Page 43 - Personal Spiritual Life Syllabus w videos

Study Section 7: Prayer - continued / Witnessing

7.1 Connect.

Have you ever wondered about that verse in the Bible that says to pray without ceasing? I
could never figure out how that was possible and yet function at work or in school. How can
a person pray all the time? I could never do it. So I always felt guilty because I could not do
something that God commanded me to do. I pray for the big things in life. I thank God for
my food at every meal. I try to confess my sin to God daily. But let’s face it; I have a lot of
other things I have to do rather than sitting around with my eyes closed praying.

Today we want to investigate what real prayer is. In doing so, we will look at I Thessalonians 5:17 and
find out what Paul was truthfully telling the church at Thessalonica to do when he told them to pray
without ceasing. Are you interested? Let’s get started….

7.2 Objectives:

1. The student should be able to explain how to pray without ceasing and what that actually
means.

2. The student should be able to review our call to witness to all the nations.

3. The student should be able to review the basic tenets of the Gospel to insure that when we share
them, we include all the parts.

7.3 When should we pray?

Does the Bible say we should pray 100% of our waking moments? After all, there is that
verse that says we are to do so, right?

1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing.

How is it possible to pray without ceasing or stopping? Is God asking us to do something
we are incapable of doing? No. That’s because the English translation of this verse leaves us with that
false conclusion. Let’s see what Paul was really telling the church at Thessalonica about prayer.

The context of the passage helps us understand what Paul is trying to say. The passage is focusing on
the believer’s heart attitude or our general walk in life. “Rejoice always” is a general attitude of
joyfulness. Giving thanks in everything requires a general attitude of thankfulness for all God has done
for us. Prayer is a way to express these emotions throughout the day in vital communication to God.

The Greek word, audiolaptos, translated into English, “without ceasing” or “unceasingly” means to
repeatedly do something often. Have you ever gotten a cough where you had this tingling sensation in
the back of your throat? If you are in church, you try to hold back the cough, but eventually you have to
give way, and you cough, interrupting everyone. So again, you hold it back, but every now and then, it
must come out. In this verse, the tingling sensation is the motivation for prayer, always there. But the
cough, now and then, represents the prayer of the believer. This verse is saying, as you go through the

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