"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
Pray without ceasing
What does it mean to pray without ceasing? Seriously?
Do we just go on and on talking endlessly to God for the rest of our lives?
What is prayer anyway?
The simplest definition of prayer is, "talking with God". Sounds simple enough, so it seems pretty easy to understand what "pray without ceasing" means.
We are to be talking with God all the time. Keep in mind though, when you are talking with someone you should be listening at least half of that time.
Unless you are talking with a woman, in that case you might be listening ninety percent of the time!
Oh my, that is such a sexist joke--shame on me! Women can do anything men can do! Only better! Right ladies? :)
Any monkey can do that
Last week I was graciously reminded by God what it means to be in constant communion with Him. I was in the shop working on Clay's go-cart and we had a potential buyer coming the next morning.
The go-cart was running a little funny, so I figured I just needed to do a slight adjustment on the carburetor.
After about three to four hours of sweating and cuss words, I was at my wits end. I had already removed the carb three times to check various things, and I changed out all the gas, etc. Wits end!
So, I tried one last thing on the carb--installed it and I paused.
"God, I'm at my wits end. I need to get this thing running because Clay is depending on me and he wants to sell it tomorrow, but I am completely out of options. I can't figure it out. Please help me".
My prayer wasn't full of faith, it was more full of desperation. I was clueless.
I stepped up to the pull cord on the engine and gave a tug. It sparked up and ran better than when we purchased it! I was elated and ashamed at the same instant.
Elated because it ran perfect, but ashamed because I instantly realized what had just happened between me and God.
God doesn't care about our stupid go-cart, but God does care about me shutting Him out. Quenching the Holy Spirit. He took the opportunity to remind me that He is with me every second of every day and I need to, "pray without ceasing".
In other words, I need to be talking to Him and/or listening to Him at all times.
I was so hyper-focused on the go-cart problem that I shut Him out.
I'll admit that I do this often--too often. Way too often.
How about you? Same answer? Too often?
Be a good listener
"God gave you two ears and one mouth". So we can take in twice as much as we spew out, of course.
I highly doubt that any of us can be accused of talking too much when it comes to talking with God. But I also doubt any of us can be accused of listening too much.
If you are like me, an introvert, you will run out of things to say to God pretty quickly.
At work, I get introduced as, "The pilot who won't talk to you when you are flying". Funny, it's the women who say that--ouch--okay I'm a sexist!!, but it IS them who say it! :)
My daughter Lily is like me. One time we were driving together for about forty minutes and she hadn't said a word. I looked over at her and said, "So this is what it is like flying with me". What a revelation. :)
I'm good with not talking, unless I'm talking about God, then I can ramble on forever. Hence, the reason I'm not too exciting to be around.
Think about how God feels about us introverts?
If I was to guesstimate, I would say that we should probably be talking to God about ten percent of the time and let Him do most of the talking. Maybe it's just the introvert in me talking, but if I have access to the creator of the universe, I want to hear Him not me.
I consider the time I read, and listen on audiobook to God's word, as a time of prayer. It's a time where I ask Him to talk to me. I listen.
I read christian books prayerfully.
I listen to some christian podcasts prayerfully.
If you are listening to God at all times, you will hear His ever present voice.
"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak,"
"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you"?
What does God's voice sound like? I can't explain it, but every child of God knows the voice of their Father.
Do you pray enough?
This question gets asked a lot. "Do you pray enough"? Every listener is suppose to humbly answer, "no".
I think it is the wrong question, or at least it is somewhat misleading. It tends to generate the idea of us talking to God not listening to God.
So I'll ask you. Do you pray without ceasing? Yes and no, right? We are in constant communion with our Father, but we can and do quench Him sometimes.
Quenching the Spirit is sin. It's not just an oopsie daisy--it's sin. Pride.
We must humbly repent and turn to our God. Our Maker and our Creator. Our Father and our Provider. Our Power and our Hope.
He is our all and all and we must remain in constant communion with Him.
Jesus said we must remain in Him. We must remain connected to the root of the vine. He also said He'd send the Spirit to accomplish this for us.
In John 15 Jesus went on and on about us remaining in Him. Here is a portion of it:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Remain in His light--stay out of the shadows
Song:
I Abide
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