Pray Without Ceasing 2

admin July 23, 2020 0 Comments

1Thessalonians 5:17 KJV

Pray without ceasing

I read a story that interest me and kind of explains Paul’s thought in this verse. In the 19th century there was a group of men headed up by John Newton that meet once a month for theological discussions. They addressed one theological question every month. This was one of their questions for one month’s discussion, namely, what does it mean to pray without ceasing? They battled it around for about 45 minutes and couldn’t come to a satisfactory answer. Finally there was a Scottish maid who walked into the room and was serving. One of the ministers casually said to this maid girl, this Scottish maid girl, “Maybe you can tell us what it means to pray without ceasing.”

She said to them, “Oh, sirs, that’s not problem. When I get up in the morning, I cloth myself, I pray that the Lord Jesus might cloth me with His righteousness today. When I set before you this food and this drink, I prayed that Jesus Christ might be my meat and drink until life eternal. So, Sirs, I just kind of pray my way through the day.”

This story illustrates the culture of praying. It illustrates a lifestyle that sees prayer not just as a discipline but as an integral part of the believer. It is not only when we audibly or in a particular form or religious pattern make our request to God that we pray. Every moment of thankfulness and gratitude are prayers.

Paul’s point is that we become consciously prayerful, to be continuously aware of His presence, creating a desire to punctuate our days, hours and minutes with the communion and fellowship of prayer. Keeping our mind consciously in God’s presence, can transform sporadic and stammering prayers into a constant and characteristic attitude of reverence and dependence on a higher power.