Introduction:
Many times we pray to God when we need something; many times we pray to God when things are going badly for us, and we need things in our life to turn around; many times we pray when we are in crisis mode, and we don’t have anywhere else to turn.
But what if we prayed as the Apostle Paul instructs us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NKJV)
17 pray without ceasing, would that change our lives?
I thought tonight; we would explore that together as we look at men and women who had that praying without ceasing type of prayer life.
Point #1
FROM ELISHA, WE LEARN THAT WE CAN SEE WHAT IS TRULY HAPPENING IN A SITUATION BY PRAYING WITHOUT CEASING.
2 Kings 6:13-17 (NKJV)
13 So he said, "Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him." And it was told him, saying, "Surely he is in Dothan."
14 Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city.
15 And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?"
16 So he answered, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them."
17 And Elisha prayed, and said, "LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
In life, there is what you see happening with your physical eyes, and then there is what you see happening with your spiritual eyes. In this passage of Scripture, The King of Syria is angry with Elisha because he is telling the King of Israel, where the Syrians would be camping. Syria at the time is at war with Israel. So the King of Syria wants to get Elisha and take him out of the picture. And when Elisha servants saw the City of Dothan surrounded by the enemy he went to Elisha. He saw with his physical eyes the armies of Syria. Elisha was not concerned because as a man of prayer, he saw with his spiritual eyes, the armies of God surrounding the armies of Syria.
We are told in Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
And maybe praying without ceasing causes us to see a little more clearly what is going on.
Point #2
FROM MOSES, WE LEARN THAT WE MIGHT NOT SEE A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN OUR LIFE BY BEING IN A CONSTANT STATE OF PRAY, BUT THOSE AROUND US WILL SEE A DIFFERENCE.
Exodus 34:29-33 (NKJV)
29 Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.
30 So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.
31 Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them.
32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.
33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.
Moses comes down from Mount Sinai having spent time with God, and it says that Moses that thought he was like he always was, but everybody else noticed a difference in him.
I don’t like to take my medicine. I hate taking medicine every day of my life. I don’t notice a difference in me if I don’t take it. But let me go two or three days without it, and Anne will say, “you are not taking your medicine.” She noticed the difference.
You start spending time with God in prayer on a more regular basis than you do now, and I can promise you even if you don’t notice a difference others will.
Point #3
FROM DANIEL, WE LEARN THAT PRAYING WITHOUT CEASING GIVES YOU A BOLDNESS THAT YOU WOULD NOT OTHERWISE HAVE.
Daniel 6:10 (NKJV)
10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.
In Daniel 6:7, we are told that King Darius signed a decree that said that no one is to make petitions to any god or man for thirty days, except you, O king, and if they do they shall be cast into the den of lions.
Verse 10, it is almost like Daniel is waiting for the King to sign the decree and then go home and pray. Most of us would say to ourselves, let me hurry up and get home and pray before the King signs the order, and then I can guess I will wait 30 days to pray again. I sure hope that I don’t need to pray during that time.
And then it says in verse 10, with his windows open to Jerusalem after the King signed the order, he prayed. Well, some of you may say that I cannot go 30 days without praying, but I will pray with my blinds and windows shut so nobody can see me praying.
I can remember I was scared to death the first time my preacher called on me to pray out loud in front of the whole congregation. Today, I don’t have any problem praying in the church or anywhere else because the more you pray, the more boldness you get in praying.
Point #4
FROM PAUL, WE LEARN THAT PRAYING WITHOUT CEASING EXPANDS OUR CARING TO OTHERS.
Colossians 1:9 (NKJV)
9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it (your faith), do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
If I am praying for when I need something, or when I want things that are going badly to turn around, or if I am in a crisis mode, those prayers are about me. But if I pray without ceasing, it automatically the sphere in which I pray for. So, I begin to pray for others too.
