It was a regular afternoon on a weekday, and as I went about my business, the Holy Spirit impressed on my heart – “Pray without ceasing“. Within a few seconds after, it felt like some kind of light exploded on that scripture in my mind and there came some type of understanding. That understanding I got that day Is what I would endeavor to share with you today 🙂
Apostle Paul, one of the most prolific writers that ever lived wrote the Letters in I Thessalonians and II Thessalonians to the church in that region. The words in these letters are so powerful that they also address and admonish the present-day church. He begins I Thessalonians 5 by pointing to the fleeting times and seasons that exist in this world we live in. He also reminds us of the Second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ which could come at any time. Then He continues by reminding us of our knowledge in Christ, our knowledge of these things but nonetheless, he encourages us to rejoice in the Lord always while we pray unending as well.
With that said, I’d love to break down the word pray. What does it mean to pray? It simply means to talk to God while He responds to us, it simply means to communicate with God. Now let us plug that into I Thessalonians 5:17 – Talk to God without ceasing. Another version says never stop praying, therefore never stop talking to God. This shouldn’t be hard, Should it? I mean if we can spend hours talking to our friends and family, we should be able to talk to God as much also.
The Holy Spirit highlighted to me how it is more for my benefit for me to speak with Him without ceasing. When we speak to God without ceasing, we are constantly in the know of what He is doing in our lives, our family, our environment, and so on. And even in seasons when He seems to be silent, we are able to comprehend His silence. With these said, I shall Highlight the reasons we Should Never stop talking to God(pray without ceasing)
It Builds Intimacy With the Lord: At this junction, I would love you to take a quick pause and think about that one person you are extremely close with or close to. Now tell me, how did you both get to that level of closeness? By Staring at one another? I didn’t think so too, you both spent time talking to one another. And that is how your bond was built. The same way with our Father in heaven, He doesn’t want to barge in on you. He stands knocking at the door waiting for you to open the door, waiting for you to invite Him into your heart, waiting for you to offer Him a seat in your heart, waiting for you to ask Him questions, waiting for you to incline your ears to Him so He can speak with you. The level of intimacy God had with Adam and Eve in Eden is very achievable in our day and age. Jesus Christ came to give us that access, once we confess with our mouths that He is Lord, repent of our sinful ways, and begin to commune with the Lord – intimacy begins to bud between you and God. So my dear believer, my dear friend, I implore you to speak to God today, do not let it stop there, keep speaking with Him.
It helps provide insight into past events: Sometimes, we need to be abreast or have detailed insight into past events in order to know the best line of action to take. For example, none of us reading this blog post was alive when Jesus Christ walked around the earth nor when He went to the cross for our sins. But our knowledge of His finished works informs our way of life today, many of us have convictions so strong about the person of Jesus Christ because of the conversations we have had with God. Furthermore, we can read through the new testament how the disciples wrote profound things about our fathers and mothers of faith such as – Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and so on. Disciples like Apostle Paul never met these people, Apostle Paul never even met Jesus Christ but he wrote about them and Jesus Christ as if he knew them personally. But that wasn’t the case. Apostle Paul never stopped praying, never stopped talking to God and as He did so, God gave him insight about the past that has been so helpful to the church to date.
It helps provide insight into the Present/new things God is doing: Behold, I do a new thing, can you not see it! says the Lord. Many times, we cannot see these new things that God is doing in our lives because we are disconnected from Him. We are so focused on the mountain hill that we forget to speak to Him or speak with Him. Jesus Christ knew His hour to be glorified because He was constantly talking to God- John 12:23. The Lord was literally about to deliver His children from bondage at the red sea but they could not see it because they were not talking to God. Only Moses could see the new thing God was doing because he was communicating with God unending. I believe this is the difference between an average Christian and a perceived super Christian. The man of God who seems to be a champion for the Lord, seeing and hearing the Lord always has devoted so much of his time speaking with God without ceasing.
It helps to provide insight into the future: Abraham was a man of Faith and through Scripture, we can see how he communed with God always. This communion he had with God gave him access to many future events. For example, the Lord told him about the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God even went as far as allowing him to negotiate the salvation of the people in the country – Genesis 18. Even more, God showed Abraham the bondage of his children’s children in Egypt for many years to come- Genesis 15:13-16
It helps to shape our lives like Christ: Talking to God always would help us discern or better still know when we are out of alignment with His expectations or His will for our lives. I remember clearly about a couple of years ago when I was holding a grudge against certain people, even recently this certain leader just was just making me really mad. And for some reason I was rebellious in my actions towards this leader, the Lord quickly called me out to repent of my sinful way for the kingdom of God is at hand. King David enjoyed this grace as well, after he had committed adultery and murder, the Lord was able to call him back to order.
It Propels our lives the way God wants and has designed them to be: When we constantly speak with God, we incline our ears to His voice to guide us on His path of righteousness for His namesake. King David is a classic example of a man who spoke to God always in songs, poems, and so on. And God tagged Him as a man after His heart, even more, God led King David into victories upon victories in his lifetime.
It Sets us free from bondage: I think it is so beautiful to know that our salvation was handed to us on a platter, nonetheless, we receive this free gift by the confession of our mouth, through the prayer of forgiveness of sin, and accepting Jesus Christ into our lives. This simple prayer of faith said in the name of the Lord is our ticket to living a bondage-free life. Once we receive salvation, we attain some level of liberty in Christ Jesus and as we continue to speak with God, He reveals areas of our lives that we need to pray about, He reveals to us chains that we may need to break with our mouths in prayer.
You can watch the concise version here: