Pray Continually??

by Joel Ramshaw (2010)

One of the things people often advise to do in prayer is to have a fifteen minute devotional in the morning and then at night to take a few minutes or so with God before going to bed. This is better than nothing, but it signifies a lack of real two-way relationship with God. The apostles and first century church held an enormous amount of the Holy Spirit’s power and miracle-working. This came because of the high level of intimacy they had with God, as we see from the Bible:


“continuing instant in prayer” (Romans 12:12)


“Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)


Being "instant in prayer" refers to being ready 24/7 at all times to speak a prayer when a situation comes to your mind or you feel to do so. We must be ready at all times. Whenever a person or situation comes to our mind, or we feel it on our heart, we should say a quick prayer for them. We don't "enter" and "exit" prayer, or "start" and "stop" prayer. Prayer is our life with God, we are never "done" anytime during the day.

A real and living relationship with God means to learn to speak to him throughout the day in everything you do. To “Pray without ceasing” does not mean we pray twelve ours a day. What it means is that we remember to talk to God throughout each day like a best friend. We do not just pray in a fifteen minute block and then stop talking with God through the rest of the day!

God isnt impressed whether you pray fifteen minutes, two hours, or four hours each day. When we enter the true meaning of prayer we will not be keeping track of the time, God exists outside of time. Your relationship with him should flow like a river, not be just bound into two hour blocks. We can never say we are "done praying" after a certian amount of time. That signifies a lack of relationship.

We assume God does not want to hear about the mundane things in our life or our feelings, that God only cares about the “major” things. This is not true! Even a human friend will take about everyday things with their friends. God’s desire for relationship is much more powerful that that of a human. We need to get rid of these assumptions which makes us feel as if “God is far off” “God has more important things to think about” etc.

God wants to hear about what is on your heart no matter what it is. If it seems foolish, talk to God about it anyways. He will not get mad if you talk with Him about it. Actually he is displeased when we are afraid to talk with him about it. Having the fear of God means you run TO him, not FROM him. It is not a bad fear. God’s desire for relationship is so powerful. Our assumptions of him are wrong. Lets seek him everywhere and always talk with him throughout each day.


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