Today, we consider Flavel's suggestion of "maintaining a prayerful frame of heart in the intervals of duty." Specifically, he says,
What reason can be assigned why our hearts are so dull, so careless, so wandering, when we hear or pray, but that there have been long intermissions in our communion with God?"Perhaps a personal illustration will help illuminate what Flavel is driving at...
Two years ago, I blew my knee out playing soccer, tearing my ACL, MCL, and meniscus (the terrible triad, as my doctor so fondly put it). Unfortunately, I will likely be [increasingly] plagued with the residual effects of this injury. It hurts to walk almost every day. Whereas I used to love walking to work, I sometimes cringe at the very thought of the venture, knowing how painful my next day will be. However, I have learned that by stretching my knee throughout the day, it actually makes it easier to do the long distance walking trips. If I don't take a few seconds here and there, my knee seizes up, making it much, much more difficult to do long distances. My knee, as it were, rusts up, and it takes a lot more effort to get it working if I am not diligently 'unrusting' it, if even for a 10 second stretch, throughout the day.
This is how we are to see prayer.
As D.A. Carson once said, it is more useful to pray short prayers throughout the day than to 'lump' all of our time with God into one extended session.
But I would go one step further.
For me, at least, those "long sessions" with God are incredibly difficult if I haven't been communing and communicating with the Lord throughout the day.
It's the same with any relationship. I don't ignore my wife all week, and then give her a couple hours of my time for 'catching up.' It's great to spend a couple hours with Christina. But it will be incredibly difficult to "last" that long if we haven't been communicating all week. Even a short little text can be greatly used to keep us "wired."
This is what Paul means when he exhorts the believers in Thessalonica to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thes. 5:17). It doesn't mean that I have to pray every second of every minute of every hour of every day. It just means keeping an "open line" of communication to God throughout the day, that we wouldn't limit our time in prayer to those moments before we close our eyes in sleep.
In Joel Beeke's excellent book on prayer ("Developing a Healthy Prayer Life"), he illustrates this principle well by telling of the story of some pastors who regularly gathered to discuss theological and pastoral issues. One meeting, they were trying to figure out what it meant to "pray without ceasing." At a loss, they were interrupted by their servant girl who just happened to be in the room. Humbly, she said she knew what the text meant, and how she herself had employed it.
She said that for her, praying without ceasing was as simple as remembering who God was in every circumstance of her life, and turning those things into petitions before Him. For example, she said, when she would wake up, she thanked God for the gift of rest, and asked Him to help her rest in Christ purchased for her. When she began planning her day, she would ask God to provide guidance for her in her decisions. When she would get dressed, she asked God to clothe her in the righteousness of Christ. When she needed to sweep the house, she would ask God to remove the sin that still resided in her heart. When it was time to eat, she would pray that Christ would be her true meat and sustenance in life. When she found herself thirsty, she simply asked Christ to satisfy the true spiritual thirst of her soul. The point was well made, and hopefully well taken.
How differently would our lives be if we employed this simple principle. How differently would we "see" changing dirty diapers or disciplining our children, making meals or making money, taking showers or weeding gardens.
At the root of this, I know, that I need more love for Christ. I will not find prayer a delight if I don't love Him as I ought (read and pray Ephesians 3:15-19 here). The more I love Christina, the more I will seek time with her. How much more true when it comes to loving Christ and spending time in prayer with our glorious triune God!
Lord Jesus, help Your humble servant to understand what it means to pray without ceasing. Help me to "redeem" every circumstance the You sovereignly place me in, and give me the grace to turn it into a time of communion and prayer with Your Father and mine.
pastor ryan
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