{"id":53,"date":"2011-02-20T22:40:34","date_gmt":"2011-02-20T21:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=53"},"modified":"2011-02-20T22:40:34","modified_gmt":"2011-02-20T21:40:34","slug":"pray-without-ceasing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=53","title":{"rendered":"Pray without ceasing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. \u201cI am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. <\/em>(John 15:4-5)<\/p>\n

Abiding in Christ. Remaining united to Him. The heart of this new life and this relationship we have with Jesus Christ is prayer. So over recent weeks we have been praying, \u201cLord teach US to pray!\u201d We began by thinking about Simple prayer. Asking, seeking, knocking, because asking is the rule of the Kingdom. Praying through the Ordinary things of life, because wherever we are is Holy Ground. Next we learned about praying \u201cjust as I am\u201d. Steps in prayer we can all take towards \u201cfamiliar, unreserved conversation with God.\u201d To offer ourselves to God as living sacrifices as we really are, not as we would wish to be. For this we can all benefit from prayers of self-examination and prayers of confession. In the third week we thought about Praying for transformation. Prayer changes things \u2013 but prayer also changes us. Prayers of relinquishment and prayers of surrender \u2013 \u201cnot my will but your will be done.\u201d And we thought about formation prayers \u2013 prayers God can use to make us more like Jesus. Last week we talked about Adoring prayer. Prayers of Thanksgiving for all the blessings God pours upon us. Prayers of Praise for Who God is in Himself. We thought what it means to offer God a sacrifice of praise, praising God when it costs us to do so.
\nSimple prayer. Self examination. Confession. Transformation. Relinquishment. Surrender. Formation. Adoration. Thanksgiving. Praise. These are just some of the things we have been learning about prayer. And I hope you have been putting the theory into practice. \u201cDo not worry about `proper\u2019 praying, just talk to God. We learn to pray by praying!\u201d
\nThis week we are going deeper into prayer. \u201cPray without ceasing\u201d Paul commands in 1 Thess 5:17. Be constant in prayer. (Romans 12:12.) Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. (Eph 6:18.) Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (Col 4:2) <\/em>But what does all this mean? How can we really \u201cpray without ceasing\u201d?
\nThe first and most important thing to say is something we have said more than once already. It is that quote from John Dalrymple.
\n\u201cThe truth is that we only learn to pray all the time everywhere after we have resolutely set about praying some of the time somewhere.\u201d
\nIf we want to go deeper into prayer and learn what it means to \u201cpray without ceasing\u201d, we must begin by making our regular times of prayer a priority. Setting apart time and space for solitude and silence. Working hard at meeting with God day by day and even hour by hour. A holy life is a succession of holy moments. We have to work very hard at our holy moments! I repeat, \u201cwe only learn to pray all the time everywhere after we have resolutely set about praying some of the time somewhere.\u201d
\nBut then today I want to introduce you to four brilliant practical suggestions to help us on the way to praying without ceasing.<\/p>\n

The first suggestion is this. Most of us need to rediscover the great value of praying using set prayers. We belong to a spiritual tradition which values extemporary prayer. We value the freedom we have to come to God just as we are and pray whenever we want using whatever words come to mind at the time. Such prayer is like a conversation we could have with a loving parent or a dear friend, a conversation with God. It is spontaneous and free.
\nBut remember, the vast majority of Christians through the centuries, and the Jews before them, did not generally pray the way we do. Many today do not. Other traditions very happily use set prayers \u2013 prayers written by other people, prayers often passed down through generations. They often use the prayers found in Scripture in the Psalms. Most make much more use than we do of the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray, which we call the Lord\u2019s Prayer but is really a pattern for our prayers as disciples.
\nSet prayers have their dangers. They can become \u201cvain repetitions\u201d where we don\u2019t think about what we are saying. But that same objection can apply to the songs we sing. Most Christians are very happy to use hymns and songs and choruses which other people have written. We don\u2019t feel we need to make up a brand new song every time we praise and worship God. The precise advantage of using words somebody else has written is that we can devote ourselves to thinking about the meaning of what we are singing, instead of having to use most of our concentration on thinking of the right things to say.
