Prayer in a crowded life

The Bible is filled with tall orders - guidelines for living that aren’t always easy to emulate.

Take this verse from Paul for example:

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5v16-18)

Constant states of joy and thankfulness are hard enough, but what I want to focus on is the second piece of advice Paul gives:

Pray without ceasing.

Only So Many Hours in a Day

I wrestle with two different outcomes at the end of a long day of work…

The first is the ideal:

After many hours of good, meaningful work, I return it all to God in prayer, reflect on the day, and seek His grace in the rest between now and when I pick up the plow again.

Then there’s what normally happens:

I’m tired, my brain is fried, and all I can think to do is open “Minecraft” before mustering what energy I have left to make dinner before going to sleep.

Rinse and repeat.

Life is busy. We have many responsibilities, things to attend to, and finite reserves of energy.

And Paul wants us to pray without ceasing.

Really?

Prayer-Life Balance

We know that prayer is good, I don’t think that’s the issue.

Most followers of Jesus pray at their Sunday church gatherings, in the mornings and evenings, before meals, and so on.

But to adopt a prayer rhythm that permeates every moment of our existence… well, that’s another story.

This week on Theophilus, we’re going to look at that. We’ll examine Paul’s encouragement to pray without ceasing while considering the reality of our lives and the demands on us.

After all, not all of us are monks.

So, is it possible to pray without ceasing?

Or are we being set up for failure?

We’ll begin our exploration of this next week with a simple question:

“What is prayer?”

See you then and for now, be blessed.

Jon,

Theophilus Newsletter