Pray without ceasing

God will hold to our account the souls that have gone uncured, unhealed, and untouched by Jesus Christ because we have refused to keep our souls open to him.  He will reprove us for the times we were not ready to present the Lord Jesus Christ to them by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Yet, we deal with some people at great length without seeing any results; and we are tempted to quit trying.                          Let us never despair of any soul under heaven.  If you have a chronic case (by “chronic case,” I mean someone who is always coming to the same place spiritually and never getting anywhere—always coming forward at the alter call but getting nowhere),  thank God for that one.                                                                                  .              I have found out that God uses those chronic seekers to educate me.  If they will keep chronic long enough, the Lord will be able to manifest His patience with me as He never could otherwise.  And, all of a sudden, these souls come into the light.  Praise God!  Oswald.

1^st Thessalonians 5:16 rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 

I came across this yesterday as I was moving some books around.  It just nailed me.  What caught me was what I had written at the top of the page. “OMG this is strong …. Never give up!”  So I read and it made me think of certain people that I have given up on because they are stuck.  They are not moving fast enough in the direction I want them to go.  (Closer to Jesus)  Then I have to remember all those who did not give up on me when I was stuck.  Thank you Lord.  Do you have someone like this in your life?  Maybe it is your spouse or child? 

So today I am also reading in today’s devotion which coincides with what I read yesterday.

Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues “without ceasing”; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise; it is the life of the saint. Beware of anything that stops the offering up of prayer. “Pray without ceasing . . .”— maintain the childlike habit of offering up prayer in your heart to God all the time.

Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer. He had the unlimited certainty of knowing that prayer is always answered. Do we have through the Spirit of God that inexpressible certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of the times when it seemed that God did not answer our prayer? Jesus said, “. . . everyone who asks receives . . .” (Matthew 7:8). Yet we say, “But . . . , but . . . .” God answers prayer in the best way— not just sometimes, but every time. However, the evidence of the answer in the area we want it may not always immediately follow. Do we expect God to answer prayer?                                       .              The danger we have is that we want to water down what Jesus said to make it mean something that aligns with our common sense. But if it were only common sense, what He said would not even be worthwhile. The things Jesus taught about prayer are supernatural truths He reveals to us.. Oswald

So for myself I am thinking that I don’t pray enough.  Have an Awesome day today and have peace in your heart!