Never Stop Praying

There is a book by Bill Hybels entitled, Too Busy Not to Pray.  I have not read it. If I am too busy to pray I am certainly too busy to read the book!  Sometimes it feels like I am too busy or too crabby or too worried to pray.  God knows I feel that way and He wants me to pray anyway. I get it. He wants to know about the sometimes meaningful and sometimes ridiculous things that consume my thoughts and therefore, my time and my life.  I wish that I could say I was one of those people who always immediately stop to pray when she is disgruntled, crabby or upset. Sometimes I see those things as the circumstances of life instead of as things that should be entrusted in prayer to the Lord.

There are a lot of tools that people use for prayer: journals in which they log every prayer concern and then pray over them daily, weekly, or monthly; or prayer photo albums in which loved ones are displayed and prayed over. Some people make lists and some pray while they drive.  Some people pray in bed, and some pray every morning before they start their day.  No matter where, when or how you like to pray, one thing is perfectly clear.  God wants us to pray.  He craves time with us in this way. 

Are you and I really too busy to pray? Maybe we should stop thinking of prayer as a set activity and think of it as a lifestyle. After all, it is what God tells us in 2 Thessalonians 5:16-18. Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 

This scripture is a “sandwich cookie” communication: the cream in the middle surrounded by cookies on the outside.  My son used to take sandwich cookies, eat the center and throw the cookies away.  In this scripture the outside of the sandwich cookie is joy and thanksgiving.  God says that we should never stop praying, but he is concerned with what you are wrapping your prayer in. Don’t discard the joy and thanksgiving like an unwanted cookie! I think this is an important message for daily living from a father to his children:  “Always be joyful, never stop praying, and in every situation, be thankful.  This is what I want for you my child.” 

When we are focused on joy and thanksgiving it changes the tone of our prayers. It causes us to focus on the one we are praying to instead of the one we are praying for (usually ourselves). It causes us to see the blessings and great things that God has already done in our lives, reminding us that all our concerns are safe in our Father’s keeping.  “Never stop praying” means that each day, all day, I can communicate with Him. It is an ongoing conversation in which He is always listening and available.

Today and everyday: never stop praying.