Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (KJV)
What does it mean to pray without ceasing?
My prayer life is probably different from many people. I have an ongoing dialogue with God all day. I talk to Him about my day and ask for help. Sometimes my prayer/dialogues aren’t always reverent. “Dear Lord, please help me from yelling at this person.” “Dear Lord, please help me get through this traffic”.
I have anxiety about a lot of things so I ask for help a lot.
This is a great article I read about people in the Bible that had anxiety. I can see myself in them.
A lady works at a store and has gotten to know my family over time as we have shopped there. She asked me today to keep her in our prayers. One of the greatest things you can do for someone is to pray for them. You are asking the father of the universe to hold one of his children in his hands.
When I was pregnant, my father would pick me up after work. I would wait outside my building and watch the people go by. I remember a certain woman and at the end of every day she would walk by and I would say a silent prayer for her. She looked so tired and even looked in pain.
It Could Change The World
If we could all focus on praying for one day, the world would change. If we decided that for just one day we would pray for every person we came in contact with, our attitudes would change. Our focus would shift from being on us to our Creator.
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Matthew 26: 41 (NIV)
But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Luke 5:16 (NIV)
Let’s try it for a day. Maybe it will stick and become a routine. Pick one day in the future and decide for that day you will pray for every single person that you come into contact with. You don’t have to tell them or anyone else. Just try it. You will feel happier, blessed, and will pass on a blessing to someone else.
I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.
2 Timothy 1:3 (NIV)
