S2. E35. Pray without ceasing
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[00:00:00] praying without ceasing, dialoguing with the Lord continuously throughout the day, you're able to develop more intimacy with Jesus and foster a genuine friendship because.
The cross was not just about redemption and the forgiveness of sins, but it was a reconciliation back into friendship with the Lord, which is what Adam and Eve experienced in the garden before the fall.
Welcome to Your Daily Bread podcast. I'm your host, Abbie Stasior, a registered dietitian and certified intuitive eating counselor. My prayer is that these bite-sized episodes will help you heal your relationship with food and improve body image, as well as help you grow closer to God. Now, I can't personally heal you, but each week I'll be directing you to the one that can, and that is Jesus. As a disclaimer, I'm not a pastor, but a sister in Christ providing you with some food for thought for you to bring to the Lord and into your quiet time as your daily bread. Let's [00:01:00] dig in.
Hello. Hello. Welcome back to Your Daily Bread podcast. I am so excited for this episode. We are gonna be talking about how to pray without ceasing and what that may look like, because we hear that in the Bible all the time to pray continuously and pray without ceasing, and it's like, well, I can't be in my quiet time for all hours of the day.
So what does Paul actually mean when he is talking to the Thessalonians? Father God, thank you so much for this day. Lord, we praise you and thank you for the breath in our lungs for our health. Thank you for waking us up this morning, and we praise you that your mercies are new every day. Lord, I pray that this episode.
Serves as a fresh wind, and I just pray for divine wisdom and revelation and , fresh revelation with a verse that many of us have heard many a times. Lord, I pray that you give us soft hearts and ears to hear, and I pray that , this sparks new ideas and [00:02:00] ways of deepening our intimacy with you, Jesus, and that this lights a fire under every single listener to pray without ceasing and to commune with you more often.
Lord. We are just so grateful for everything that you are and how you love us, and thank you for never leaving us, nor for thanking us. I pray that everything that is said in this episode is what you want to say through me, Lord, less of me and more of you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So we are gonna be in First Thessalonians verses, verses 16 to 18.
It says, rejoice always pray continually. And give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
So verse 17 is where it says, in other translations, pray without ceasing or hear. In the NIV it says, pray continually [00:03:00] and. What does this mean? Um, because like I said, we cannot be in our quiet time all the time. I think sometimes, especially when we're very young, early on in our faith, walk with the Lord, we tend to think of our prayer time as our quiet time, but actually we want to be praying all the time.
And there are different forms of prayer. There is beholding prayer where it's silent and you are just beholding the Lord and posturing your heart towards him and not asking him for anything, but you are just.
Beholding the Lord for his goodness in who he is. There are times where we do ask God for something. There is intercession where we are interceding praying for other people and joining in. The prayer of the Trinity and how jesus is our great intercessor and always interceding for us.
So we can join that prayer and that dialogue [00:04:00] through intercession for other people. And so there's so many different types of prayer, and one type of prayer is conversational prayer. And I don't think that we talk about that enough, but I believe that may be what Paul is trying to say. Pray without ceasing means to pray.
Talk with God, dialogue with God about every single thing. Loop him into every single area of your life. Yes, God should be first out of all the areas of our lives, but. Jesus wants to be the center of everything, so make him the center of everything, whether that's you washing dishes or meal prepping, or you're on a coffee date, or you're creating content, or cleaning your house or taking care of your kids, changing a diaper.
Make him the center of everything that you're doing, and when you do that. That is an example [00:05:00] of you praying without ceasing, that will allow you to walk in the spirit because you are communing with God, dialoguing with God, abiding in the Lord, so you're able to walk in the spirit. And we know that when you do that, when you're walking in the spirit, you experience the fruit of the spirit that is.
The outcome and the byproduct. So when you do this and you're talking with God, looping him into even the mundane of your day, just the brushing your teeth, for example, you can have joy, you can have peace. You can have kindness and gentleness and self control, patience. You have access to the fruit of the spirit, all of those things.
And praying without seizing allows you to walk in the spirit and have that fruit. It also allows you to make spirit led decisions, which is what we want to do with our eating. We want to be spirit led [00:06:00] because we know one Corinthians 10 23, everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. So yes, we can do anything, but what does the spirit want you to do?
What is God's best for you in any given moment? You don't have to guess. You can ask him and praying without ceasing, praying over the little things in your day. Should I wear this top or this top? Lord, should I order this on the menu or this? You are able to make spirit-led decisions when you are continuously praying, specifically conversational prayer.
