Praying Without Ceasing

"pray without ceasing" - 1 Thessalonians 5:17

This week at prayer meeting, we spent time reflecting on how we were doing in terms of prayer. The majority of us shared that we lacked praying constantly and regularly, and wanted to be praying more often. And as a result, we were all spontaneously challenged to put this verse into practice this week, to really pray without ceasing. We even tied on string on each other's wrists as a physical reminder to be praying - which worked extremely well I found. 

I've been keeping a simple log of how the challenge has progressed over the week - and though I am still struggling with remembering to pray more throughout my day; there were little gems here and there, little lessons and challenges I wanted to share.

Empty Words

When I first started the challenge, I did feel that in general, I was praying more, the bracelet (or shall I say, pray-celet) did wonders in reminding me; in class when I was typing, it was there; when I was washing my hands, it was there; when I'm bored on the bus and I was playing with it, it was there. I'll honestly say that it was almost annoying, and I wanted to somehow block it out of my head more so I didn't have to pray so often. But, like I said, I was praying more, but it was pushed out in a forced manner. I found that I would pray, but they were just empty one-liners - I would just utter things so I felt that I was actually praying unceasingly. 

Sharing with others, I think I came to the conclusion that over time, through faithful obedience even when the heart isn't there - God will slowly push us and develop in us a heart and genuine desire to pray. It hasn't happened yet, but I trust that He is slowly working within me.

Committing To Praying For Someone Regularly

I'm sure I am not the first to say, but I am often guilty of being in a mindset where I pray for someone once and mentally give it a checkmark, never returning to it again; or worse, promising to pray for someone and when that someone thanks you for praying for them, realizing that it hadn't been done. With this challenge at the forefront of my mind so much, I thought that it would be a great opportunity to practice and implement praying for someone regularly. I've once had a friend tell me that he prays for me everyday, and there's something so valuable and special about that. So I committed to praying for one of my small group members regularly - hopefully i'll keep it up and will learn to bathe more and more things in prayer. 

Listening

At the prayer meeting, one shared that so often with prayer, we are the ones talking, we are the ones asking, and we forget to listen. She shared how one pastor committed to praying for a week straight and how over time he actually ran out of things to pray for - and as a result he learnt to listen. 

Last night, I was blessed to have the opportunity to head over to the home of the church family that adopted me for dinner - and going alone, taking two buses, I had my earphones plugged in - as society does nowadays. I took my first bus listening to music blaring in my ears, but as I waited for the second bus to depart, I thought to myself, how can I be listening for God when i'm filling my mind and my ears with music? So I decided to take my earphones out for that bus ride - in hopes to listen and hear from God. I didn't hear anything from God on that specific bus ride, but I think throughout the time I got to spend with that family, I realized that God was reminding me that He shows and demonstrates His love through our fellowship with others - to be cared for, to be welcomed, to be fed, all these were acts said "you're not alone in your walk, that is why I gave you community to enjoy, support and encourage one another."

Prayer has always been a challenge for any Christian, wrestling with believing in the power of prayer, understanding the importance behind prayer and even just remembering to pray in the first place. But it is important, let us actively do something about it if it is lacking in our lives - God will see it, acknowledge it and will continue to sanctify and build us through it.