Is It Possible to Pray Without Ceasing?

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.

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