Pray WITHOUT ceasing

I’ve been very transparent about my struggles on here. I even admitted that my posting schedule has dropped significantly because of these struggles. Yesterday, I was talking with a mentee about love, life, and everything in between. God and the concept of prayer came up. While encouraging him through my weakest moments, something I told him resonated with me.

“The Bible talks about praying without ceasing. Typically, we don’t understand how because we picture prayer with a formal ‘way’. Religion is just a relationship and prayer is just a conversation. So, don’t worry about how, just share your day with your Dad.”

It hit me that I haven’t been following my own advice. This semester started to pick up and I haven’t seriously read my bible since I finished reading it in August. My prayers have been becoming more infrequent as the moment I see my bed, I fall asleep. I always say that God doesn’t waste anything then He used me to help someone else while reminding myself of something I already knew.

My excuse was that I didn’t know what to say.

His response was that it doesn’t matter what I say, I could say nothing.

My excuse was that I don’t have time.

His response was that He controls and makes time.

My excuse was that I am scared.

His response was to let Him love me.

“Perfect Love casts out fear.”

I cried knowing that all my excuses were pointless. He loves me. Even when I don’t love myself.

I started to think about it more holistically. What does it mean to pray without ceasing? Does that mean to never get up from your knees? No. Does that mean to continuously be in the process of talking to Him? Somewhat. When the bible talks about praying without cease, it means be in constant communication. God doesn’t necessarily want us to break into religious glory 24/7 but a lot of things happen in prayer.

You can constantly give thanks for His blessings by enjoying the world around you or the people you might. you can work your hardest to give back to the world as thanksgiving to Him. If our purpose was to make heaven on earth, making the world a better place is just like praise to Him. This also can expand to thinking on His word and just talking. These things may seem small but they mean a lot because seeing God’s beauty, power, grace, and love in new forms daily only spread His message more.

To help fight against all the negatives, stress, pain, and worries building in my life, I want to learn how to pray without ceasing. I want to talk to God and bring Glory to Him in my daily life more than I have done in the past. I want to have my mind on Him so that when He talks to me, I don’t miss it. I want to share my life with Him so that He is always there, through thick and thin. I want to be best friends with my Dad.