What Does "Pray without Ceasing" Mean?

St. Paul commands us to "pray without ceasing," which, of course, inspired the name of this blog. But what exactly does that mean?

To me, "praying without ceasing" does not mean that we remain on our knees all day, droning on and on. After all, Jesus warns us against doing that, especially in public places, in Matthew 6:7-8 (ESV),

When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the pagans, for they think that because of their many words they will be heard. Therefore do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Rather, I believe that "praying without ceasing" means that we should constantly be "God-centered" in our thinking. As we go about our day, every single good thing that we see, we should recognize that as a blessing from God.

For example, I awoke this morning feeling healthy, and I had the opportunity to enjoy a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee. Simple pleasures, indeed, but as a sinner, I don't deserve them. Instead, God should have struck me down long ago for my sins, and he would have been justified in doing so. Yet, God not only keeps me alive, but he provides me with the necessary resources that I can enjoy a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee. Why does he do this? Because he is loving and forgiving.

But recognizing blessings in the easy part. "Praying without ceasing" also implies that we should remain God-centered when things aren't going so well. But as Paul notes in Romans 5:3-5 (ESV),

We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

If we endure and "pray without ceasing" during those trying times, our faith will strengthen!

So in summary, I view "praying without ceasing" to be a "Godly" state of mind. That said, we also should pray frequently throughout the day, the sorts of prayers in which we kneel down and talk to God. But I'll save that discussion for a later post!

God's Forgiving Nature

Chapter 26 of Leviticus, despite some terrifying language, delivers a comforting lesson about God's love and forgiveness. I encourage you to read the entire chapter, but a few highlights from the ESV translation:

If you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments ... I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache ...

And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins ...

Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins ...

And if by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins ...

But if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me, then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins ...

But if they confess their iniquity ... then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham ...

Two messages here. First, God's discipline, unpleasant as it might be, serves a purpose. And that purpose is to bring us to him. Second, God tries again and again and again and again to bring us to him. It's never too late to confess and turn to God. But don't wait! Enjoy that grace now! Start with a simple prayer of humility and confession.

The Gift of the Psalms

As prayers, it's hard to beat the power and beauty of the 150 prayers contained in the Book of Psalms. If you fear that your prayers have grown a bit repetitive or stale, try reciting one of the psalms. I believe they are a gift to us to assist in our prayers.

I enjoy "audio" Bibles, and I especially enjoy the Book of Psalms in audio format. My favorite audio bible is the dramatized ESV version available for free at Faith Comes by Hearing. Do yourself a favor, and download the 150 psalms, and put them on your phone or MP3 player, or burn them to a few CDs. Then sit quietly and listen to one or two psalms at a time, meditating on the message. You'll enjoy your prayer experience!

Psalm 23, labeled as a "Psalm of David," is arguably the most famous, (ESV),

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. 
He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

When I encounter a Biblical passage that is difficult to comprehend, I like to turn to the work of 18th century English theologian John Gill. His Exposition of the Bible, freely available online here, gives a detailed interpretation of every verse in the Bible.

As an example, consider 1 John 5:16-17 (ESV), 

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.

Why does this mean? Doesn't God forgive all sin? Paraphrasing John Gill's explanation, "death" doesn't mean death of the body, but rather death of the soul. And the soul dies when we harden our hearts to God and persist in our sinning. Jesus says something similar in Mark 3: 28-29 (ESV),

Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin...

So the theme is similar to Daniel's prayer: When we pray, we must submit to God with a humble heart, a heart that acknowledges our shortcomings. And we should do this without ceasing!

Daniel's Prayer

At a later time, I will write a more complete post on the fascinating book of Daniel. But in this post, I'd like to focus on Daniel's prayer of remorse. Recognizing that Babylonian exile is Israel's punishment for abandoning God, Daniel, praying on behalf of Israel, confesses to God and asks for forgiveness.

The following parts of the prayer come from Daniel 9 (ESV),

O Lord ... we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. ... all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away ... For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.

Note the wording in the middle few sentences copied above. Although sin certainly angers God, what really angers God is coldness of heart that leads us not even to acknowledge our sins. This same theme appears throughout the Bible, including in the book of Revelation.

So what's the lesson? We all sin, but we shouldn't compound our problems by ignoring our sins, or by trying to justify our sins according to earthly terms. That sort of attitude leads to coldness of heart. Rather, we should maintain an open heart through contrite, and never-ceasing, prayer.

