"I love the sense of satisfaction that I get when I’ve done a swimming workout or race, and know that I gave my whole being and heart to God in every moment of the swim. It’s the best worship I can offer him."
Pray continually!
Pray continually! Thessalonians 5:17Just two words again this week, but it will take you a life-time to get it right! Paul is not asking you to give up normal life and live in a monastery. He is asking you to live normal life but to do so in an attitude of prayer.
Our relationship with God is not based on an hour on Sunday morning but a 24/7 relationship, of which many would see that hour on Sunday morning as the culmination of the week. Brother Lawrence in the 17th century wrote a book The practice of the presence of God in which he referred to the need: “to form a habit of conversing with God continually, and referring all we do to Him”. That is what Paul means. It is cultivating a habit of involving God in our daily life continually.
Vaughan Roberts suggests that saying that one is going to church to worship is about as silly as saying, that one is off to bed to breathe for a while. Paul would say that same about prayer. Of course, it is good to pray in church and essential to set aside a time each day for prayer but on top of that it is good to have the habit of praying all the time everywhere.
A pro golfer told me he used some of the time walking between shots to pray, an athlete talked to me about repeating Bible verses on the blocks as a reminder that God was there. Think how you can make prayer more part of your daily life.