Prayer That Never Stops

Pray without ceasing.

1 Thessalonians 5:17

If you have suffered from the flu, you know the symptoms: achiness, chills, fever, headaches, stuffy head—and that persistent, hacking cough that just won’t stop. If you’ve had the flu—especially the cough—then you know what it means to be a spiritual warrior who prays without ceasing.

Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 that believers should “pray without ceasing.” To make his point, he used adialeiptos, an adverb meaning “incessantly, constantly.” It has been found in historical Greek documents to refer to a persistent, hacking cough—a flu-like cough, in modern terms. When you suffer from that kind of cough, you can’t get rid of it; it’s with you wherever you go and whatever you do. You’re interrupted by it when you speak and you wake up with it in the night. You become one with your cough.

That’s how prayer should be with the Christian—not the irritating, annoying part, but the persistent part. Praying without ceasing means to live in a continual state of God-consciousness, communicating with Him about everything. Stay well, and practice the presence of God wherever you go.

To lose one’s consciousness of God’s presence is to lose the ability to pray without ceasing.