Moses' Speach to Joshua

Moses is such a fascinating character. In reading about his life, I often return to the point in Deuteronomy when he offers encouragement to his successor, Joshua.

After their long journey in the desert, the Israelites were on the verge of entering into the Promised Land, and they knew they were in for a vicious fight with the land's current inhabitants. Due to an earlier transgression, God had already informed Moses that he would not enter into the Promised Land. So Moses turns to Joshua and issues this advice, Deuteronomy 31:7-8 (ESV),

Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.

Implicit in this advice is that the journey will be difficult. But so long as Joshua doesn't turn from God, he will be taken care of.

In our day-to-day lives, we rarely, if ever, confront challenges of the magnitude faced by Joshua. Nonetheless, the same advice applies: God is with us, so we need not fear.

The "Hope" in Faith, Hope, and Love

In 1 Corinthians, Paul speaks of the three things that remain: faith, hope, and love. These three things should be on our mind when we pray.

Faith and love are easy to comprehend. They are the foundations of Christian faith. But what about hope? What should we be hoping for?

I have written on my fascination with the book of Revelation. In addition to the thoughts put forth in that post, the book of Revelation contains two of my favorite Biblical passages, both of which relate to "hope." First, John writes to one of the churches, Revelation 2:10 (ESV),

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

And second, in the part of the book that prophesizes the coming of God's kingdom, John writes, Revelation 21:3-4 (ESV),

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Although it is difficult for us to grasp the infinite joy of God's kingdom, these two passages attest to its greatness. I believe this gives us "hope" in our prayers.

The Book of Revelation

Revelation tends to confuse readers, to the point that many avoid it altogether. But I find Revelation to be one of the most fascinating books in the entire Bible.

Parts of the book are very difficult to interpret. For example, regarding the "Great Tribulation," generally thought to begin in Chapter 9 with one of the angel's trumpet blows, different theologies disagree on whether believers will experience none, some, or all of the tribulation.

I will not wade into these issues of interpretation. Rather, I wish to make two points.

First, we should take Revelation seriously, because Jesus himself endorses its prophesies. To see this, note that Revelation shares much in common with the Old Testament book of Daniel (chapters 7-10). Jesus attests to the inevitability of Daniel's prophesies, and in doing so, Jesus uses imagery that eventually appears in Revelation. Matthew 24: 15-31 (ESV):

So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel ... there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. ... Immediately after the tribulation of those days ... they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Second, regardless of whether one reads Revelation literally or symbolically, the book issues an important message about our attitude toward God. Throughout the various calamities described in Revelation, many people, due to their hardened hearts, refuse to admit to their sins and repent. During these calamities, God is doing everything he can, short of subverting our free will, to turn hearts toward him.

This second point holds important implications for how we pray. It's our responsibility to open our hearts to God. So regardless of what we actually say when we pray, the most important thing is to open our hearts to him. And do this without ceasing!

The Lord's Prayer: A Perfect Model

Whether new to pray or not, we often struggle to articulate our prayers to God. At those times, there is no better model of prayer than the one suggested by Jesus. People often recite the Lord's Prayer similar to how it is presented in the gospels. Another method is to use the Lord's Prayer as a template for prayer topics.

The Lord's Prayer consists of (roughly) five topics. As a prayer challenge, pick five times throughout the day (say, 8:00, 11:00, 2:00, 5:00, and 8:00), and at each of those times, spend a few quiet minutes focusing on one of the topics. You'll feel closer to God at the end of the day!

Topic 1: Our Father, who art in heaven, hollowed be your name.

Quite simply, we are humbling ourselves and praising God. He is the alpha and the omega. He breathed life into us and made us part of His plan. He is worthy of our praise.

Topic 2: May Your kingdom come, may Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

God has a plan that cannot be thwarted. Here we pray that things happen according to God's will, not ours. And we offer ourselves as instruments, in whatever capacity He needs us, to bring that plan to its completion.

Topic 3: Give us this day our daily bread.

Our mission in life is not to be successful, as nice as that is. Rather, our mission is to exalt God and do His will. In order to do that, we need sufficient food, shelter, and health. God knows this, so here we ask for neither riches nor poverty, but rather sufficient sustenance to complete our mission. If you are rich, pray for strength that you do not become emotionally attached to your prosperous life.

Topic 4: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

We all stumble and break God's law. We ask for forgiveness in proportion to the mercy we show to others.

Topic 5: Lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil.

We ask to be lead away from temptation and trouble, whether caused by our own fault, or not.