\nAnd the same can be true of our prayers. Sometimes using words which another believer has written can help us to express our deepest feelings better than we are able to do ourselves. It is good sometimes to be able to focus purely on God instead of having to search for the best words. It is a good thing to add our voices sometimes to the voices of countless saints in many places over many generations by using the very same prayers they used. And praying the same words as other believers have also prayed helps deliver us from that temptation of individualism which is gripping this generation. It does our soul good to admit sometimes that there are other Christians who have expressed themselves in prayer better than we ever can. So we humble ourselves and borrow their words to make their prayer our own.
\nIf we were going to meet the Queen or the Prime Minister, or any important person, we would give some thought in advance to what we would say. We might well follow conventional forms of greeting and address, rather than just make it all up on the spot. How much more should we prepare ourselves to meet with Almighty God, and use words which acknowledge the glory and majesty of God. Here again, set prayers can deliver us from a dangerous over-familiarity with the all-powerful all-knowing omnipresent Creator and Ruler of the Universe.
\nOur spiritual traditions as Baptists, evangelicals and charismatics undervalue set prayers and liturgy. If we want to learn more about prayer that it shouldn\u2019t be a question of either spontaneous prayers or set prayers. It should be both and. If we want to learn more about prayer we should never look down condescendingly on the rites and rituals and liturgies and set prayers of other traditions. All Christians can benefit from liturgy and sacrament and written prayers AND intimacy and informality and spontaneous prayers.
\nSo as a first step to praying without ceasing, begin to explore the Psalms. Buy an Anglican prayer book, or one of the many books of prayers from Christian book shops. In recent years many people have found prayers in the Celtic Tradition and from the Northumbria Community very helpful. Then, next time you don\u2019t feel like praying, or you don\u2019t know what to pray, use prayers written by another person, quite probably somebody who knew more about prayer than any of us ever will. Take their prayer and make it your own personal prayer.
\nSuggestion One for praying without ceasing \u2013 use set prayers sometimes. <\/p>\n

Suggestion two \u2013 Practising the Presence of God. This idea is especially associated with a 17th century monk Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection.
\nIn a way Brother Lawrence was just talking about what we considered right at the beginning and called \u201cpraying the ordinary\u201d. We said then that praying the ordinary means discovering that God is involved in EVERY aspect of our daily lives. It means learning to trust God in EVERY area of our lives, remembering the truth that we are Christians WHEREVER we are. WHEREVER we are is Holy Ground! We need to learn to turn the ordinary experiences of life into prayer; to see God in the ordinary experiences of life; to pray throughout the ordinary experiences of life.
\nWe need to recognise the sanctity of the ordinary, the holiness of created things. In His great acts of creation and incarnation, God has intertwined the spiritual and the material, wedded the sacred and the secular, sanctified the common and the ordinary. We shouldn\u2019t look to find God in the spectacular and the heroic but in the daily and the ordinary.
\nSo our jobs are not a hindrance to prayer but an opportunity for prayer. We can sometimes pray while we work. We should always pray about our work and for our work. But we can also pray through our work. Our work can become prayer \u2013 prayer in action. We can present our work to God as a prayer offering to Him.
\nColossians 3: 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
\n1Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
\nWhatever the task, we can choose to do it in God\u2019s strength and for God\u2019s glory. All work is holy work. Our homes are just as holy as our church. All places are sacred places! We just need to learn to pray the ordinary.
\nBrother Lawrence wrote about \u201cPractising the Presence of God.\u201d By this he meant making every part of our everyday lives a subject for prayer. And more than that, he meant engaging in continuous conversation with God in prayer, whatever we are doing. Here are some of Brother Lawrence\u2019s inspiring words. They are printed on today\u2019s take-away sheet in case you wish to think through them when you get home.
