How to Practice Unceasing Prayer

“When you become aware of the Holy Spirit’s constant nearness, every room is a prayer room.”

Jesus lived undistracted, unmoved, unblemished by the world around Him.

He lived with His attention on the things of the Spirit. In perfect oneness with the Father and Spirit is how Jesus lived. Oneness is manifested through obedience to and awareness of God. And great things result—healing, words of knowledge, miracles, and so much more.

So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does” (John 5:19).

Jesus didn’t do a thing unless it was in step with the Father. He flowed with the Holy Spirit during every second of His time on earth. He walked dead center in the will of God, perfectly timed down to every millisecond. He flowed so perfectly with the Father and the Spirit that He could point to Himself as the perfect image of the Father.

Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me” (John 14:9-10).

Just as you cannot outpace your reflection in the mirror, so the Father could not act without Jesus perfectly reflecting His every move. That is what I desire more than anything. I desire to be so in step with the Holy Spirit that I am flowing with Him from moment to moment. That moment-to-moment flow is found through unceasing prayer.

Unceasing Prayer

The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing:

Never stop praying (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

The Bible also tells us to pray about everything:

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done (Philippians 4:6).

The practice of unceasing prayer is simple. Pray about everything, and pray all the time.

Unceasing prayer is constant awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence. So how does one live with such an awareness? It’s quite simple. Make a commitment to think about God—His nature, His power, His love, His nearness—as often as is possible. Fill your mind’s voids with God-centered thoughts. Upgrade your fixation on the temporary with meditation on God’s Word. Choose to replace the frivolous and the boring with the divine and the supernatural.

No matter your current situation, and even if you’ve attempted to do so before, you might be surprised to learn that your thoughts can be controlled. God has given you the ability to make the switch. Over time, you can reform the patterns of your thought process. In some sense, thoughts are the actions of the mind. And given enough practice, your mind’s bad habits can become fruitful, godly disciplines. In fact, the success of your prayer life is quite dependent upon the surrendering of your mind to the Holy Spirit.

In choosing to think about God and His Word, you are obeying the Scripture:

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8).

That biblical command, of course, assumes that thoughts can be controlled. Certainly, God would never command you to do something you were incapable of doing. That God commands us to choose our thoughts is itself the proof that such a thing is possible.

Think about God as many times as possible in any given day. The thought can be as simple as, “Holy Spirit, you are with me in the room right now.” The thought can even be as down-to-earth as, “Father, what a beautiful work you’ve formed in the sky today.” To some, this may seem a bit cliché or even dramatic. But that’s just because the nearness of God hasn’t quite become a reality to them yet. I am actually impressed by much of what I see in God’s creation, and I am a friend of God. So why wouldn’t I involve Him in my thoughts enough to pay Him praise for what His hands have formed? Notice His creation, and praise Him. Enjoy a meal, and thank Him. Spend time with a loved one, and see them how God sees them. Work hard, and ask Him for strength. Study diligently, and rely upon His wisdom. He can be involved in anything.

I am always looking to involve the Lord in my thoughts: “Lord, I’m a bit nervous to be on this turbulent plane. God, I need your help with finishing this book. Holy Spirit, you’ve blessed me with such a nice place to live. Lord, get me out of this temptation.” There are times when I will watch my wife play with my daughter and I say within my heart, “Lord, they are wonderful gifts I do not deserve. Thank you. Really, thank you.” In thinking about the Lord in even the seemingly mundane moments of life, I become aware of His abiding presence.

Only in everyday life does prayer become sincerely spontaneous. Unceasing prayer is real, spontaneous, and unrehearsed.

Do you want to pray more? Do you struggle to include prayer in your busy schedule? That is the advantage of unceasing prayer. Unceasing prayer can be practiced anytime and anywhere. Unceasing prayer is the key to praying more. It makes prayer natural, doable.

This constant state of prayer is realized in moment-by-moment awareness of the Holy Spirit. Eventually, your practice of considering the Lord on a daily basis will become a habit of involving Him on an hourly basis. Then by the minute. Then by the moment. The more often you think of Him, the more often you involve Him. And when you involve Him, you’re praying naturally, without having to fight or force it. And that is true prayer without ceasing.

