Prayer Series Part III: Never stop praying

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I had this blog post planned out and was to have it on two weeks ago – little did I know I had to experience something that would make this message real for me. One of the things I desire this blog to be about is honest and real conversations, to talk about things that matter to me and that I relate to. That in general is also how I desire my relationship with God to be – that what I speak about is what I actually believe in.

Prayer is one of those things that we need to do, when things are good or when things are bad. It is the open line to God that He allows us to use whenever and wherever. For me ever since I learnt the power of prayer (there is a whole post in this series on that) – I seek to do it all the time. The best example is Jesus and how He always prayed, He prayed with people, for people, but also always prayed by Himself and for Himself.

Every time I read the Bible and encounter a chapter, verse that speaks about Jesus praying, I almost always take a mental note to myself to always emulate that from Christ – and to learn to live a prayerful life.

There is an acronym PUSH that spells out:

Pray

Until

Something

Happens

For years, I wrote this down and I always liked it when I heard it from someone. But recently I found myself asking the question what happens after it happens? Do I stop praying, do I start praying for something else? It is a good word, but as for me I decided that I will never stop praying even when the prayer is answered I will keep praying.

Allow me to explain, for example, you are praying for a job, when you get the job, yes you keep praying for other things you desire – but you should still pray about the job, keep asking for direction when it comes to how you should work, how to relate with your colleagues, how to use your salary in an intelligent way etc. You never stop praying, you keep praying!

When I was studying 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 and how it relates to our prayer life, I learnt the following things:

• It is a choice that we make. The more I study the Bible the more I realize that we need to be intentional; everything that we do must be intentional. To rejoice is simply to feel/show joy, happiness – this is easy when everything around us spells joy. But what about what when it spells out the complete outside? That is why we pray, we talk to Him so He shows us the bigger picture – so that we are able to rejoice in Him!
• It is a sacrificial act, we are not asked to pray when things happen in a certain way or at a certain time, and we are called upon to pray continually. One thing I get from prayer is hope – I always feel like my act of prayer directs me to my creator, God, and whatever it is, big or small, I hand it over to Him in prayer.
• It is hard to give thanks all the time, especially when things are not working out. I feel like when we pray and give thanks it is because we know that God has our back and that ‘this too shall pass’ the thanks therefore is for victory because through Him we have already conquered.
• God’s will for you. Everything that happens to us is ordained by God and is His will for our lives – prayer helps us align our lives to His will. The more time we spend connecting with God and talking to Him, He reveals Himself to us and leads our path so that we do not deviate.

God calls us to pray about anything and everything and to understand that prayer is a powerful tool that He has given to us. He wants to know our heart and to show us His heart (His will) as well. It is not about how long you pray, but about how you pray – the intention, your heart, the surrendering, the belief, the faith, the hope – that as you pray to Him, He is able to answer.

Never stop praying, always pray!

Be blessed!