Longing desire prayeth always, though the tongue be silent. If thou art ever longing, thou art ever praying.
If we think of prayer as the breath of our lungs and the blood from our hearts, we think rightly. The blood flows and the breathing continues – we are not conscious of it but it is always going on.
I was almost constantly in ejaculatory prayer, wherever I was. Prayer seemed to be natural to me, as the breath by which the inward burnings of my heart had vent.
The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Selections, pg. 61, Published by the Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle, PA 17013.
There is a way of ordering our mental life on more than one level at once. On one level we can be thinking, discussing, seeing, calculating, meeting all the demands of external affairs. But deep within, behind the scenes, at a profounder level, we may also be in prayer and adoration, song and worship, and a gentle receptiveness to divine breathings.
Testament of Devotion, Harper, 1941, p. 35.
The time of business does not differ with me from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were on my knees.
The Practice of the Presence of God, Revell, 1958, p. 30, 31.
To pray at all times is to live in continual God consciousness, where everything we see and experience becomes a kind of prayer, lived in deep awareness of and surrender to our heavenly Father. To obey this exhortation means that, when we are tempted, we hold the temptation before God and ask for His help. When we experience something good and beautiful, we immediately thank the Lord for it. When we see evil around us, we pray that God will make it right and be willing to be used of Him to that end. When we meet someone who does not know Christ, we pray for God to draw that person to Himself and to use us to be a faithful witness. When we encounter trouble, we turn to God as our Deliverer. In other words, our life becomes a continually ascending prayer, a perpetual communing with our heavenly Father. To pray at all times is to constantly set our minds “on things that are above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2).
Ephesians, Moody, 1986, p. 380.
Unceasing prayer is God’s avenue for His children to react to all happenings.
Outside the Closet, The Prayer Life, June, 2004.
I live in the spirit of prayer; I pray as I walk, when I lie down and when I rise, and the answers are always coming.
If the spiritual life be healthy, under the full power of the Holy Spirit, praying without ceasing will be natural.
Through His Spirit, the Spirit of prayer, our life may be one of continual prayer. The Spirit of prayer will help you become an intercessor, asking great things of God for those around you.
Praying without ceasing means at least three things. First it means that there is a spirit of dependence that should permeate all we do… So even when we are not speaking consciously to God, there is a deep, abiding dependence on Him that is woven in to the heart of faith. Second… [it] means praying repeatedly and often. Third, [it] means not giving up on prayer. Don’t ever come to a point in your life where you cease to pray at all.
Summarized from: The Practice of Prayer in the Fight for Joy by John Piper taken from When I Don’t Desire God by John Piper, copyright 2004, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org. Page 157.
Concentrated prayer at a specific time is the best fuel for continual prayer all the time.
Taken from Follow Me by David Platt. Copyright © 2013 by David Platt. Used by permission. Website: Radical.net. Page 214.
All of our warfare and all of our activity must take place in the context of constant, unceasing prayer. Just as a soldier on the battle line has to keep in constant communication with his general headquarters and his commanding officer, so the Christian who is on the battle line must be in constant communication with his Lord. He might be fully equipped with all the armor, but if he is cut off from personal communication with his own commander, then he will be isolated and vulnerable.
The Purpose of God, An Exposition of Ephesians, Christian Focus Publications, 1994, p. 152.
Prevailing prayer takes the Christian to the mountain and enables him to cover heaven with clouds of blessings, and earth with floods of mercy. Prevailing prayer lifts the Christian and shows him his inheritance and transfigures him into the likeness of his Lord. If you would like to reach to something higher than ordinary groveling experience, look to the Rock that is higher than you, and gaze with the eye of faith through the window of consistent prayer. When you open the window on your side it will not be bolted on the other.
Morning and Evening.
We should begin to pray before we kneel down and we should not cease when we rise up.
God’s command to "pray without ceasing" is founded on the necessity we have of His grace to preserve the life of God in the soul, which can no more subsist one moment without it, than the body can without air.
Praying without ceasing means you never really stop conversing with God; you simply have frequent interruptions.
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, 1991, p. 68, Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com, All rights reserved. For more information please see the website www.BibicalSpirituality.org. Get this book!
