Spiritual Breath
Paul’s command in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to “pray without ceasing” can be confusing. Obviously, it cannot mean we are to be in a head-bowed, eyes-closed posture all day long. Paul is not referring to non-stop talking, but rather an attitude of God-consciousness and God-surrender that we carry with us all the time. Every waking moment is to be lived in an awareness that God is with us and that He is actively involved and engaged in our thoughts and actions.
When our thoughts turn to worry, fear, discouragement, and anger, we are to consciously and quickly turn every thought into prayer and every prayer into thanksgiving. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul commands us to stop being anxious and instead, “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). He taught the believers at Colossae to “continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2). Paul exhorted the Ephesian believers to see prayer as a weapon to use in fighting spiritual battles (Ephesians 6:18). As we go through the day, prayer should be our first response to every fearful situation, every anxious thought, and every challenge we encounter. A lack of prayer will cause us to depend on ourselves instead of depending on God’s grace. Unceasing prayer is, in essence, continual dependence upon and communion with the Father.
For Christians, prayer should be like breathing. Most of the time, we do not have to think about breathing: it just happens. And when we breathe, atmospheric pressure helps the air to flow into our lungs. Similarly, when we are born into the family of God, we enter into a spiritual atmosphere where God’s presence and grace exert pressure, or influence, on our lives. Prayer is the normal response to that pressure. As believers, we have all entered the divine atmosphere to breathe the air of prayer.
Unfortunately, many believers hold their “spiritual breath” for long periods, thinking brief moments with God are sufficient to allow them to survive. Such restricting of their spiritual intake is usually caused by an awareness of unconfessed sin, or a lack of acknowledging our proper dependence upon God. The fact is that for a believer to be fully functional, they must be continually in the presence of God, constantly breathing the soul-nourishing blessing of prayer.
When life is easy, many Christians lose the attitude of depending on God’s grace, and instead presume there is little need for prayer. We can become satisfied with physical blessings and have little desire for spiritual ones. And in our Christian service, when programs, methods, and money produce impressive results, there is an inclination to confuse human success with divine blessing. When that happens, passionate longing for God and yearning for His help will be missing. Continual, persistent, incessant prayer is an essential part of Christian living and flows out of humility and dependence on God.
After long periods of physical inactivity, we might find that simply climbing a flight of stairs makes us short of breath. If our spiritual breath has grown weak, it’s time to exercise our right to approach the throne of grace at every opportunity so we can fulfill Paul’s command to “pray without ceasing.”
—Adapted from GotQuestions.org