This also helps you to foster a friendship with Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected. He not only made a way for our sins to be paid for, we were not only redeemed, but we were reconciled back to Christ. We were given away to never be separated from him again. Because [00:07:00] original sin separated us from the Lord.
So now we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. We have God dwelling within us. . And God wants to be friends with you. Jesus wants to be friends with you. And so praying without ceasing, dialoguing with the Lord continuously throughout the day, you're able to develop more intimacy with Jesus and foster a genuine friendship because.
The cross was not just about redemption and the forgiveness of sins, but it was a reconciliation back into friendship with the Lord, which is what Adam and Eve experienced in the garden before the fall.
And when you pray without ceasing. And you have this conversational prayer, you will see God in all of the little details, and I'm sure everyone has had a moment in nature where you just look around and you're like, wow. Look at God's creation. Look how he made the flowers and the trees and the birds and the [00:08:00] sunsets and the sun rises.
Like wow. And so when you are communing with God, walking in the spirit all day, you get to see his fingerprint, his handprint on every single thing in your life, and that will bring about more gratitude. And you will see God's provision all around you and feel more of his presence, which is only going to bring you more peace and joy in your life, regardless of your circumstances.
And lastly, when you do this and you pray without ceasing, everything becomes worship because you're doing it with God and for God. And. We want more of that. It's like things become less of an obligation in our lives. And I love what it says here in one Thessalonians, rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
I hear all the time, how do I know if I'm in God's will? How do I know if I'm doing what God wants me to do? [00:09:00] He's like, are you rejoicing Always? Are you praying continuously? Are you giving thanks in all circumstances? Even if you're going through something hard, there is always something to thank God for, and it may just be God, but I know you're still good.
Thank you for never leaving me. I'm in this tough situation. I'm suffering right now. We know that we share Christ's sufferings and we also share in his glory. Lord, I'm in a season right now where I'm sharing in your suffering, but thank you for sharing this with me, for going before me. For never leaving me, nor forsaking me for making this all work together for my good, because I love you and I know that I'm called according to your purpose.
So there's always something to be grateful for and. Praying continuously dialogue with him is God's will for your life. And this will help to order your steps and make your crooked path straight as you are discerning what to do day to day, moment by moment, meal by meal, on how to steward [00:10:00] your body best.
So this is something to practice. My prayer is that none of us go 30 seconds without thinking about the Lord or talking to the Lord. And what are some things, this would be something good to journal on with the Lord this week? What are some things that are holding you back from dialoguing with God? From engaging in conversational prayer and praying without ceasing.
Is it that you are watching too much Netflix? Is it that you're scrolling too much? Is it that you're always listening to something, even if it's something good like worship music or a sermon, but you're always consuming, but you're not making any room for silence for the Lord to speak? Are you talking at him all day and not waiting for him to respond?
Are you always going to friends first and not asking the Lord?
These are things to think about and asking the Lord, the Lord, how can I start to pray without seizing? What are moments in my day that I could be [00:11:00] praying more and optimize more and be thinking of you more? And maybe you need a couple sticky notes around your house that just say, pray or talk to God, and then everything just becomes.
Something with Jesus , washing the dishes with Jesus, having coffee with Jesus, brushing my teeth with Jesus, driving with Jesus. Everything is with.
And that makes things more fun and you feel more of His presence and that will help you to make spirit-led decisions, walk in the spirit, and foster more intimacy and a greater friendship with the Lord, which is great. And this is his will for you. To not only rejoice, to not only give thanks, but to pray and prayer can look like conversation.
I hope that this is helpful for you. I hope that the Lord speaks to each of you personally on how to start to engage in conversational prayer or do that more often. I pray that the Holy Spirit brings this back to your remembrance throughout the day and. If you are [00:12:00] looking for more support on how to.
Steward your body well and steward your body with a faith-based approach. Then I encourage you to head to the show notes and book a free call with me. And on that call, we will look at how you're currently eating. We'll talk about your biggest problems when it comes to stewarding your body and eating.
And I'll be able to give you some scripture to speak directly into your situation as well. And that call would be a great way for us to start brainstorming like, Hey, what are some good times in your day? That you could be dialoguing with God more and looping him in, and I know that the Lord can also reveal that to you too in your quiet time.
So that's a really good thing to pray. Thank you all for listening, and I will see y'all next week.
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