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Pray without ceasing

~1 Thes. 5:17

 

Good morning my sister!

Welcome to a new day in the Lord!

Have you offered a word of prayer or thanksgiving to God yet? Let’s do it together right now! I invite you to read aloud with me:

     “Father in heaven, how glorious is your name! Thank you for this new day you have given me! I humbly offer it back to You so that I might be led by Your spirit into the plans and activities You have planned for me today! Order my steps so that I may be following You, knowing that You will supply all that I need. Be glorified in my life today!

Hallelujah!”

I don’t mean to trick you into praying, but I’ve been pondering, what did the apostle Paul mean when he instructed the Thessalonian church to pray without ceasing? Perhaps we all have our special times of prayer, but we can’t never stop, can we? Or can we?

Thinking about this has led me to be more mindful about my daily activities, how my time is spent and the impact that has on my relationship with God. What I found kind of surprised me.

It all started when we (my beloved and myself) had to make improvements in our diet for our health’s sake. We already ate a pretty healthy diet, but it wasn’t quite good enough and we had to start paying even more attention to what we were consuming. 

We did that for the health of our bodies, but it got me to thinking about my spiritual health as well. What kind of spiritual diet am I on? Am I paying attention to the right things? Are my goals and activities pleasing to God? How about my inner thoughts and attitudes? I hope to encourage you to think about these things too, my precious sister!

The full scripture verse above is a recipe for a healthy spiritual diet!

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thes. 5:16-18) I love it! Such clarity! It seems that God’s will for us in Christ Jesus is to be happy and thankful children. Who doesn’t love happy and thankful children? And why shouldn’t we be? God has given us the eternal gift of salvation through His own Son!

So, we rejoice always! How is that possible when there is so much suffering going on in the world? It becomes possible when we stop focusing on the troubles and turn our attention to our Abba, who hears our prayers!

We pray without ceasing! If we go through our days with our minds set on the things above instead of being distracted with all of our favorite distractions, we will find ourselves thinking about God and even talking to Him throughout the day! This kind of spending time with God and communicating with Him is also prayer! 

Over time, we find God’s companionship much more desirable than what the world has to offer! Our former pastimes grow strangely dim unless we invite His participation. Pretty soon we’re telling Him about our friends and family (that’s called intercession) and whaddya know, we’ve been spending time in continuous prayer!

The same principle is true for giving thanks in all circumstances! We are shifted from being overwhelmed by the fiery trial to focus on the One who is with us in the flames! We do look not at the waves, but to the One walking on the water! We entrust our mortal lives to the eternal One who shed His blood on the cross, died and rose again, purchasing the same for you and for me! 

Changing our habits is never easy. We consume the things we like, but sometimes our tastes and preferences are not always edifying for us. Just as we need to persevere in putting healthy food into our bodies everyday, so we also must be careful about the ‘food’ we allow into our souls. 

When we’re walking in the path God has chosen for each one of us, we can anticipate that we will get the best out of every day the Lord gives to us. His best! To the degree that we are willing to submit to His will rather than our own will, our lives are enriched and we will be a blessing to others while on this earth.

This broken world has nothing to give but tribulation and trouble without ceasing. But Jesus has overcome the world, and through Him, our unceasing prayers will bring His light, His life and His direction into our lives and the lives of those for whom we pray.

So begin praying without ceasing, dear sister! It’s like having your best friend with you all the time!

Thank you Lord, You are so good to us! As we spend time with You, wherever we are and whatever we’re doing, may we grow to be more and more like You, to Your glory! 

Amen!

Keep loving Jesus and moving forward!

With love, your sister, Celeste