Without Ceasing

"Pray without ceasing" 1 Thessalonians 5:17


Another easy verse to memorize, as well as another easy verse to understand. Pray continually, as the NIV version of the Bible reads. And there is no more direct way to state two or three words.

Look past the two or three words though. Think about what it means to pray without ceasing. Paul doesn't mention anything about praying on Sundays or before meals, at least not in this passage. The Holy Spirit did not inspire Paul to place anything circumstantial to this verse.

Pray without ceasing. That tells me that I should always be aware of God's presence and that I should always keep an open channel to His Spirit. Always. No coffee breaks or earned time off.

But it also tells me that God will always hear me. This verse tells me that God is always there; otherwise He would have guided Paul to write about praying around God's busy schedule. "Pray between the hours of eight and five, Monday through Friday." But He didn't impress that upon Paul.

Because God always hears us, is always there, and never takes a day off to play golf. God is more faithful than we are and I don't know about you, but I sure am glad to know that. Sometimes I need Him at some inconvenient times.

So as I take a break from the blog until Monday, and we take breaks from work or our busy weeks, let's try to do our best to not take time off away from God. Let's not take spiritual breaks just because we are on "our time" over the weekend. Let's remember to pray without ceasing; to be in the constant awareness of God's presence all week long, twenty four hours a day.