LCN Article
Pray Without Ceasing

November / December 2014
Woman To Woman

Elizabeth Stafford

 I had just returned home late the night before from a very stressful trip, with barely enough time to buy groceries, clean the house and prepare our guest room for some unexpected guests. We then enjoyed such a delightful evening visiting with our guests that I stayed up far too late. Normally, I would leave the house to go to my part time job just before 6:30 a.m. On this particular morning, I rushed out the door still half asleep at 6:45 a.m. having forgotten to pray. Thankfully, God did not forget me.

 It was early January, and the roads in our subdivision were slippery with ice as I yawningly made my way to the T-intersection of a major road. I stopped at the intersection, and I looked to my right to make sure there were no cars coming too close in the lane I wanted to turn left into. Seeing none, I pulled forward… and then I glanced back to my left, just in time to see the horrified expression of the man whose car was barreling toward me. Within a split-second, it seemed certain, he would plow straight into my car door, crushing me.

But before I could even blink, his car froze in place a few feet to my left, as did all the cars behind him. My car’s momentum carried me forward, but in my panic I wrenched the wheel left too late, causing me to slide—correcting just in time to move forward in my lane before I could be rear-ended by the cars coming behind me. I had escaped a terrible accident! As I shakily drove forward toward the Interstate entrance ahead of me, I saw in my rear-view mirror that the cars behind me were remaining motionless. I could only imagine what the driver of that other car was feeling—perhaps as frightened of his car having stopped unexpectedly as of narrowly escaping a fatal accident.

As soon as I arrived at work, I went to a private restroom, locked the door, burst into tears and began to thank my heavenly Father for His goodness. This was one occasion when I truly began to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).  I have often reflected since that day almost 20 years ago, about how God’s mercy helps us want to change and draw closer to Him—as the Apostle Paul says: “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4).   And after seeing God’s powerful intervention almost 20 years ago, I found it much easier to remember to thank God more often for His love and mercy.

Ruth and Abigail

Two of my favorite ladies of the Bible were also involved in potentially dangerous situations, and they would undoubtedly have been praying without ceasing too!  Imagine what it must have felt like to be Ruth, on the evening she was told to sneak onto the threshing floor late at night and lie down at the feet of a man she barely knew (Ruth 3:3,4).  That took tremendous faith, but I am sure she was also praying continually as she waited for Boaz to wake up.  It was a night that changed the direction of not only her own life, but also enabled her to become part of the family line of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5).

I thought, too, of Abigail, the beautiful wife of wealthy Nabal. She must have been in constant contact with God as she approached David and the fierce fighting men of his war party, sending gifts of food ahead of her and gathering even more to take with her (1 Samuel 25:18–31). God definitely guided her words, as we can see when we read of how David received her: “Then David said to Abigail; ‘Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand. For indeed, as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has kept me back from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely by morning light no males would have been left to Nabal!’” (vv. 32–34). Clearly, when we or our loved ones are in danger, we have a greater motivation to pray without ceasing!

Plan to Pray

There are thousands of distractions all around us every day—some pleasurable, others irritating—from books, television, the Internet, phone calls and texting,  to traffic jams and sitting in waiting rooms for appointments.  As women, we may have many varied and different types of work and errands throughout our day, rather than being in one office or job site.  We also have important and often necessary priorities and time-sensitive emergencies or projects that demand our time and energy.  Husbands, children, jobs, elderly or infirm family members, volunteer work—it all takes time and attention. Sometimes it helps to take some time to sit down and mindfully plan how to be sure we make prayer a top priority. 

For me, it is not always as simple as just getting up earlier in the morning. No matter when I get out of bed in the morning, I can still become distracted. I finally had to make a deal with myself, upon waking, not to walk out of my bedroom and adjoining bathroom without praying first. Otherwise, on my way to the kitchen I would see so much around the house that reminded me of things to accomplish, or if I checked e-mail it might be an hour before I finished.  When we travel, go to stay with friends or relatives, or attend the Feast, there are new and different challenges. After hearing a helpful sermonette reminding us to plan ways to be able to pray and study even while away from home, I found it did help me to put some thought into this before taking off on a trip.  It definitely can help to be actively looking for opportunities to have some private and quiet time even when in a house surrounded by other people and constant activities.

True Friends Speak Often

Many years ago, I confided in a wonderful older church lady and close friend, that prayer, to me, seemed harder than Bible study. As a mom with two young children, I often had to keep one ear open for the kids as I prayed, and it was sometimes hard to focus for very long. My friend told me that God was her best friend, so she really looked forward to sharing her thoughts and feelings about what was happening in her life or what was on her mind.

More recently, I was talking to a very special younger friend who has grown up without a father. She told me that, for her, God was her Dad—and she loved to talk to her Dad. Talking with her reminded me of just how much I love talking with my own Dad, and thinking about that really helped me feel closer to my spiritual Father and be able to pray even longer prayers at times.

 While our longer daily prayers are usually on our knees if possible, there will usually be situations that require extra help and wisdom throughout our day—and it is encouraging to know that God does want us to ask for His help and guidance in more short or informal prayers throughout the whole day.  We can literally pray without ceasing.  Dr. Meredith continually encourages us in many sermons and articles to “walk with God” and, as Galatians 2:20 reminds us, “let Christ live in us.” These opportunities for short prayers throughout the day are a way we can grow in this area and stay in contact with our Father. One of my greatest blessings in the past few years since my beautiful daughter became baptized, is that there is now a new depth to our conversations, and we often discuss spiritual things—we seem to be more and more on the same wavelength in our conversations. I have wondered if Jesus Christ and His Father sometimes smile at each other when they see that we are more on their wavelength in our conversation, our thoughts and our prayers.

Persevere in Prayer

We have all undoubtedly been helped over the years by seeing the many answers God has given to our prayers.  Even the “no” answers from God have saved me from what I see now would have created big problems for me.  And, the “not yet” answers really do help us to appreciate and to thank God for the answer to our prayers much more when it does come.  A wonderful example of this is one Mr. Richard Ames sometimes uses in sermons to describe the importance of persistence in prayer. For 17 years, he prayed fervently again and again that God would give him a “desire of his heart” and arrange for him to visit Israel. How many times must he have felt tempted to give up on his prayers? Yet he persevered, and literally “jumped for joy” when he learned he was assigned to go to Israel with a group of Ambassador College students.  To pray without ceasing can include even more than to pray throughout the day as we walk with God.  It can also mean to persevere in prayer over many months or years in some cases.

Christ gave us an interesting example of a poor widow who would not take “no” for an answer, but kept asking an unjust judge for his help over and over again, till she finally wore him down and he helped her. And then Christ went on to tell us that our Heavenly Father is much more willing to hear us, because we are His own children (Luke 18:2–7).  We are all either daughters or mothers, and can understand how much God wants us to talk with Him and let Him know what our needs are.

It is exciting to know that God wants to be our Helper in all ways—that He does want us to pray without ceasing.  And, as we continue to ask God for His help in this, we will also be given even more of His strength and peace so that we can truly be “anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).