"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
Pray Continually? The other day I was driving home alone talking to Evy and Michael right before bed. They were reading stories to me over the phone and then...no phone reception. I shortly received a message that she was going to play a game and I could call back 10 min. later. I started praying and 30 minutes later I got a phone call. While praying, I was thinking about the "pray continually" command in Thessalonians. How can I do that? I get caught up in the decisions of my day and before I know it-- it is over! Then I thought about my phone. Throughout the day, I receive messages from people or email. That little buzz of the phone makes me want to know what is coming through...so why not use my phone as a reminder to pray. While driving on the dark road, there was no way to find out if this "service" existed. I thought of a way to use twitter (www.twitter.com) to send prayer messages to myself and others throughout the day. This would also let several of "us" to form that cord of "three of more." I envision this as a short little prayer (possibly scripture prayers) that can be uttered in a quick moment-because that is all I have during my teaching day- quick moments. If anyone is on board--let me know!
Some scriptures on Prayer
"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him" (1 John 5:14-15).
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).
"…The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5:16).
"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints" (Ephesians 6:18).
"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express" (Romans 8:26).
"When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures" (James 4:3).
1 comment:
It's so true that praying continually is keeping like line of communication open w/ God throughout the day, so that anything that comes up (good or bad), He will be the first one we want to talk to about it. It's a challenge for me & something I do better somedays than others. But such a great reminder.
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