Don’t Stop Praying

This week our theme at Skinner Academy is “Call Me!”  We’ve had lessons about how to use the phone, reviewing our phone number, and talking a lot about prayer.  It’s been super fun and super challenging!  Our memory verse is short and to the point:

Pray without stopping!  Don’t stop!  Never stop!  Pray all day!  Based on that verse, here are some places the boys and I decided we could and should pray:

• When we wake up in the morning
• Before meals
• After meals
• During meals
• In the van
• At the store
• At a restaurant
• When we have a bad dream
• When we can’t sleep
• At the library
• In the bathroom
• Making breakfast/lunch/supper
• Doing laundry
• Before a long trip
• In a boat
• While swimming
• In school
• Sweeping the floor
• At church
• Before we fall asleep at night

We found that the list can get most interesting (and sometimes kindof yucky … like when we’re throwing up)!  But it’s true.  God wants to hear from us at all times in all places.  If you’re like us, we pray before meals, during our quiet time with God, at church, and when we want something or are in trouble.  Sadly, most of our praying is self-centered and locked into habitual times, not nearly qualifying as praying without stopping.

God knows that we have a hard time focusing on Him; we need to talk to Him all the time so we keep our vision clear and our relationship with Him strong.  We can access Facebook and other social networks 24/7 and most of us have a phone with us at all times.  I wonder.  Does that steal from our intimacy with God?   I know it steals from some of the closeness of some marriages, so it must hurt God as well.

Also, we must not give up praying long-term for prayer requests.  After the diagnosis, accident, request, appointment, lay-off or deployment we must remember to continue to pray!

Challenge:  Take one day and try to put this verse into practice.  Pray all the time, everywhere, without stopping.  I’ve never done this before to this extent, but I am going to try to do it today.  I’m going to pray for you right now, dear reader.  I hope you have a great praying-through-the-day day!  🙂


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