by Trisha Bleau Smith
Pray always. Pray without ceasing. Never stop praying. No matter what version you read it in the message is still the same. We are to always pray. To never stop. Our thoughts are to be centered on God, focused on Him and talking to Him. But how many of us are truly doing that?
Stop for a minute and think back on your own prayer life. Do you have one? Take a few minutes and a piece of paper and sketch out an outline of how often you prayed today. Make a list of the times and then mark when you prayed.
Kind of scary to look at isn’t it? Sadly most of our lists are extremely short. We have conditioned ourselves only to pray when we have a need or when we are at church. Some pray regularly before meals thanking God for their food. Some pray out of habit only at meals. Most of us only pray in times of need, when we are scared, when we are broken…. Or when someone asks us to pray.
How often do YOU pray? Are you praying without ceasing? Is it truly possible to pray without ending?
It IS possible and you are probably already doing a lot of it. And if not you will realize how easy it IS to pray always through a few simple exercises.
Exercise 1: Looking for Prayer Opportunities
As said before, most of us already pray part of the day. We pray when people ask us to pray. We pray when we eat (mostly). We already have a basic prayer life started.
Now expand on it. What other opportunities can you pray for? Look around you. Do you see someone who is hurt? Pray for comfort and healing. Do you see someone who looks sad? Pray for them. Do you see all healthy people around you? Thank God that they are healthy. Look for those little things. Beautiful day? Thank God for it. Kids playing outside and laughing? Thank God that they are happy and pray for their safety.
Exercise 2: Pray Thank Yous
Practice thanking God instead of asking for things. Thank God for everything. Thank Him for the q-tips you use to clean your ears out. Thank Him for the mosquito eaters that kill off the skeeters around you. Thank Him for the wind on a hot day. Thank Him that you are alive and breathing. Thank Him that you can see, that you can hear, that you have friends, a computer, a television, fingers to type with, anything at all. Thank Him every time you think of something.
Exercise 3: Prayer Walk
Prayer walk is a general term being used here. But what I mean by it is no matter where you are strive to keep God in your mind. Talk to Him while you are in the shower. Talk to Him while you veg in front of your cereal bowl in the morning. Talk to Him while you are walking to school. Or driving. Or taking the bus. Talk to Him when you are tuning out those boring lectures… I mean when you are waiting for the teacher to start teaching. J Look for any down time and use that time to talk to God. You don’t have to do it outloud. Just think your prayers. They don’t have to be formal. Just talk to Him. He is your friend, waiting there and always listening.
Start with these exercises and soon you will see how easy it is to keep God as your focus. He is there and waiting for you now and any other time you wish to open up. Just talk to Him.
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