Word of Encouragement (11/25/2020)
This morning, let’s give thanks to God for the command, “Pray without ceasing!”
As the command to rejoice always reminds us that we belong to a kingdom of eternal joy, the command to pray without ceasing reminds us that we belong to a kingdom of unceasing, intimate communion with God. Prayer in its essence is our heart-to-heart communion with God and, as such, is the epitome of our fellowship with Him, the epitome of our enjoyment of God Himself. After everything is said and done, what is it that we really need? Everything in this life comes and goes, both good times and bad times, both good things and bad things. They all slip through our fingers like water, like air. We cannot hold on to our loved ones. We cannot even hold on to our own life. God alone is the Eternal Presence, who will never leave us or forsake us. He is the Anchor of our soul, who keeps us grounded and secure. In His presence, we have everything we really need. The command to pray without ceasing reminds us that we have constant access to God’s presence.
This command reminds us also that we belong to a kingdom of abundant riches, to which we have access through prayer. We just said that God is all we need. But, grace upon grace, God desires to give us all things along with Himself: “...all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's” (1 Cor. 3:21-23). “Thou art coming to a King, / large petitions with thee bring, / for his grace and pow'r are such, / none can ever ask too much” (“Come, My Soul, Thy Suit Prepare”). If we know and believe this to be true, how can we not pray voraciously for God’s blessings—not only for ourselves but also for others, not only for material blessings but also for eternal, spiritual blessings, for the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33)?
Wide open before us is a life of unimaginable possibilities because we belong to a kingdom of unceasing prayer, which connects us directly and constantly to God and His abundant blessings for us. That’s what this exhortation to pray without ceasing tells us. To pray without ceasing doesn’t mean that we should be in our prayer closet all the time. God has given us various callings to fulfill in our various roles and we must be faithful to them. But we should be prayerful at all times. We should be spiritually “online” with God, being mindful of Him and His will for our lives, communing with Him at all times. If God should be mindful of us—"what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him” (Ps. 8:4)?—how can we not be mindful of our great God in all that we do? And we have the assurance that our wonderful Savior intercedes for us without ceasing at the right hand of God! We, too, should intercede for one another in His likeness and pray for the advancement of His wonderful kingdom—until that day when our prayers will cease and be replaced with our eternal praise to God for His marvelous grace!