Pray Without Ceasing

I must confess that I’ve been enjoying somewhat of a media fast lately.  The last two weeks have been good for me, spiritually, by refocusing on more important issues.  I still enjoy blogging, and there have been lots of good topics around, but we all need breaks once in a while.  I increasingly find our fast paced lifestyles, both at work and home to be dangerous in many ways.  We all need to slow down and reprioritize on the things that really matter.  If you were asked to make a list of what is REALLY important, my guess is that the person driving slow in front of you, wouldn’t be number one.

We let all kinds of unimportant stuff elbow its way up the list, instead of, going to the back of the line.  Let’s be honest and think about the important things a minute.  Number one has to be your spiritual state or your relationship with God.  I looked at my list and had to reach way down and pull that one back up where it should be.  On April first, my wife and I joined the Church of the Highlands here in Birmingham.  I can only believe that God was pleased with the decision because it seems that every lesson I’ve heard since then, seems to apply directly to me.

Putting God first is one of the best ways to reorganize your life to make everything else fall into place.  My illustration of a cluttered, out-of-order life, is like walking into a “hoarders” home.  You know, those people who can’t throw anything away.  I’ve walked into people’s homes and had to actually step on things to get where I was going, usually a broken telephone jack.  A Godly ordered life is just the opposite, it’s a clean home, with everything in its place.  We’re still going to misplace some stuff, but it’s much easier to get back on track.

I find that prayer to God helps immensely in staying pliant for His wishes.  We are here for a purpose and it is not what most seem to be striving for like money, power, and a good time.  The title of today’s blog came from 1 Thessalonians 5:17.  In context it says this, “Live in peace with each other. ¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

In prayer, sometimes we just don’t know what to say.  At least our brain might be a little slow in speaking, I’m not sure the inner spirit is ever that way.  Often, a simple written prayer is a good start.  The internet is full of some great ones like the AA-Serenity Prayer…

God, grant me the Serenity
to accept the things
I cannot change, Courage to change the
things I can, and the
Wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardship as the
pathway to peace.
Taking, as He did, this
sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it.
Trusting that He will make
all things right if I
surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy
in this life, and supremely
happy with Him forever in
the next.

Here is another, called

Matt’s morning prayer for sobriety and peace throughout the day

God, Show me throughout this day how to be of service to Thee and those around me.Allow me to show my love and gratitude to Thee, by loving, helping, listening to and comforting others.

Bless me to let go of the expectation that I need to be shown love, listened to, or comforted.

Bless me to do, what I do,  for Thee, and not for the outside reward that may or may not come.

Bless me to trust thee, and with this trust, to release the need I feel to direct or control the lives of others.

Bless me to lose my fears and live each moment as it comes today with a peace and enjoyment I feel when living for thee.

Divorce me today from dishonest self-seeking and selfish motives, that I may be an instrument in thy hands and show others, through my example, Thy way, Thy love, and Thy peace.    Amen

Whatever you use to kickstart your prayer life, I encourage you to get started.  Throw some things out that have pushed God down the list and reprioritize!  Hey, your prayer line is ringing…  are you going to answer that?  It just may be life changing!

Originally published April 17, 2012 at Thechestnutburr.com