Pray without ceasing. (1 Thess. 5:17, NASB)
As we enter the “One Prayer” series as a church, I thought it might be useful to share a great idea for prayer that we discussed in our Spiritual Experiments small group this past week. We talked about how we can be in prayer every day, all day, in effect, living out the command in 1 Thessalonians to “pray without ceasing.”
Brother Lawrence, a 17th century monk, set a seemingly impossible goal–to attain a life of ongoing, ceaseless prayer. He sought to accomplish this by viewing every single action of his day as an expression of prayer. His journey is recorded in his book The Practice of the Presence of God. A “friend” of Brother Lawrence’s captured his journey with this statement: “Brother Lawrence insisted that, to be constantly aware of God’s presence, it is necessary to form the habit of continually talking with Him throughout the day. To think that we must abandon conversation with Him in order to deal with the world is erroneous.”
We can do the same thing Brother Lawrence did — we can order our day around prayer. In his book An Ordinary Day with Jesus, John Ortberg gives some idea on how to do this.
Morning
In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. (Psalm 5:3)
Start the day by acknowledging total dependence on God.
Getting ready
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7)
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. (Psalm 139:23-24)
Most of us probably start our days taking a shower, brushing our teeth, and other things to physically cleanse our bodies. Why not use that time to ask for spiritual cleansing as well? These verses in Psalms show us that we can ask God to reveal the impure areas of our hearts and lives and to cleanse us from unrighteousness.
Pray the news/newspaper
In everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. (Phil. 4:6)
Praying the newspaper gives us an opportunity to see the world and God’s people as He does.
Eating
Enter his gates with thanksgiving. (Psalm 100:4)
Turn meal times into opportunities for thanksgiving.
Turn work into prayer
Whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, you must do all for the glory of God. (1 Cor. 10:31)
Order your work day around a life of prayer, looking for opportunities for reflection, to pray for others, and to reconnect with God.
End the day in prayer
On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. (Psalm 63:6)
Use this time to reflect on the day.
See? There are ways we can obey the command to “pray without ceasing.” Will you join the Spiritual Experiments small group in trying this out one day this week?
This is helpful, Sarah. Thanks!
...Jana!
June 11th, 2008