"Pray without ceasing."
Man if there has been an overwhelming tone in my life, time and time again, it has been pray. So many times I have asked the Lord for direction and the answer I get is pray. As you may have already guessed, I don't. Let me clarify. It's not that I don't pray, it's that I don't keep it consistent. I think that I probably speak for a majority of Christians out there when I say that. Am I proud of it? No way. To my shame I admit it. That's the topic of this weeks devotional. Paul in writing to the Thessalonians, is closing his first letter with some great to do's for the Christian. This one being the most important. What exactly does this mean though? Do I pray from the moment I get up to the moment I sleep? Of course not, that would be impossible. What it means is to not stop asking. The word for Prayer used here in the Greek is proseuchomai. It is a verb. It is used when praying to God or in worship or supplication. We can pray for thing and the like, but this one is directly to God for Him. Also ceasing meaning, not to stop. Here's the example. I have used it before but it works well and illustrates the point nicely I believe. If your on a football team, and you have games to play, you need a game plan. The coach has the game plan, and tells his players what he wants to do to win. The players execute it to the best of their ability and hopefully win. Well, let me ask you this. How far would the team get without consulting the coach routinely? Right. Not very far. This is what it means to pray without ceasing. God is our coach, and He has the ultimate game plan that is proven and always wins. If we are coming to Him regularly, we know the game plan and we can move forward towards the victory. Obviously, there are things to pray about as well that need constant prayer, and we should pray for those as well without ceasing. This though, is really to meet with God and be still so we can hear His voice instead of ours always. Prayer doesn't work, I've tried it you might say. Well, I've got news for ya. God's time table is way different than ours and we need to pray until an answer arrives. It may be yes, it may be no, it may be wait like my pastor says. Either way, until that happens we keep seeking Him. Make no mistake, it is hard to get a routine going. There is always something else to do and always will be. You know what I have found though? It never ends!!!! Plus it would be easier to handle if I had the Lord's instructions first. Also, the bible speaks about prayer in James 5:16 the last half of the verse says this. " The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, availeth much." Guys, I know we have all heard this a million times and maybe for some of us, this is the first time. But with all that is going on in the world now, and we see the day drawing near. How can we not be doing this? The darker it gets, the harder it will be to do this. Start now so we can be ahead of the curve. Be blessed this week. Spend time with your loving Father. He is so waiting to spend it with you.
Bob.
Man if there has been an overwhelming tone in my life, time and time again, it has been pray. So many times I have asked the Lord for direction and the answer I get is pray. As you may have already guessed, I don't. Let me clarify. It's not that I don't pray, it's that I don't keep it consistent. I think that I probably speak for a majority of Christians out there when I say that. Am I proud of it? No way. To my shame I admit it. That's the topic of this weeks devotional. Paul in writing to the Thessalonians, is closing his first letter with some great to do's for the Christian. This one being the most important. What exactly does this mean though? Do I pray from the moment I get up to the moment I sleep? Of course not, that would be impossible. What it means is to not stop asking. The word for Prayer used here in the Greek is proseuchomai. It is a verb. It is used when praying to God or in worship or supplication. We can pray for thing and the like, but this one is directly to God for Him. Also ceasing meaning, not to stop. Here's the example. I have used it before but it works well and illustrates the point nicely I believe. If your on a football team, and you have games to play, you need a game plan. The coach has the game plan, and tells his players what he wants to do to win. The players execute it to the best of their ability and hopefully win. Well, let me ask you this. How far would the team get without consulting the coach routinely? Right. Not very far. This is what it means to pray without ceasing. God is our coach, and He has the ultimate game plan that is proven and always wins. If we are coming to Him regularly, we know the game plan and we can move forward towards the victory. Obviously, there are things to pray about as well that need constant prayer, and we should pray for those as well without ceasing. This though, is really to meet with God and be still so we can hear His voice instead of ours always. Prayer doesn't work, I've tried it you might say. Well, I've got news for ya. God's time table is way different than ours and we need to pray until an answer arrives. It may be yes, it may be no, it may be wait like my pastor says. Either way, until that happens we keep seeking Him. Make no mistake, it is hard to get a routine going. There is always something else to do and always will be. You know what I have found though? It never ends!!!! Plus it would be easier to handle if I had the Lord's instructions first. Also, the bible speaks about prayer in James 5:16 the last half of the verse says this. " The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, availeth much." Guys, I know we have all heard this a million times and maybe for some of us, this is the first time. But with all that is going on in the world now, and we see the day drawing near. How can we not be doing this? The darker it gets, the harder it will be to do this. Start now so we can be ahead of the curve. Be blessed this week. Spend time with your loving Father. He is so waiting to spend it with you.
Bob.
Bob,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement to pray with out ceasing.
Cary