Chapter 8 Pray Without Ceasing

Chapter 8 Pray without Ceasing“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)I don’t know about you, but I am sort of a perfectionist and rule follower. I like to do things the way they are supposed to be done. I am not a fan of recipes that say add a little of this and a lot of that. I like recipes that lay out the instructions step by step with exact measurements. I do not like to add things that are not in the recipe, and I don’t like to leave things out. I like to follow the instructions exactly. This is why, when I first heard this passage, I was stuck on the pray without ceasing part. How does one pray without ceasing? What about work, sleep, taking care of the kids? How can I pray all of the time and still do everything that needs to get done for my family? Have you ever had thoughts like these?Over the years I have heard various ways to pray without ceasing and I thought I would share a couple with you to help encourage you, and to help you realize, especially any fellow perfectionists, you are probably already praying without ceasing. And if you are not already doing it you will see you could easily begin doing it.In preparing for this chapter, I read a few articles and looked back at some sources I had seen before. They all pretty much agree it is not formal, audible prayer you need to do all the time. It is more of a “heart attitude.” Psalm 34:1 says “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praises will continually be in my mouth.” Isaiah 26:3 says “God will keep them in perfect peace whose minds focus on Him.”Praying without ceasing is about shifting your thought process and turning every day moments into prayer. There was one analogy I found that said, “It’s like keeping the radio playing in the background.” It is not that you are audibly praying to God 24 hours a day. It is more that you are thinking of God, and he is in the background of all your thoughts throughout the day.After reviewing all the things and getting ready to write, I reread the verse at the beginning and realized the answer is contained in the 1 Thessalonians verse. Rejoice always, is having an attitude of joyfulness, and in everything give thanks, is having an attitude of thankfulness. How do we rejoice and give thanks? Through prayer! Therefore, effective prayer is a proper heart attitude: a mental outlook of joyful thanksgiving.Now some of you may hear that and instantly know you are already praying without ceasing. You may know you have a heart for God and you are praising and thanking him throughout the day with your thoughts and words. However, some of you may be like me and may be thinking, yes, that is great, but what exactly can I do to pray without ceasing. I am someone who likes exact steps to follow to make sure I am doing something correctly. This is why I will give you a few examples of ways you can pray without ceasing.First, I will summarize a video I watched called “3 Steps to Unceasing Prayer” by Father Mike Schmitz. If you google this, you can watch the video yourself. It is just over 5 minutes long. In the YouTube video, Father Mike Schmitz lists three steps he learned from St. Francis DeSales that you could do to transform everything you do into a prayer.Ask God to be present. Yes, God is always present and attentive to you, but by asking him to be present, you are letting him know you will be present too.Offer this moment to God. Offer him all the joy, the suffering, whatever you may be feeling, offer it to God.Accept –Resolve to accept whatever comes out of this moment.This will not only transform your relationship with God, but it will also transform how you live. When you ask God to be attentive to you, you allow every moment to be a sacrament. You invite God into that moment, which makes it a channel of Grace. Then, when you offer the moment up to him, you make each moment a sacrifice. When you choose to accept the outcome, you make every moment a moment of surrender. For instance, you can do this when you go to bed at night. God, I ask you to be attentive to me, and I am attentive to you. I offer this night’s sleep to you as a sacrifice, as a gift to you, and I accept whatever comes out of it.Another person I admire, Matthew Kelly, in his book Resisting Happiness, also talks about transforming every moment into a prayer. He suggests you pause for a brief moment before a new task or before another hour of work and offer that work to God as a prayer for a specific person. For instance, God, I offer you this task of doing the dishes as a prayer for my husband, or my parents, etc. He also mentioned if you are studying or reading, you could write the initials of those you know who need prayers on the top of each page, and before you read or study that page, you can offer it up for that person.There is also something called the Jesus Prayer. This is something you can train yourself to have playing in the background of your thoughts. You can say as you breathe in, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,” and say as you breathe out, “Have Mercy on me.” This is something you practice, and although it takes conscious thought while learning, it could become something so natural that you do it without thinking. Did you ever notice some things that seem strange at first can become a habit? One thing that