Faithful Fridays (Pray Without Ceasing)

Pray without ceasing.....have you ever thought about what that means exactly?



I've thought about this alot. The best way to describe it (for me) is in terms of my family. For example, how many of us talk constantly all day to our husbands or kids? Not many of us actually do that. (Although I do think that Joy could come pretty close to talking all day long). It's more like we just pick up the conversation throughout the day. We might talk about something in the morning. Go on to a task. Sit down at lunch and pick up the conversation again, and so on. It's a relationship of conversation with our loved ones.

I really think that is what God means when he says to pray without ceasing. We should pray throughout the day at different times.....when we're in the shower, while we're putting on our makeup, while we're driving down the road, or while we're walking through the store. Of course, most of us have definite times that we pray alone or with our husbands or kids, and that's good, and so it should be, but I think we should always have that attitude of prayer and ready to talk with God at various times throughout our day.



There are (and have been) a few things in my life that I consistently pray about such as salvation for family and friends, protection for my family, the person my kids will marry, and for those on my prayer lists, etc....But there are also things that "come" to me throughout the day. I might remember that someone is going for a test at so and so time during that day, or someone is going for an interview, Colt is taking a test at a certain time, etc...and in those times I just pray silently wherever I am. I want to encourage you all, if you don't do this, to keep that attitude of conversational prayer at all times. I think it's pleasing to God.....his children talking to him throughout the day. Don't you enjoy your family talking to you throughout the day?

Another example (to me) of praying without ceasing is to continue to pray about a situation or for a person, regardless of what you see happening with the circumstances. Believe in prayer with the faith that God can change those circumstances. And that leads me to two specific prayers that I've prayed in my life that God didn't answer right away, but eventually did so in His timing and in His way, and I never ceased praying about them, no matter what the circumstances dictated.

One of these happened as I was growing up. My dad didn't go to church and wasn't a Christian. My mom took my brother and me faithfully. We ALWAYS asked my daddy when we left to go to church (or at least one of us did) if he would go with us. We ALWAYS got a "no" in some way or another. But Mama always told us to just keep praying (pray without ceasing)....so we did. Well, the preacher would come to visit and daddy would leave the house and "hide out" until he left! One particular time, he left the house and was out driving around. He passed back by the house and saw the preacher was still there. He said to himself, "That's MY house and I'm not going to let SOME preacher run me off from my own house." So, he went home. Well that day he was changed forever. This preacher didn't "preach" to him. He had another down-to-earth guy in blue jeans with him and they all just sat there and talked about hunting and fishing ALOT and spiritual things A LITTLE. This made an impression and long story shorter.....it wasn't long until my dad was a Christian and was going to church with us........and so he has been ever since. Pray without ceasing.



Another instance in my life are all the years when I prayed for a child. You may have read all about that in another Faithful Fridays - The Purple Dress. I won't go into the whole thing again, but there were many years of praying without ceasing as I waited for both of my children. My timing wasn't God's, but He knew exactly how to build our family. Pray without ceasing.

**And just an answer to prayer this week is the one you all know about....Colt is better. Although, we never figured out the cause of the allergic reaction, he is free of itching and hives. I'm very thankful for that too. **

I hope you're blessed this weekend and if you would like to read more Faithful Fridays, you can check out Joy's blog and those participating will let her know under the comments. Or maybe you would like to share something for Faithful Fridays. If so, please let her know under the comments, so we can all check it out!

Remember.....Pray without ceasing!

Blessings,
~ Tammy ~