As always, the year has started at a rapid pace.  Here at the end of the first month, a routine has taken hold, and the treadmill of life is in motion.  If you don’t keep up, you fall off – as simple as that.  Time is ruthless.  Well, maybe I shouldn’t be so negative about the passage of time.  I’ll just say time is indifferent, without sympathy.  There is an irreversible ticking of time that captures everyone – young and old, sick and healthy, rich and poor, every possible life circumstance – without distinction.

Leo Tolstoy said: “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” As I sit here, I hear the clock on the wall ticking.  I can think or write, but the tick, tick, tick remains unchanged.  I can look back at the hour and reflect on what I’ve done, and look forward to the next hour and decide what needs to be done.  Time is in my hands, captured in my decisions, yet I can’t hold it or stop it.

When I think about it this way, there’s almost a panic bubbling up.  Am I responsible with the time allotted to me?  Am I using my time well?

One of the short phrases in the Scripture that captures an element of the day-to-day, hour-by-hour progression of life is in 1 Thessalonians 5:17: [Various translations]

Pray continually.

Pray without ceasing.

Never stop praying.

We all have a decent, maybe even noble, idea of prayer.  If someone asks you what prayer is, you won’t be startled or look around questioning.  I’m sure everyone can calmly think of a definition of prayer.  You could also acknowledge that you pray.  As a Christian, you know that prayer is important.  It is presented so by the biblical writers, the preachers, the teachers – all who engage in the spiritual care of the Church of Jesus.

In the simplest definition of prayer, it is explained as: an action of communication with a supernatural being or power.

An action of communication – prayer is a “do-” word.  It is an activity, an expenditure of time, describing communication with God.

When Paul writes that we should communicate with God without ceasing, it implies that God will be in constant conversation with us.  The very earliest prayer was a dialogue, not a monologue.  God’s first conversation with Adam was a calm time with warm words of creation and wonder.  Adam had to name what God had made.  That’s what the descendants of Adam, humanity, are still doing – we call it science.

God built conversation into every day – the evening breeze, the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8).  Sin clouded the conversation because God had to seek them out.  He was ready for communication, despite the sin that overturned the perfection of everything.  He calls them from their hiding place and restores the conversation.  The conversation continues… without ceasing.

Is it possible that in the irreversible and exhausting daily routine, we miss the chat time?  When we make an appointment with friends, time and place are agreed upon.  We don’t socialize every day, only at special times,  time set apart  that we look forward to and prepare for.  It’s a good principle for prayer too.

But what about the aspect of time described by the word continually?  Will we ever talk to anyone other than God again?  It’s not possible to talk to two people simultaneously – at most, one at a time.

Maybe communication is not always talking.  Communication is an attitude, an availability, a presence for spontaneous conversation.  In an office or at home, our presence is the key.  It’s the significance of someone close to you – a colleague, family, or family members.  It’s those short conversations of a few words, asking for advice, expressing thanks, commenting on something.

One of the scholars describes prayer as a two-way spiritual relationship in which we talk to God but also listen to Him.  It’s like a conversation between a child and his father.  It’s quite natural to ask his father what he needs, ask for advice and guidance, and thank him for the wonder of provision and protection.

Continually?  Twenty-four hours a day?  Well, when the Bible says without ceasing, it might just propose exactly what the words mean.  Indeed, all the time, without interruption.

Prayer is not always a conversation.  In the definition here, it is a two-way spiritual relationship.  Parents don’t talk continuously to each child, but the children live in the parental home and are continually aware of the availability and access to their parents.

Likewise, we live in the Presence of our heavenly Father.  We don’t always talk, but live in awareness of the availability – without interruption – of the Counselor, Eternal Father, wonderful Savior whom we can consult at every moment of the day.  We can ask, say thanks, express admiration, and thus, without ceasing, engage in communication with the Most High God – what a privilege!

Do we pray as we think about things?  That’s a good starting point for unceasing prayer.  It’s a discipline that kicks in and triumphs over every fear-thought, burst of anger, bitterness springing up that again and again  wounds your heart, people who frustrate – every malicious detail of our day. 

It’s the phenomenon of the quick prayer – Nehemiah’s secret weapon against his enemy in his great task of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem.

Andrew Murray says there is no such thing as unanswered prayer.  Jesus says: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7,8)

Don’t these wonderful words of Jesus possibly mean exactly what they say?

Come talk – anytime, always, all the time.

Prayer is giving our attention to God in a two-way spiritual relationship where we talk to God and also listen to Him. Prayer is like a child’s conversation with their father. It is natural for a child to ask his father for the things they need, or to ask for advice or guidance.