Pray without ceasing… 1 Thessalonians 5:17
… always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy. Philippians 1:4
Recently I raced through the concordance looking up verses on prayer.
Two things hit me.
- God gives loads and loads of verses about praying always and everywhere.
- We give loads and loads of excuses for not praying here and now.
How many excuses can we think up for not doing the right thing?
Expert avoiders are we.
You say to yourself, “I would but…”
-
This is the wrong time for me
-
I will feel differently tomorrow
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Circumstances will make it easier later
-
I have just got to do one more thing first
We all suppose that we could pray more, would pray better if we were in the right place and in the right mood.
Hold up.
Waiting for your mood to change in order to pray?
That is like waiting until you on the interstate at 65 miles per hour and then getting into your car.
Prayer is what you need to change your mood. If you wait for your mood to drive you to prayer you will be waiting for a long, prayerlessly long, time.
And the other excuse. Waiting for the right place to pray? You are too busy, under too much pressure, circumstances are really tough.
If you wait until you are in the right place to pray.
Well, that is just plain disobedient and dishonest.
Do you want to tell God that the place you are in, right now, is the wrong place for prayer.
He says it is the right place.
What could conceivably make the place you are in right now the wrong place for prayer?
You have never been in the wrong place for prayer. You never will be.
So pray.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit… Ephesians 6:18