Pray continually

Pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

It once was as common for Christians to give thanks before meals as it was for them to eat. An incident from the Thirty Years’ War makes the point. A small group of Protestant officers were hiding together in a cave; each day a little girl brought them food from a nearby farm. One day they were joined by a stranger who had been walking through the woods. At first, they were naturally suspicious of him, but he talked so much like one of them that soon their doubts were removed. After a while the girl came with their supplies, and with genuine politeness they offered food to the stranger first. To their surprise, he began to eat without first giving thanks to God. This omission revealed the true character of the man. He was what they had suspected—a spy—and they barely had time to make their escape from the dragoons that he was working for.

Prayer is one of the identifying marks of a Christian household. Our Lord wants to have a relationship with us, but no relationship can survive if communication has been shut down. God communicates with us through the Bible; it was written under the supervision of the Holy Spirit and reveals God’s instructions and promises to us. Prayer is our way of communicating with God; it is the means by which we tell God our troubles, ask for His forgiveness and thank Him for His goodness to us. When we stay away from church, when we let our Bibles collect dust, when we neglect to take time to pray, we are giving God the silent treatment—we are refusing to talk to Him, or listen as He attempts to talk to us. No relationship can survive when communication is shut down—not even our relationship with God. Please join me in praying:

Lord Jesus, forgive us for taking so little time to listen to You. Forgive us for coming to You so infrequently with our joys, our sorrows and our needs. Move us to make time for You every day. Remind us to give thanks, to ask for wisdom and leadership, and most importantly to admit to our sins and seek Your mercy. Make prayer a daily part of our lives. Amen.