Unceasing

July 21, 2010 in Prayer/Faith with 3 Comments

un·ceas·ing (n-ssng)
adj.
Not stopping; continuous.
That’s a heavy command.  How on earth do I pray unceasingly? Do I need to be on my knees, hands together 24/7?  I mean. heck.  Can anyone do that?
I started really thinking about it. I have to work.  I have to eat.  I have to sleep.  What can I do to pray unceasingly?  Is this one of those things people say isn’t literal.  Does it mean, if I try to pray unceasingly, I’ll likely pray more than I would otherwise?  I don’t think that could be it. I mean, if I believe that, then I’d almost have to believe that when Jesus says to love my enemy, he meant that, if I tried to, I’d love my enemy more most of the time, but not always, and I do not believe that Jesus was preaching a ‘good enough’ message.
So, I have some ideas.  One having to do with prayer of the heart, versus the mouth.  Another with community.  And, while I’m not necessarily praying, you could be… and so on.
I want to write about both of those, but first, I want to hear your thoughts on what I’ve said.
How do you pray unceasingly?  How do you interpret the Bible?

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  • scottfinn

    First of all, how does a guy 15 years my junior think thoughts like this? You are an amazing man and I am beyond blessed to call you my friend. Now, move to Illinois so I can see you every day.

    On the unceasing prayer: I think it is changing the spirit in which we do things. In a way, offering everything we do up as service to God. Junior (@thedewde) posted a great passage which illustrates that, sorta:
    Ephesians 6:7 NLT “Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”

    When we can turn the focus of our work, whether in our employment, our home-life, our volunteerism, etc., into work that glorifies God, it is like prayer through our action. And this is not salvation through works by any means – it is remembering that all we do should be for the glory of God.

  • http://www.whatsthislifefor.posterous.com PastorT

    I sometimes get reamed for this, but I like to make things in the Bible as simple as I can. Does Jesus expect for us to actually “pray” unceasingly? In my mind, yes, He does….cuz well, He said so, right? But then I think does He expect me to not cuss all of the time or not have lustful thoughts any of the time or lie any of the time. Yes, I think He “expects” all of those things or He wouldn't have breathed the Words into the Bible. Bottom line for me is that I will NEVER reach the level of what He expects, but I can try. If you're anything like me, you'll fail miserably and wonder why you're trying. Satan is good about planting those thoughts, but I have gotten much better in the past couple of years at thinking of what Jesus would think of what I'm doing or thinking. THAT is praying unceasingly to me….keeping Him in the forefront of EVERY thought and action.
    But that's just me and I fail more than I succeed.