How To Pray Without Ceasing

Prayer is essential to a Christian’s life. We may think of prayer as a snack that we just eat from time to time in our daily lives. However, prayer is more like water, a staple that a person needs almost every hour and day of their lives. Just as we constantly drink water and can’t live without it, prayer is the same way. If there is one thing among giants in the faith that we can imitate, it is their devotion to God. The time and frequency that they allot to prayer are just mind-boggling.

Heavenly Father, I thank You because even if we pray unceasingly, You are all-knowing and know all of our prayers before we speak them. None of our prayers lie outside of your knowledge. Because of that, we are confident that You know every thought, concern, hope, and prayer we have. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

What does the Bible say about praying without ceasing?

In (Pray without ceasing.1 Thessalonians 5:17), the apostle Paul wrote that we are to pray without ceasing. However, it is important to note that when the apostle Paul wrote this, he did not literally mean praying without ceasing, where you pray 24/7 non-stop. It means that we must continue to include God in our lives by continually praying.

An excellent example of this is a person who just went through a heartbreak. If that person is a Christian, surely they will not go through that heartbreak alone. They will include God or run to Him and depend on Him. That means whenever they remember the pain of the breakup, the regrets that they have, or whatever emotions are bothering them, they must simply pray to God. If every hour they are feeling the pain, then every hour they should be praying to God.

That is what the apostle Paul meant by praying without ceasing. If you know of someone who is sick and praying for healing, praying without ceasing means remembering that person and praying for their healing from time to time. Whatever thoughts or emotions we have, whether fear, worry, frustration, disappointment, anger, or sadness, we must turn to God in prayer regarding those things.

That is also why, in 1 Peter 5:6-7, it is written that we are to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. As Christians, we know that we depend on God for everything in our lives, especially our fears and worries. If we are humble, we will not take them on alone but know that we can only depend on God. If we depend on God, we will cast our cares and concerns to God because He cares deeply about us. It is something we can do constantly.

Praying without ceasing does not only pertain to our worries and fears. We should also say prayers of thanksgiving without ceasing towards God. In the succeeding verse of the apostle Paul, (1 Thessalonians 5:18), it is written that we should give thanks to God in all circumstances, for that is His will. There is always something to thank God for, even in bad times. In fact, we can thank God, whether in good or bad times, because everything works together for those who love God, as written in Romans 8:28.

Heavenly Father, I thank You because we can pray without ceasing through Christ alone, as He divides the wall of hostility between You and us, allowing us to receive adoption as Your sons. Thank You because we can pray and cast to You our cares because You care for us. Continue to stir up a heart of gratitude in us and open our eyes to every grace and mercy that You have been showing us in our lives, whether big or small. We thank You for it without ceasing. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

How do we pray without ceasing?

As mentioned in 1 Peter 5:6-7, we cast our cares to God when we humble ourselves. In other words, we should look into humility if we want to pray without ceasing toward God. Humans always eat food and water because their bodies depend on them for the nutrients and energy they need to function. In the same way, we are nothing without God. God is self-sufficient and eternal. We are not. God can have life on His own. We can’t. We are dependent on God, so if we depend on God for everything and know it, then we will pray unceasingly to God, just as we unceasingly seek to eat and drink. That is why we can be strong and sustained, even in times of weakness, because we live by God’s grace. It is sufficient for us, as written in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.

As we humble ourselves and acknowledge that we depend on God, we will develop the habit of praying. Because we know that we need to eat several times a day for nutrition and energy, logically, we ensure that we eat several times a day. In the same way, if we know that we depend on God and His grace and mercy, we will also see to it that we pray to God every day. This is how we develop a habit of prayer and repeatedly pray to God. We pray several times a day, every day. Some days we make time for it, and some days we pray on the spot when we feel ourselves needing to come before God and pray.

When we do this, it is not the same as what Jesus warned us of in Matthew 6:7, where we just offer empty phrases when we pray and end up saying repetitive prayers. Such prayers are prayed in an empty way. They are prayed purely for the sake of praying, thinking that God will hear them more powerfully if they are consistent. However, suppose a person always asks God for comfort every hour of every day because he is experiencing heartbreak. In that case, that is not being repetitive in prayers or heaping up empty prayers. The person is really just depending on God’s grace as he goes through something painful. In the same way, if a person receives good news and cannot help but be amazed, he may praise and thank God every 30 minutes of the day, which is purely out of awe and thanksgiving to God.

There will indeed be times when we find it hard to pray, especially when we are going through difficult days. However, if we find it hard to pray unceasingly to God and continually depend on Him, by all means, pray that you will learn to pray unceasingly. In (And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Luke 18:1), Jesus teaches us that we are to pray and not lose heart. We must also understand that prayer is a discipline. Discipline is what most helps us get through tough times and continue doing what we’re doing. There are always things in life that will cause us not to pray or at least make it more difficult. However, discipline will enable us to pray no matter how difficult it is. Take, for example, Daniel. Despite the decree not to pray to anyone, he still prayed to God because He had already been doing it, as we see in Daniel 6:10.

Father in heaven, give me the grace to be humble and know that it is only You whom I can depend on for everything in my life. Help me depend on You by always praying to You without ceasing and asking You for the grace and mercy I need. I also pray that I will always thank You for the grace You have shown me in every moment of my life. Help me cultivate a discipline of prayer so that I may pray unceasingly, even in bad times. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Being able to pray to God without ceasing is a privilege rather than an obligation to dread. While God has commanded us to pray, we must see that when God commands us to pray unceasingly, it is due to His grace towards us. God invites us to depend on Him by praying to Him without ceasing. We see a God who is not just sitting relaxed on His throne but One who wants to be actively involved in our Christlike lives.