One of the great things about being a born-again Christian is our unending communication with our Lord and Savior.

Christ is always there, watching us, protecting us, and always waiting to listen to us.

In one of my earlier blogs, I wrote about how we should pray. In this blog, I want to explore a little bit of why we should pray and how we pray without ceasing.

Jesus said in His Word that whatever we need, we should ask in faith, and it shall be given.

Mark 11:24 (NIV): Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Does that mean we can ask for anything we want?

Yes and no. You need to understand that wants and needs are two different things.

A want is something you wish you had, but if you don’t have it, it’s not going to change how you live and is mostly based on emotion.

A need is something that will help sustain life, help us physically and/or mentally, and can impact how we live. A need is not based on emotion.

Jesus said to ask in need, believe it, and it will be given—not to ask in want. So let’s remember, needs are much different than wants.

How do you know Christ answered your prayer or needs? My short answer is this: I don’t believe in coincidence. Things just don’t happen. If you narrowly escaped an auto accident by being held up unexpectedly, or your timing was either 30 seconds early or later, it wasn’t luck or because you were lucky. It was God’s hand, God’s timing, and answers to prayer to keep you safe. People can say what they will, but remember, everything that happens, God is in control. Whether we choose to believe it or not depends on your faith.

I will blog more later on how God answers prayer.

We need to pray to God so we remain focused on His work, so we can make tough decisions and know that God will see us through. Why wouldn’t you want to pray? Can you have a best friend and only rarely talk to them?

Praying to God is no different than talking with your best friend (or it shouldn’t be). We shouldn’t look to God like a big CEO that we are afraid of, making decisions about us based on stocks or bonds.

God is, by all rights, our Father because He created us. Talk to God as you would to your earthly father, asking for direction.

Praying without ceasing.

Ephesians 6:18 (NIV): And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

1 Thessalonians 5:17-21 (NIV):
17 Pray continually,
18 Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not quench the Spirit.
20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt.
21 Test them all; hold on to what is good.

Keeping in continual prayer is simply keeping your spirit focused on God. Do everything in God’s name, doing only what’s right and resisting wrong. This includes even the smallest of things.

If a cashier gives you $0.05 extra, you don’t just take that nickel; you give it back. By keeping it, in the back of your mind, you might say, “her loss, my gain.” God considers that a sin. Because it’s a sin, was it really a gain or a big loss for you?

Something that small makes a difference to God. We need to keep our spirit focused on doing right every time, even when we think it doesn’t matter. It always matters to God!

This is what it means to pray continually. Keeping our mind and everything we are doing, down to the tiniest things, focused on truth, doing right, and pleasing God.

It’s so hard to do, and I fail at it daily. Sometimes I do things without thinking about them, and at some point, God will point them out (make me aware) and allow me to ask for forgiveness and correct the action(s).

That is the whole point of praying continually: leaving ourselves open for correction. Being aware that God is telling us it’s wrong.

It also works the other way too. Knowing we should do something because it’s right. By not doing it, we have quenched the Holy Spirit. This is also a sin. When we know we should help someone in need or in some other way, and God has given us the means to do it, we should do it joyfully and without expecting anything in return.

I’ll use this example because it has happened to me. I received a sizable amount of money I wasn’t expecting. I went to work that night thinking of a few bills I could pay off. My co-worker that night was stressed because she had an unexpected car repair and didn’t have enough money to pay for it. Without a car, she had to depend on another family member to get her back and forth to work and figure out how to pick up her grandkids. To make a long story short, God had given me the opportunity to help a friend in need. She refused to take the money unless I agreed she could pay it back gradually. I agreed and gave her most of the money I had unexpectedly received. She did give me some money back, but I found different ways to give it back to her.

I could have paid off a few bills, but instead, God directed me to give to my friend who needed her car fixed. Was it luck that I got that money when I did? I say it was God’s way of answering a prayer and working through me to do it. I didn’t give the money to her as a loan, but as a gift. I agreed to let her pay it back, thinking that she would forget or I would find some other way that what she did give me back would help her.

By staying in continual prayer, you are keeping the communication open between you and God, allowing Him to freely work in someone else’s life, ultimately yours too.

God wants only the best for His children. We will only get the best from God. The only way we can do that is to stay in continual prayer and seek God every moment of our waking day.

May God’s peace always abide in you.