Lord, Teach Me to Pray

I have always been curious about I Thessalonians 5:17.  It says, “Pray continually.”  Other passages say, “Pray without ceasing.”  When I meditate on those words, many thoughts come to mind.  I think about how little time I pray compared to “without ceasing.”  I think about people we compare to and to “book-end prayers” that start and end a day or a meal.  Often these verses stir up guilt.  I want to propose two thoughts that may help. 

 

First, I want to offer what I call twitter, cell phone, and land-line prayers.  Twitter prayers are tiny prayer thoughts we can “tweet” to God all day long.  Prayers like, “God bless so-and-so”, “Lord, help me to…”, and “God, I need wisdom in this situation.”  Cell phone prayers are short conversations with God that last 30-60 seconds, like cell phone calls.  They are the prayers I often pray out lout in my car, when I’m running, showering or walking into a meeting.  The last kind of prayers is land-line prayers.  They are the long-distance calls to friends and family that have no time boundaries.  It’s those great conversations where you catch up with a friend, give details, ask questions, and express love and thankfulness.  If you pray with twitter, cell phone and land-line prayers, you will pray continually and without ceasing.

 

Second, what helped me was hearing Dallas Willard speak about prayer and “living in the omnipresence of God.”  The omnipresence of God is the knowledge of God’s presence wherever we are.  If you think about it this way, it means we can converse with God at all times.  When we are happy, we can praise Him.  When we are sad, we can seek His contact.  When we are heading into sin and temptation, we can seek Him.  I hope this helps you as it has really helped me.

 

The disciples said, “Jesus, teach us to pray.”  We as Jesus’ disciples should have the same request.  Lord, teach us to live constantly in conversation with You, for You, in and through You.  Pray on!

Comments

[Nicholle Riley]

so now you changed it from twitter to text, why are you changing this stuff, your confusing me