PRAY WITHOUT CEASING

A boy learnt a Sunday School song beginning, “God is still on the throne” but he accidentally altered it to “God is still on the ‘phone!”  Happily he was quite correct because if we love God with all our heart and believe that on the cross the Lord Jesus died so that we can be forgiven, then God adopts us into His Family and becomes our Heavenly Father.  We can then talk to Him in prayer at any time or in any place.  When Jonah prayed from inside a whale, God rescued him. [Jonah 3:10]  Similarly today sailors pray in submarines!  Colonel James Irwin even prayed on the moon when a vital aerial display failed to open, and it did!

People often talk about “saying their prayers” but real prayers are not words from a voice box but from the heart.  John Bunyan said, “It is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart!”  As the hymn says

“Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed;
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.”

It’s not the length of our prayers but the strength that matters.  When Peter began to walk on the sea towards Jesus, His faith sank first then his feet!  He didn’t pray, “Vouchsafe O Lord of Thy most tender mercy to graciously deliver your servant from the tempestuous elements!”  He simply cried out, “Lord, save me!”  And He did!

 

Praying about everything aids our memory, takes away panic and brings us peace and clarity of thought.  This pleases God because it shows that we want Him to guide us in every detail of our lives so that we can achieve the purpose for which He created us.