Pray without ceasing.
– 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Surely this command is hyperbole, right? It’s an impossibility. How can I do my job or raise my kids or sleep at night while praying? I struggle to focus on those things already! God can’t mean what he says literally, can he?
Now consider this command from a different angle. Instead of focusing on what it asks of us, consider what it says about God. If he is telling us to pray without ceasing what does this tell us about him? It says that he is always listening, always available, always ready to receive us.
This, then, means that we can prayerfully do our jobs and raise our kids and lay our heads down to sleep. We can put all of those things, and every other moment, in God‘s hands. We can mutter prayers, groan prayers, whisper prayers, weep prayers, and think prayers.
If God calls us to pray without ceasing, then God will unceasingly receive our prayers in whatever form they come.
I originally wrote this post for my church, Immanuel Nashville, in our Daily Pulse email. If you want encouragement from God’s word delivered Monday thru Friday to your inbox, I encourage you to subscribe.
