Is it Possible to Pray Without Ceasing?
- Published Jul 21, 2022
The following is a transcribed Video Q&A, so the text may not read like an edited article would. Scroll to the bottom to view this video in its entirety.
Praying without ceasing which is actually in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 is a beautiful text but also one that is often misunderstood. To pray without ceasing does not mean that you have to pray 24/7 and feel guilty for every second you are not praying. Praying without ceasing is all about developing a lifestyle of prayer so that you don’t just get up in the morning and have a stated time of 10-20 minutes of prayer and then not pray again until the evening. It is praying your way through the day as you move along through the day.
Many of these prayers will be what the old forefathers called “spontaneous prayers” that just go up in little darts and phrases up to God. “Lord, help me with this next task I have to do.” “Lord, keep me from sin now.” Or, “Lord, help me avoid temptation here in this situation.” When we are not backsliding as Christians, when we are living close to God, this kind of prayer life is spontaneous. But when we start to backslide, or grow lukewarm, those spontaneous prayers begin to diminish and we fall away from this lifestyle of prayer that involves praying without ceasing.
Interestingly, in the 19th century there was a group of men (headed up by John Newton) who would meet once per month for theological discussion. They addressed one theological question every month and this was one of their questions for one month of discussion: “what does it mean to pray without ceasing”? They batted it around for about 45 minutes and couldn’t come up with a satisfactory answer. Finally, there was a maid who walked into the room and was serving them. One of the ministers casually said to this Scottish maid girl, “maybe you can tell us what it means to pray without ceasing”. It is an interesting story, and she says to them,
“oh, sirs, that is no problem. When I get up in the morning, I clothe myself I pray that the Lord Jesus might clothe me with his righteousness today. And when I came down before you men came and I dusted the furniture, I prayed that he might cleanse me from the filth of my soul. And when I set before you this food and drink, I pray that Jesus Christ might be my meat and drink and delight. So sirs, I just kind of pray my way through the day.”
I think that is what it means to pray without ceasing.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Layland Masuda
