Without Ceasing

“…pray without ceasing…” 1 Thessalonians 5:17.  Be honest.  You failed this week.  You did not stay on your knees 24/7!  The exhortation given by Paul to the Thessalonian church seems to be a daunting religious task.  After all, who can pray endlessly?  Who can spend every waking and sleeping moment on their knees uttering prayers?  It is beyond our faculty and certainly not what Paul was exhorting the Thessalonians to do!

David teaches us the meaning.  A man who had no scruples with endless knee-bending.  “Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice,” Psalm 55:17.   To “pray without ceasing” is to bring every thought, every complaint, every hope, every emotion, every doubt, every sadness, every joy, every demand, every desire, every success, every failure, every fear, every trouble, every need, every gift… .everything, to God.  And, at all times.  David bent the knees of his heart before God at all times and presented everything.

Stop.  Listen. Consider.  He or she is your spouse and they bring everything to you.  Not to someone else.  Just you.  They want to hear your thoughts on the matter.  They are interested in your perspective.  They respect your council.  They do nothing without your agreement.  How do you feel?  Honored?  Respected?  Special?  I’m sure you do.  This is the lesson Paul and David are teaching us: to bring everything, at all times, to God.  To hear His thoughts, discover His perspective, receive His council and do nothing without His agreement.  Everything.  Without ceasing.  

We can be so quick to seek sources that seem to meet our needs much quicker, appease our demands, fulfill our desires, indulge our complaints, engage our hopes and celebrate our joys.  And God, He who loves us, becomes the spectator.   He is not so honored, not so respected, not so special in our worlds.  Sigh.

I rally your heart today to be conscious and engaged.  To ceaselessly seek He who loves you as the preeminent source of your life.  To ceaselessly depend on His perspective and council.  To be so devoted that you will not move without His agreement.  Awake!  He waits to know and be known by you.  To be your only source, your only God, your spouse, your only governmental authority!

“To you I lift my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!  Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God…” Psalm 123:1-2.  We depend on Your heart, O God!