\n\u201cWe should strive for `a habitual sense of God’s presence’ – `to be always with God.’ To be with God, there is no need to be in church. We make a chapel of our heart, to which we can from time to time withdraw to have gentle, humble, loving communion with Him. Everyone is able to have these familiar conversations with God. Some more, some less – He knows our capabilities. Let us make a start. Perhaps He only waits for us to make one whole-hearted resolve. Courage! We have but a short time to live.
\nThink often on God, by day, by night, in your business, and even in your diversions. He is always near you and with you; leave him not alone. You would think it rude to leave a friend alone who came to visit you; why, then, must God be neglected?
\nOur biggest mistake is to think that a time of prayer is different from any other time. It is all one. The time of business does not differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clutter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees.
\nWe can do little things for God: I turn the cake that is frying on the pan, for love of him; and that done, if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before him who has given me grace to work; afterwards I rise happier than a king. When I can do nothing else, it is enough to have picked up a straw for the love of God. People look for ways of learning how to love God. They hope to attain it by I know not how many different practices. They take much trouble to abide in His presence by varied means. Is it not a shorter and more direct way to do everything for the love of God, to make use of all the tasks one’s lot in life demands to show him that love, and to maintain his presence within by the communion of our heart with his? There is nothing complicated about it. One has only to turn to it honestly and simply.
\nThe depths of our spirituality does not depend upon changing the things we do, but in doing for God what we ordinarily do for ourselves.
\nA little lifting of the heart suffices; a little remembrance of God, one act of inward worship, are prayers which however short are acceptable to God.
\nYou need not cry very loud. He is nearer to us than we think.\u201d
\nBrother Lawrence – Practising the Presence of God. This is our second suggestion for praying without ceasing.
\nThe third suggestion is as simple and brief as it is dramatically effective. It is to use what Richard Foster calls \u201cbreath prayers.\u201d By this he means a specific short prayer which we can say in a single breath. Whenever we want to bring God to mind during the day and acknowledge His presence with us, we breathe this prayer. Whenever we want to dedicate a particular activity to God, we breathe this prayer. Whenever we want to ask for God\u2019s grace and help and draw God into a particular situation, we breathe this prayer. It is a form of prayer which helps bring God into every part of our lives as we use it many many times through the day.
\nOne breath prayer has been used by Christians for centuries. \u201cJesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.\u201d I used this prayer many times each day during my Sabbatical time in Uganda. First thing in the morning. Last thing at night. When you move from one activity to another. As you go to greet someone. \u201cJesus, Son of God, Have mercy on me, a sinner.\u201d
\nThere are many other excellent breath prayers. You might like the first line of the prayer of St. Francis, \u201cLord, Make me a channel of your peace.\u201d You might like to use \u201cAbba Father, let me yours and yours alone.\u201d Or God might lead you to a different \u201cbreath prayer\u201d that is personal to you. Learn to pray without ceasing by using a breath prayer. I strongly recommend you to try it this week, starting today!
\nTo finish I want to share you with one more very simple and practical suggestion which helped me enormously when I adopted it many years ago, back in my student days.
\nOne of the things most of us do almost unconsciously throughout the day is look at our watch. How much longer is this sermon going to be? How long is it until lunch? For several years I had fixed to the face of my watch two little strips of plaster, in the shape of a cross. So every time I looked at the time I saw that reminder \u2013 \u201cI am a Christian\u201d \u201cGod is with me\u201d. And that simple symbol would often prompt me to prayer. Perhaps a cross on your watch, or by your clock, might help you to learn more about \u201cprayer without ceasing\u201d. Or maybe in these days of digital watches and smartphones you might like to set yourself one or two alarms at particular times of day. And when the alarm sounds, take that as a call to prayer. The alarm will remind you that God and your relationship with God are more important than anything else you are doing at that time.
\nAbiding in Christ. Set prayers. Practising the Presence of God. Breath prayers. Pray without ceasing. \u201cDo not worry about `proper\u2019 praying, just talk to God. We learn to pray by praying!\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can…<\/span><\/p>\n

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