God’s Prayer: Praying at All Times

by Pastor Dennis

Reflections on 1 Thessalonians 5:1-28

“Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in the Spirit, do not despise prophesying, but test everything; hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22

Two little words that frustrates almost everyone I know, deals with their prayer life. The words I refer to are: “pray constantly.” We all struggle in our prayer life, confronted with so many needs that bombard us daily. We find a quiet place to pray for a few moments, and then resume our work for the day. We hope that our prayers uplift those whom we pray, but quickly feel inadequate when the words pray constantly present themselves. A question arises: How can I pray constantly, when I sleep? We go about our business and several hours later remember that we haven’t prayed constantly. No wonder we feel frustrated.

The early Christian mystics also were frustrated in this way. The harder they tried to pray at every moment of the day, they failed and fell into despair. However after many years, they did discover a prayer that lifted their heart in praying constantly; this is called “The Jesus Prayer.” It is a prayer of rhythm and it goes like this: Each time you breathe in, say “Jesus forgive me” and every time you exhale, say “a sinner.” Praying in this manner the mystics felt calm and satisfied saying they were praying constantly.

As the mystics practiced “The Jesus Prayer”, they made another discovery. Sometimes their prayers had words and sometimes they didn’t. They asked the question, if God knows our needs before we know them ourselves then why use words? The answer to that question was because the one who prays needs to know the depth of our needs. At the times they didn’t use words, the feeling of being caught up in God’s spirit was experienced. Then another discovery was made. When one matures in faith, the relationship with God was more important then words used. When they felt lifted in God’s spirit, is at those times they felt being prayed for by God. The mystic became the prayer that God was praying.

Your prayer life takes on a new dynamic when focusing on the relationship that God desires with you. Keeping before you the needs of others. Praying for those things that come to your heart. Then discovering in those times of feeling raised in God’s spirit that you become the prayer in which God prayers constantly.

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