• Day 29 : Praying without ceasing

    "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

     

    Through two parables, Jesus emphasizes the importance of praying without relaxing. We find these two beautiful stories in the gospel of Luke (Luke 11: 5-8 and Luke 18: 1-8). In these two texts, Jesus reminds us that perseverance is essential when we pray.

    In the text seen above, Paul said to the Ephesians : "Do at all times ... all kinds of prayers" (Ephesians 6:18). All these passages of the Bible, and many others, show us how important it is to maintain a constant communion with God through Jesus. To pray without ceasing is not an uninterrupted recitation of petitions and petitions of all kinds. This does not mean and repeat without interruption, all that we think God should do.

    To pray without ceasing is to breathe God. It is like loving a loved one, that we are close to him, or not, we ceaselessly love him. To pray without ceasing is to have a loving relationship with God. Our mind remains in communion with him whatever it is that we do.

    Louis Schweitzer said, "Praying is first giving God time." We have all heard this saying : "Prayer is the breath of the soul." I like this image because it refers us to a reality that escapes our consciousness. We breathe day and night (without ceasing), without our being aware of it. Breathing translates a reality of life. I live because I breathe, and I breathe because I live. We have no effort to breathe. Similarly, when our life is hidden in Christ, we have no effort to pray. Our intimacy with God is already a prayer. It can take various forms such as praise, worship, humiliation, intercession ... but whatever form it may be derived from our communion with God.

    It is evident that to say to a dead man : "Breathe incessantly" will not bring him back to life. In the same way it makes no sense to say to someone who has not received the divine life through Jesus Christ : "Pray without ceasing." First, Christ must live in us, and then prayer becomes the breath of the soul. On two occasions, the prophet David speaks of this constancy in prayer : "I have the LORD constantly before my eyes : when he is on my right hand, I will not be moved" (Psalm 16: 8). And : "I constantly turn my eyes to the Lord ..." (Psalms 25:15). He connects this constancy with the fact of looking at God. Not to speak to God, but to look at him with the eyes of the heart.

    Advice for this day :

    Do not consider prayer as an attitude, but as the expression of the life of God in you. Let God live in you and you will know what it means : "Pray without ceasing".

    Paul Calzada

    « Jour n° 29 : Prier sans cesse Siku 29 : Ombeni bila kukoma »
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