PRAY WITHOUT CEASING

INHALE - HOLD IT –EXHALE. 

INHALE – HOLD IT – EXHALE.

You feel the doctor’s cold stethoscope moving across your back while the doctor listens to your breathing. Breathing is a normal involuntary function of the body. You can temporarily interrupt it, like swimming under water, but you need to breathe normally most of the time.

So it is with our prayer life. You can plan your day with a prayer time but soon you run out of time and you have to reassume the normal day’s activities. Your prayer time is planned praying. It is an essential part of your spiritual journey. It might be audible or mind talk. Jesus took time to pray in the garden of Gethsemane. He prayed all night until the guards came and interrupted him. Later on the cross he prayed extemporaneously and he prayed from his heart “God forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing”, “Father unto you I commit my soul”. He prayed without ceasing.

Praying is like breathing. You exhale and then you inhale.

Exhaling is:
Praising God for sending his Son to die on the cross for our sins.

Praising God for sending his Holy Spirit to comfort us.

Asking for God’s forgiveness for our sins.

Asking for God’s blessing for special people, events or activities.

Asking God to intervene in the normal events of life.

Inhaling is:

Feeling God’s presence and comfort.

Being confident that God hears and answers our requests

Seeing God at work in your life or others

Knowing that God is in control

Experiencing God Through the use of memories of things that you had long ago forgotten

Experiencing a new thought or thinking in a different way

How do we pray without ceasing? We do it by communicating with God extemporaneously during our daily life routine.

You may use things to trigger a prayer. You may pray for God’s direction when you get-up in the morning. You may pray for someone you pictured on your refrigerator door. You might pray for a safe trip every time you put the key into the ignition of your car. You pray for someone the second time they come into your mind. You may enter God’s presence numerous times during the day even if it is only for a few seconds. Soon the communication becomes a conversation.

Whether we are praying a given time or praying extemporaneously we still cannot pray without ceasing. Sometimes we cannot express the deep feelings we have. When we become a believer the Holy Spirit enters our soul. He prays for us. Romans 8:26-27 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not need to know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Prayer both planned and unplanned is the building block for intimacy with God the Father. Intimate enough to call your Heavenly Father Daddy!