the future so we live in fear of or worry about it.

Both keep us out of the present.

Once I began noticing how often my mind and speech slipped into past and future mode, I was surprised at what a large portion of my day I wasted.

With God's grace I began slowly changing it.  Once I noticed myself focused on past or future I'd say, "God is not there. God is here in the Now." And then I'd look at whatever was there before my face at that moment: a child wanting to play a game while I wanted to get dinner ready; a friend needing to talk when I wanted to read or had housework to do.

Well, you get the idea.  Took quite a while, but the time came when I understood that it was possible to pray without ceasing.  Over time it became this ongoing internal dialogue that never really ceases, an awareness that He is with me in all I do, say or think.

Sure, there are days life gets the best of me and I find myself unwittingly slipping into past or future thoughts.  Only takes a moment to realize why I'm fretting or upset, so I turn my mind back to Him and slip into the Now again.

Mary Ellen