The Value Of Praying Continually

Good morning and welcome to our daily walk!

Audio version at http://tinyurl.com/2hfof5

This devotional by Justin Morton

Have you ever prayed for something a couple of times and then stopped praying for it? So many times it seems as if we will pray for something once or twice, and then we stop praying as if our work is done. I don’t believe this is what the Bible teaches. In fact, I believe that the Bible teaches us to be steadfast in our prayers and pray continually. Paul said, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). When was the last time that you prayed for something more than a couple of times? If you are like most people, probably not often enough.

Prayer is something that we need to be doing continually. When we go to God in prayer about a situation, we should pray fervently and continually about whatever is on our minds. Paul is a great example of this. On more than one occasion, we read about Paul praying for those churches he had worked with. In First Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul says that he constantly thanked God that the Thessalonians received the word of God and accepted it (v.13). Did Paul only pray once or twice? It appears not. He seems to indicate that he continually prayed a prayer of thanksgiving to God for opening their hearts to accept His word.

In the book of Romans Paul says that God is his witness as to how “unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers” (Rom. 1:9-10). Paul seems to be indicating that he prays to God on behalf of the Church in Rome continually. He must think being steadfast in prayer about certain situations is of value.

Also, in the book of Timothy, we read how Paul tells Timothy that he thanks God as he constantly remembers Timothy in his prayers, night and day (2 Tim. 1:3). Again, we see here that Paul uses the phrase “constantly.” These verses all seem to indicate that Paul did a lot of praying about a lot of different things. It seems that the more he prayed, the more he prayed for, because he was constantly praying for all these other issues from before. Paul was a man who was steadfast in prayer.

What about you? The things that you pray for today, will you pray for those same things next week? The people who ask for your prayers today, will you remember to pray for them tomorrow? You and I should be people who see the value of being steadfast in our prayers. We should understand that prayer requires patience and persistence. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that many times we only pray about a certain situation a few times, because we are only wishing it to happen and not really believing it will happen. If we truly believe God will answer our prayers (and I hope you do), we will continue to be steadfast in our prayers.

Nehemiah is a great example of this. When he first learns about what has taken place in Jerusalem, he prays. When he realizes how bad his people have it, he prays. It is during this prayer that he asks God to be with him and to grant him success as he goes before the king to ask permission to go back to Jerusalem to help out. At this point this looks and sounds exactly like what most of us would do. The first thing we might do is pray. After we pray we would probably go approach the king about our situation. However, this is not what Nehemiah did.

From the time that chapter one opens to the time that chapter two opens, four months have past. This means that Nehemiah learned of Jerusalem and then waited four months before approaching the king for his permission to go to Jerusalem. You may be thinking, “Why did he do that?” I’m sure there may been several reasons, but one reason that comes to mind is perhaps Nehemiah wanted to spend that time in prayer to God. Perhaps he understood the value of being steadfast in prayer so much that he was unwilling to approach the king until he felt that it was the right time. Perhaps he wanted to pray steadfastly to God before taking the next step.

What about us today? Are we willing be steadfast in prayer until our prayer is answered, or do we just pray for a day or two and then stop? It is my hope and prayer that you will be a person who sees the value of being steadfast in prayer. When something is on your heart, pray to God and don’t stop until the issue is resolved.

Thought for the day: “Wishing will never be a substitute for prayer.” - Ed Cole

May God bless you in your daily walk!