Unceasing Prayer + Friday Prayer

Good morning, Immanuel! If God calls us to pray without ceasing, then God will unceasingly receive our prayers in whatever form they come.

“Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Photo by Hendrik Kespohl on Unsplash

Surely, this command is hyperbole, right? It’s an impossibility. How can I do my job, raise my kids, or sleep at night while praying? I struggle to focus on those things already! God can’t mean what he says literally, can he?

Now, consider this command from a different angle. Instead of focusing on what it asks of us, consider what it says about God. If he is telling us to pray without ceasing what does this tell us about him? It implies God is always listening, available, and ready to receive us.

This, then, means that we can prayerfully do our jobs, raise our kids, and lay our heads down to sleep. We can put all those things, and every other moment, in God‘s hands. We can mutter prayers, groan prayers, whisper prayers, weep prayers, and think prayers. 

If God calls us to pray without ceasing, then God will unceasingly receive our prayers in whatever form they come. 

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FRIDAY PRAYER & FASTING

God does not act from compulsion. And that means prayer is not an attempt to convince God to be more a more generous or benevolent Giver. In fact, Jesus is more eager to answer our prayers than we are to pray them. Martin Luther reminds us that “Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, but laying hold of God's willingness.” So let’s lay hold of His willingness together as we seek a long-term home in Nashville to welcome all kinds of people, for the spiritual formation of rising generations and to help others into gospel culture. Join us in prayer and fasting every Friday morning from 6 am to 7 am in person at Immanuel.