“Never stop praying.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 NLT)
Early in my walk with the Lord I read a lot of books on prayer, but among the most helpful were written by George Müller. Why? Because he wrote from what he lived every day. Life is the classroom in which we learn, not only to pray, but to learn the “art” of prayer. If you want to learn to pray you have to be willing to do 2 things: (1) Focus every day on getting closer to Jesus. And (2) Learn to desire His voice as you listen to Him every waking moment.
“But how do I do that? I work, have kids, cook meals, and on and on! I have a life, I don’t have time to pray every moment!” See (1) above! Prayer grows out of relationship. As the relationship deepens, the desire for prayer will deepen. Brother Müller wrote: “I pray as I walk about, when I lie down and when I rise up. And the answers are always coming.”
By God’s grace I’m finally beginning to understand how to “Never stop praying.” But how? First, by understanding that prayer isn’t only speaking, but listening. God is always speaking, but we are so easily distracted by life and all that entails, it’s very easy for us to not “hear” His voice. The most prominent way the Lord speaks is through His Word, the Bible, but it’s far from the only way.
Why is that so critical? Because He will never tell us anything or instruct us to do anything that isn’t verifiable in the Bible. Even as I write He’s speaking, correcting, giving me ideas, sending me to Scriptures that illustrate what I’m writing.
Think about the Apostle Paul. Over and over in his writings he’s highlighting things the Lord has taught him or is teaching him. His letters are filled with very practical instruction about daily issues regarding life, sin, holiness, where he should go or shouldn’t go, receiving on the spot guidance on a ship on his way to Rome. The Lord sent an angel to give Paul instructions for that moment that saved the lives of everyone on the ship.
In the closing verses of 1 Corinthians 6 Paul is essentially defining what holiness looks like as he paints a sharp contrast between those who walk in the ways of the world and those who walk with God. Then in 1 Corinthians 7:1 he writes: “Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body, or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.”
If our hearts aren’t focused on reverencing God in every dimension of our being, we won’t even desire to hear God’s voice. We’ll settle for going to church, listening to the entertaining music and letting someone else tell us what to believe about God. We’ll dupe ourselves into believing “that’s what I believe,” when we rarely, if ever read God’s Word or take the time to get to know God better. Truth be told, many professing believers don’t have a clue what they believe.
God becomes a means to an end, not an end in and of Himself. Unless and until the Lord is our everything, what we read about, think about, long to be like, long to discover new ways to express our love for Him, serve Him, magnify Him with every fiber of our being, we won’t know Him, let alone hear His voice.
To never stop praying is essentially an ongoing adventure with God, learning who He is, what He desires of us, and deciding whatever He wants for us, that’s what we want, then we talk about it – He speaks, we listen, we speak, He listens – throughout the whole day regardless of what else is going on. By the way, He often speaks most clearly THROUGH what we’re doing or through what’s going on.
Let’s look at another vital aspect of why we should “never stop praying,” tomorrow.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 