Phil 4:8, I John 5:14-15, I Thess. 5:17
God never intended us to walk about in an otherwise evil world without His presence there with us on a daily basis. Instead, He always wants to be in communication with us. I Thess. 5:17 reminds us we should pray without ceasing. How does that look in real life? Are we supposed to sit around at a church alter doing nothing but praying? No, God wants us to be His hands and feet to accomplish his tasks in the world.
Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ came up with a good description of what praying without ceasing looks like. He called it Spiritual Breathing. The concept has true merit because it keeps us in tune with God and sensitive to God’s desires at all times in or lives. It involves the concept of confession whenever we realize we have done something outside the will of God. We don’t wait until Sunday, or even until our evening prayers, In realization of something which would lead us away from the Holy spirit we immediately acknowledge the affront and discuss righting the relationship immediately. Have you ever hurt someone you cared about and immediately wanted to take it back. I was canoeing down the Guadalupe river with my wife (when we were still dating) and I overturned the canoe at a falls. In my efforts to right the canoe and get us back inside I also hit my wife in the head with a paddle. I wanted that one back. (It’s a wonder she married me after that one).
Many times in life we do something so foolish we wish we had it back. When we are constantly in a spirit of confession we are also constantly seeking to replace the derogatory things in our lives with the positives God wants us to emphasize (Phil. 4:8). We can be in constant communication with God such that we won’t go many minutes without discussing things with Him. I frequent catch myself saying: ’What do you think about this Lord?” If we approach God in that way, He will always want to be there for us. I John 5:14-15. Can we get there? Can we always be in an attitude of involving God in everything we do? If we do we can see our lives more in tune with what God is doing, and see our lives closer to the center of Gods will.
