Romans: Praying Without Ceasing

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.  For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.  For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established - that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.  Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruits among you also, just as among the other Gentiles.  I am a debtor both to Greeks and barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.  So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. (Romans 1: 8-15)

Seeing as Rome was the most important city in the Roman Empire, I imagine the news of what happened in that city tended to permeate throughout the known world.  Paul has heard about the faith of the Roman saints and he appropriately starts off the letter by thanking God for them. 

Paul without ceasing made mention of the Roman saints in his prayers.  The verses in the Bible (mostly from Paul’s writings) that say pray without ceasing or pray always I find very challenging.  What does that exactly mean anyway?  Should we be talking to God every moment of every day?  Is it possible for Paul to pray for the Roman saints while simultaneously preaching, or while talking to people, or while making tents? 

We are finishing up Ephesians in my Home Group bible study.  After discussing the armor of God to be used for spiritual warfare, we ended with Ephesians 6:18 which reads:

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints…

As we discussed it, we tended to try to soften that verse.  I mean surely he doesn’t really mean praying always.  Right?  Umm, right?  One of our guys made an argument along the lines of: “Well, then how would we do anything else!”  In the following week or two, I thought of this verse from time to time.  I had days when I prayed a lot (but not always) and felt more in the Spirit.  Then, I had days where I felt selfish, empty, and then realized that I had gone through the entire day without really talking to God.  Praying and having a relationship with God is what keeps me on track.  I know this might be a reach but I have begun to think that praying always might just mean…umm…praying always.   I think the reason many of us balk at this is because of our definition of prayer.  We think of prayer as sitting in silence, closing our eyes, and then saying (or thinking) holy sounding things.  How will we get anything done?  I think the key words in the Ephesians 6:18 is in the Spirit.  You can be doing other things in the flesh while praying in the Spirit.  Somehow not all prayer involves human words but comes from the invisible, eternal realm.  To more mature Christians than myself, am I on the right track?  What do you think praying without ceasing means?

In his prayers, Paul makes requests of God to visit Rome.  He wants to give spiritual gifts and encouragement to the church and likewise be encouraged.  He has wanted to visit for a long time but it hasn’t worked out yet.  Paul sees himself as a debtor to both Greeks and the barbarians (who were perceived to be uncivilized because they were not trained in Greek language and culture).  The Lord called Paul a chosen vessel (Acts 9:15) to minister to Gentiles.  Paul feels indebted to them to do so, regardless of their societal position.  He is ready to preach the gospel in Rome.

The introduction of his letter is over.  Now let the teaching begin.