Never Stop Praying

I Thessalonians 5:17  "Pray without ceasing."
Or:  pray all the time.
Or: Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly]

Prayer is one of God's valuable gifts to us. Yet, it's the most neglected gift.  "I don't know what else to do, but pray" is a commonly used phrase when in a time of trouble.  We treat prayer as a last resort.  The inference here is that we have arrived at the point where there is no other alternative, but to pray. 

We are told to pray without ceasing and pray perseveringly because prayer is our lifeline to God.  Prayer expresses the belief that there is a God and that we believe He answers prayer. Prayer keeps me in line!  If I am praying, I will certainly take notice of my behavior and my attitude.  When Robert Louis Stevenson was a boy he once remarked to his mother, "Momma, you can't be good without praying." "How do you know, Robert?" she asked. "Because I've tried!" he answered.

Prayer brings the presence of the Holy Spirit into my life and into my situation.  The really awesome thing about prayer is that we can pray anywhere, anytime, in any situation, and about anything that is on our mind.  We can talk freely to God.  His Son, Jesus, is also praying for us...scripture tells us that He is sitting at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us.  (Romans 8:34)

This story is from Robert Morris' article (Pg 2 Gateway Life magazine, Sept/Oct. 12):

"A good friend of mine, Pastor Jim Marocco pastors a large church in Hawaii.  A few years ago, Pastor Jim founded a satellite campus on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, but after three years, they had not reached as many people as they expected.  God told Pastor Jim to take his prayer team and prayer walk across the entire island.  After days of this, they came across a forest the locals believed had "poisonous trees" because, for no explainable reason, birds would fly over the trees and die.  They entered the forest and found it to be full of pagan idols.  They later learned this location had been used in the past for child sacrifice.  Pastor Jim and his team stood firm on that ground, prayed and claimed that land for Jesus.  After that, the church grew from 40 to 400 in a year and started making a tremendous difference in the community.  Prayer works!

Another article on page 11 - Pastor Jim had a word for Gateway...in essence, he explained that problems were not because they had released the power of the Devil...but because the church hadn't released enough of the power of God. You've been coasting on a flat area for a while, but now you've hit a hill.  It's time to accelerate."

Prayer releases more of the power of God in your life. 

We are all guilty of saying...."God hasn't answered my prayer" - "He doesn't know I'm alive" and the list goes on. 

We forget (or have not been told) that all we need to do is release more of the power of God.  That can only be done by prayer.  Not by wishing, complaing, nor by talking to another person....it can only be done by talking to God....petitioning  Him in the Name of His Precious Son, Jesus Christ, via the avenue of the Gracious Holy Spirit.

Prayerlessness is our problem.  And it is our greatest problem.  Once we conquer it....other issues will be solved.  

Get on your knees...bind some things - loose some things -  control your day.  

And remember:

The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer fetched the angel. -Thomas Watson

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