Admittedly, this post took me longer to think of and may be one of my shorter, or perhaps more scattered, Monday Missions, but I will write the thoughts that come.

Today (Sunday as I write this) I have been reminded of prayer from many angles.

Our church sermon today was from the book of 1 Thessalonians with a key focus on prayer, centered around chapter 5 verse 17. I also got the privilege of hearing parts of this twice as I helped with both services. Then, my family went to enjoy Sunday dinner with my in-laws and our devotional was on prayer. At this point I was thinking I needed to write Monday's blog about prayer.

Prayer is wonderful. Prayer is mysterious. Prayer is powerful. Prayer is absolutely necessary.

The God of the universe desires to be in constant communion with us. The gift of the Holy Spirit lives inside us and intercedes on our behalf. The Bible is full examples of prayers of long, heartfelt confessions to even saying the Spirit translates our wordless groans.

Romans 8:26-27: ²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Prayer will connect you with God and other believers. I encourage you to pray, perhaps for the first time in a long time or challenge yourself to go deeper. Regardless, open up your heart.

A few ideas to practice "Praying Continually"

- Write out a prayer that you will pray every day in the morning or at night

- Pick a Psalm, or other prayers from the Bible, and not just read it, but pray it in your heart

- Teach your kids how to pray and pray with them

- At least once a day, pray with your spouse

- Set a reminder for three times a day (or many more!) to offer simple prayers of thankfulness

- If a person, or group, is continually adding stress to your life (or living "rent free" in your head) challenge yourself to pray for them every time their name pops into your head

- Before beginning any new task or before you meet with someone, ask for the Lord's help and for you to be overflowing with the Spirit

Many people practice the good habit of praying before meals - this is great! The important thing is not necessarily that you must pray before eating, but it is the very good habit of being reminded to make time and take time to talk to God. Other prayer habits like those listed above can be formed and we will find ourselves much closer to praying unceasingly.

Romans 8 NIV - Life Through the Spirit - Therefore, - Bible Gateway

1 Thessalonians 5 NIV - The Day of the Lord - Now, brothers and - Bible Gateway

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash