Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 656 | Pray Without Ceasing

Transcript

656 | Pray Without Ceasing · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

• 0:06
  Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast.
• 0:10
  With Kimberly Miller, where we believe that every man, woman,
• 0:14
  boy, and girl must come to Jesus, just like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
• 0:20
  Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
• 0:26
  Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
• 0:30
  or on our website at watwm.org,
• 0:34
  We invite you to sit down with us as we open the scriptures to learn more about
• 0:39
  who God is and to strengthen your daily walk.
• 1:03
  Prayer is our means of communication with God. The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing.
• 1:09
  Join us in this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries as Kim teaches on
• 1:13
  prayer and benefits of prayer.
• 1:15
  Hello, and thank you for joining us for this broadcast of Woman at the Well
• 1:18
  Ministries. And what we're going to focus on with this message is that prayer
• 1:24
  is our way of communicating with God.
• 1:28
  It is also one of God's ways of communicating with us.
• 1:34
  And when we choose not to pray, we're choosing not to speak to Jesus,
• 1:40
  not to have a personal conversation with God, and not to spend time
• 1:46
  talking and communicating and fellowshipping with the God of the universe, which has given us,
• 1:53
  a personal invitation.
• 1:55
  Many places throughout the scriptures, he invites us to come to him.
• 1:59
  But no greater place than he does in Hebrews 4, 14 through 16,
• 2:03
  when he says, Come boldly to the throne of God.
• 2:07
  In Philippians chapter 4, verses 6 and 7, he says, Be careful for nothing,
• 2:13
  but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
• 2:18
  let your requests be made known unto God.
• 2:21
  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts
• 2:25
  and minds through Christ Jesus.
• 2:27
  So in this passage of scripture, what he says is, don't worry about anything,
• 2:32
  but pray about everything.
• 2:35
  And then he says, when you do that, you'll have the peace of God.
• 2:40
  Which is absolutely beyond comprehension.
• 2:43
  And it will keep your minds, your hearts through Christ Jesus.
• 2:48
  We can stay centered and focused on jesus if we just continue to speak to him,
• 2:56
  if we allow him to have a absolute complete full presence in our life.
• 3:03
  We also see through these verses that when we speak to God with the right attitude,
• 3:09
  thankful for the fact that he's hearing us,
• 3:12
  thankful for the fact that he is capable of answering us, thankful for the fact
• 3:17
  that he knows the plans for us and that he wants us to have that expected end to be prosperous.
• 3:23
  He wants to bless us.
• 3:26
  Knowing those things, we also see in just a few short verses is over in 13 of
• 3:32
  the fourth chapter of Philippians that he says, I can do all things through
• 3:36
  Christ which strengthens me.
• 3:38
  The way Christ is enabled to strengthen you is that you speak to him,
• 3:45
  you talk to him, you place your faith in him, you come to him.
• 3:50
  And the Bible tells us in first Peter chapter five, that we are to cast all
• 3:54
  our care upon him because he cares for us.
• 3:57
  He also tells us that come unto
• 4:00
  me all you that are labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest,
• 4:06
  he wants to spend time with you he wants to be with you he wants to have fellowship
• 4:12
  and communication with you in revelations chapter 3 and verse 20 he says i and
• 4:16
  me and you and me and he says that i will sup with you and you can sup with me,
• 4:21
  in other words he wants to hang with you. He wants to fellowship with you.
• 4:25
  He wants to spend time with you. And the way we spend time with Jesus is that we pray.
• 4:32
  We read his word. We study.
• 4:34
  We acknowledge his presence.
• 4:37
  The problem with us is we go about in our daily lives. We don't acknowledge
• 4:41
  his presence. We don't acknowledge his deity.
• 4:44
  We don't acknowledge his absolute power.
• 4:49
  We go about doing what we want to do. We make our own plans.
• 4:52
  We don't even consult his word most of the time to see if our plans are anywhere
• 4:56
  close to what his commandments and his rules would be or what he would want for us.
• 5:02
  And we certainly don't go to him in prayer and say to him, Should I buy this
• 5:06
  house or should I buy that house?
• 5:08
  Should I change jobs or should I not? Most of the time, we just do it our own
• 5:12
  way. And then when we get ourselves in a jam, then we try to go to him and ask him to help us.
• 5:18
  You see, but the Bible says...
• 5:21
  In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 17, pray without ceasing.
• 5:31
  Now, do I think that means that we should go around with our heads bowed on
• 5:34
  our knees, you know, constantly 24 hours a day, seven days a week?
• 5:38
  No, because he also told us that we are to go ye into all the world and preach
• 5:41
  and teach the gospel to every creature.
• 5:44
  He also told us that we are the light of the world. He said we're to be the salt of the earth.
• 5:48
  There's no way that we could do that if we were always in that position of prayer.
• 5:53
  But you see, prayer doesn't require position.
• 5:56
  Prayer is a condition of the heart.
• 5:59
  And God only blesses a vessel that is in right fellowship with him.
• 6:04
  He's not going to answer the prayers of someone that is not his child.
• 6:09
  He still may send blessings their way. Obviously, he does. If the sun comes
• 6:13
  up in their life and they're still breathing, that's a blessing.
• 6:16
  But Jesus Christ is only obligated to hear one prayer from a sinner and that
• 6:22