comes to mind is counting my steps. When I joined the marching band, we had to learn to count our steps because while we were marching, we were making different shapes on the field. This was strange at first, but 20 years later, I find myself counting steps occasionally.There are a few other ways you can pray without ceasing. You can begin each day with a conversation with God. You can just sit down with Him and talk to Him as if you were a close friend. Tell Him all about your day, what you have planned and what you are excited about, maybe what you need help with. Yes, I know God already knows about your day, and He knows what you are going to say before you say it. However, there is something intimate about you telling Him anyway. As your day progresses, you can continue this conversation and let Him know how your day is going.You can incorporate prayer into your daily tasks. While you wash dishes, you could pray for a different person with each dish you wash, or you could offer up the task of washing dishes for one intention. This is also effective with any task you do throughout the day, especially if it is a task you do not like doing. Offering up one’s suffering for an intention is a wonderful way to pray. If you have something you feel needs a lot of prayer, then you can attach that intention to something you do a lot throughout the day. For instance, you could tell God that every time you wash your hands, you are offering it up as a prayer for your children. Think of how many times you would be praying for your children throughout the day.You could use the time you are stuck in traffic or waiting in a long line at the store to say a prayer for someone or something. Another way to incorporate more prayer into your day is to listen to music. St. Augustine said, “To sing is to pray twice.” I used to put on praise and worship music while I was cleaning or if I was driving somewhere, and I would sing along. It made the task go by faster, and I was able to turn that time into prayer time.Another way to pray is to admit it when we mess up and then move on. Sometimes we spend too much time focused on all that we do wrong. When we confess to God when we mess up, he forgives us, so we do not need to stay in that place of guilt and shame. It is important to take a moment to let God know we are sorry, but he does not want us to dwell there. This prayer does not eliminate the need to go to confession, but it helps us not to hold onto that sin and get stuck there.Another way to pray without ceasing is to give up worrying. Worry is the opposite of faith.  Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” We waste so much time worrying. Next time you want to worry, just imagine yourself extending it up to the Lord our God and letting Him hold it for you. You can ask if you have a role to play, something He wants you to do, but do not take back the weight of that worry. Then start thanking God for who He is and all He has already done for you.One last way I will share with you is to stop talking once in a while and just listen. The number or quality of words in your prayer doesn’t matter because prayer is about God, not about us. Spend some time just being, simply sitting and resting in His presence. You won’t hear anything if you never stop to listen. This is something I feel many of us struggle with. We find asking God for the things we need or even thanking Him for the things He has done for us, comes much easier than stopping and listening to what God has to say to us.I have always struggled with hearing God and understanding what that even meant. This can mean different things to different people. Most people do not hear an audible voice; it’s more of a thought in their head or a sense about something. I have come to know that a small voice deep inside is the Holy Spirit guiding me. If we never stop to ask God to speak to us, how can we be surprised He doesn’t. If we don’t step outside the noise and chaos of the world to really listen, then how will we hear Him?I will end with a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson “It is not only when we address our petitions to the Deity that we pray. We pray without ceasing. Every secret wish is a prayer. Every house is a church; the corner of every street is a closet of devotion.”Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you liked this chapter please check out my book at walkboldlywithjesus.com or amazon.com. If you enjoyed the ideas of various ways to include prayer in your everyday tasks, then I have a free audio training that goes into more detail on this idea. To get this free audio training, you can CLICK HERE, or you can go to my website walkboldlywithjesus.com. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day.Today’s Word from the Lord was received in November 2023 by a member of the Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group during one of our meetings. For more information about the prayer group or these words, please email [email protected]. “My children, you are my heart. You are the song of the morning and sweetness of a spring day. Forget yesterday; it’s ok. I know you, every fiber of your being. I have knitted. I love my children, and I am gentle with them. Just don’t stop talking to me. We’ll work it out. “ www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace