Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
“When we think about prayer, we usually regard it as one of the many things we do live a full and mature Christian life… If we are fervent in our conviction that prayer is important, we might even be willing to give a whole hour to prayer every day, or a whole day every month, or a whole week every year. Thus prayer becomes a part, a very important part, of our life.
But when the apostle Paul speaks about prayer, he uses a very different language. He does not speak about prayer as a part of life, but as all of life. He does not mention prayer as something we should not forget, but claims it is our ongoing concern. He does not exhort his readers to pray once in a while, regularly, or often but without hesitation admonishes them to pray constantly, unceasingly, without interruption.
Paul does not ask us to spend some of every day in prayer. No Paul is much more radical. He asks us to pray day and night, in joy and in sorrow, at work and at play, without intermissions or breaks. For Paul, praying is like breathing. It cannot be interrupted without mortal danger.”
Henri J. M. Nouwen in The Only Necessary Thing: Living a Prayerful Life, compiled and edited by Wendy Wilson Greer (New York: Crossroad, 1999) 107.
What is the role of prayer in your life and related to your generosity?
Today Nouwen uses the example of Paul to inspire us not to compartmentalize it but do it continually. Imagine if we only breathed occasionally. We would be in mortal danger, right?
Sit with the Lord on this on this Saturday morning and make changes as the Spirit leads.