  prayer is the prayer of repentance but his children are commanded to pray without
• 6:27
  ceasing which means that we,
• 6:30
  are to be in a constant attitude of prayer meaning that our thoughts should
• 6:36
  be centered on God our focus should be centered on godly things,
• 6:41
  the things that we do in this world should be run through the scriptures.
• 6:46
  They should be in congruency with his laws and his commandments.
• 6:51
  We should be talking to Jesus about what he thinks about our lives,
• 6:55
  and then we should heed because obedience is better than sacrifice.
• 6:59
  But instead, we tend to tell Jesus what we're going to do. And our prayers sometimes
• 7:03
  sound like a laundry list of what he can do for us or a christmas list of what
• 7:08
  we would give to someone else for christmas to get us,
• 7:13
  but the bible says that we need to pray without ceasing,
• 7:17
  and to do that we need to get ourselves in right fellowship with christ.
• 7:21
  We need to see him for who he is. We need to lift him up in our lives and turn our hearts towards him.
• 7:31
  We need to realize that the small things matter to God.
• 7:36
  And if you don't think that's true, just stop for a second and think about the
• 7:39
  human body and the absolute many, many, many miles of capillaries you have in your body.
• 7:47
  Little, tiny, minute things. or think about atoms so small that we can't even
• 7:54
  see them yet he knows exactly how many they are.
• 7:59
  Think about the sand grains and how small they are and how innumerable they
• 8:07
  are to us and how we can't even comprehend knowing the number they are,
• 8:11
  yet he knows every single grain.
• 8:14
  And he's in the big things.
• 8:17
  How big is the sun? The S-U-N. Truly nothing in comparison to the sun S-O-N. But it's huge among us.
• 8:26
  And there are planets. And I still struggle with the whole concept of ocean
• 8:31
  liners being able to float on the big ocean.
• 8:36
  And I jump in there and I sink. And trust me, I'm not quite as big as the ocean liner.
• 8:42
  And I understand that it's displacement. And I understand it's all about buoyancy
• 8:46
  and all about how that works.
• 8:49
  As a scientist, I even understand that. But can you imagine a god who developed that and makes it work?
• 8:58
  And big old airplanes.
• 9:00
  Weighing tons, flying across the sky. I couldn't fly no matter what.
• 9:05
  No matter how hard I flap my wings, I can't get my feet off the ground.
• 9:09
  He's in the big things, and he's in the little things. See, the truth of the
• 9:14
  matter is, he's in all things.
• 9:16
  He said that all things were created by him and for him, and that all things are under his feet.
• 9:23
  Now, doesn't that put a new perspective on things for you all things are under
• 9:28
  his feet that problem you have it's under his feet that talent you have under his feet,
• 9:36
  that worry you have under his feet.
• 9:39
  You see, and if we're in an attitude of prayer, we know this.
• 9:43
  Because our heart is conditioned to have faith in Jesus Christ.
• 9:48
  And our heart is conditioned to believe that all things work together for the
• 9:51
  good to them that love the Lord. And that are called according to his purpose.
• 9:55
  As believers in Christ, we need to condition our heart. And our heart is conditioned
• 9:59
  by the Holy Spirit to do so.
• 10:01
  But we allow our mind to do all kinds of crazy things.
• 10:04
  And we start thinking instead of praying.
• 10:07
  But nearly every one of you, when you have a crisis in your life,
• 10:11
  an unexpected illness, a hospitalization
• 10:14
  of a loved one, you'll figure out how to pray in a hurry then.
• 10:18
  But it shouldn't take those things to get us on our knees.
• 10:23
  He said pray without ceasing. So that means when you're having a good day, you should be praying.
• 10:29
  When you have a blessing come your way, you should be praying.
• 10:32
  When you have an opportunity, you should be praying, especially asking him, do I take this open door?
• 10:39
  Or Lord, do you need to close this door and open another one? Lord, direct my paths.
• 10:44
  He said that he would give you the desires of your heart.
• 10:47
  And he would direct your paths if you trust in him.
• 10:51
  See, praying without ceasing is a way of life.
• 10:56
  It's a person who is committed to being committed to Christ.
• 11:02
  It's a person who has purposed in their heart to follow Jesus.
• 11:07
  The beautiful song of the hymn writer, I have decided to follow Jesus.
• 11:12
  No turning back, no turning back.
• 11:15
  Though no one follow, I will follow.
• 11:19
  I have decided to follow Jesus. That is a heart that prays without ceasing.
• 11:25
  The heart that wants God's direction for all things.
• 11:30
  A heart that knows him so well that they're not afraid to spend time with him,
• 11:36
  because they're not worried about him convicting them because their relationship is solid and secure.
• 11:43
  1 Thessalonians 5.17 says, Pray without ceasing.
• 11:48
  And my friend, it shows in Philippians 4.13 that we can do all things through
• 11:52
  Christ which strengthens us and he will strengthen you as you spend time with him.
• 12:00
  Thank you for joining us for today's podcast. You can find quotes and scripture
• 12:04
  references from this episode in the show notes.
• 12:07
  We pray today's message has been a blessing. If it has, please consider leaving
• 12:12
  a rating or review on your podcast platform.
• 12:16
  Your feedback helps others discover the truth of God's Word.
• 12:20
  You can connect with Women at the Well Ministries through our app at watwm.org
• 12:26
  and on Facebook and Instagram.
• 12:28
  While you're there, learn more about Bible Bits, Kim's daily devotional delivered
• 12:32
  Monday through Friday by text message, and the Bible Bit Podcast.
• 12:37
  Thank you for your prayers and support. Remember, Jesus loves you.