Awareness

Once you begin to practice unceasing prayer, you become more sensitive to the Lord’s presence. You become aware of this very real, very dynamic Person, the Holy Spirit. When you pray, God does not come nearer. Remember, He already dwells within you. Rather, when you live out unceasing prayer, you become more aware of Him. Prayer doesn’t bring God closer; it makes you more aware of His nearness. The awareness of God’s presence is the experience of God’s presence. That awareness changes the way you live. Awareness of His presence causes you to carefully consider your actions, thoughts, and mentalities.

For example, over time, my driving habits changed to better suit the different phases of my life. When I was single, I admit, my driving wasn’t exactly by the book. Perhaps I had more fun driving than was allowed by law. When I married my Jessica, I drove with her comfort in mind. Especially when applying makeup, my wife prefers a smooth and leisurely ride. But my strictest driving style was adopted the day I drove my newborn daughter home from the hospital. To this day, I drive like a father and a husband, not like a single young man. My awareness of their presence changed the way I drive.

When you become aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life, it changes the way you live.

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Most believers have heard that their body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. They have heard that the presence of the Holy Spirit goes with them wherever they go. However, knowing a truth and fully appreciating a truth are two very different things.

Simple truth: the presence of the Holy Spirit is constantly with you. Have you ever considered the implications of that truth? Ask yourself some important questions. What does the Holy Spirit see you doing on a daily basis? Does He stand by as you ignore Him? Do you ever pause to acknowledge Him? Are you watching things that remind Him of things that break His heart? Are you listening to things that are contrary to what He is trying to speak to you? Are you taking Him places that He doesn’t want to be? Does the Holy Spirit feel at home in you?

And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).

Unceasing prayer raises your spiritual level of awareness. You become sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s likes and dislikes. Daily, you walk with a profound reverence for the Holy Spirit. Because He is foremost on your mind, you become intentional in avoiding anything that might grieve His vulnerable heart. I don’t mean that you will live in the state of paranoia, nor should you view God as a dictator in the sky. I simply mean that awareness of the Holy Spirit, whom you love, will change the way you do things.

The Joy of the Spirit

Not only will unceasing prayer cause you to avoid the darkness, unceasing prayer will also cause you to walk in the light.

You’ll learn to do those things that please the Lord. Being ever-attentive to His gentle voice, you will miss fewer and fewer of His loving corrections.

The result of this is joy. When you do that which pleases the Holy Spirit, you can sometimes sense His elation. There are times when, because of an act of obedience, bursts of the Holy Spirit’s joy will pulse through my being. It’s true.

Carefully determine what pleases the Lord (Ephesians 5:10).

If the Holy Spirit is invested enough in you to be displeased by you when you fail, then the Holy Spirit is invested enough in you to be pleased by you when you obey. It would be inconsistent to believe that I can grieve the Holy Spirit and then doubt that I can also make Him happy. Many have been taught only about what to avoid. We know that sin grieves the Holy Spirit. We know that disobedience breaks His heart. But what makes Him glad? I’ll tell you.

When He sees you put down your phone and turn your attention toward Him, He is filled with joy. When you set aside time to pray to Him, to worship Him, to hear from Him—it makes Him glad. When He watches you weigh your options and then choose Him, He rejoices. When you prove to Him that He is a priority in your life, His joy overflows to you. Just as we sense joy when we are loved, cherished, and prioritized, so does the Holy Spirit. Living in an awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence, you pray without ceasing, and in praying without ceasing, you live in the joy of the Holy Spirit.

And it truly is a joy to live in such a way. Unceasing prayer isn’t an obligation; it’s an opportunity. When you realize that He loves your presence more than you love His presence, you become captivated by the joy of unceasing prayer. You’ll pray constantly. Love for Him, not fear of Him, will be the pure and powerful motivation behind your lifestyle of unceasing prayer. He will capture your heart with His beautiful nature. That is the power of committing to an awareness of God—to having Him dominate your thoughts through the practice of unceasing prayer.

The Spiritually Alert

Furthermore, unceasing prayer will cause you to become spiritually alert, ready, and prepared to hear and obey the voice of the Holy Spirit. When you live in the flow of unceasing prayer, you are ready to minister God’s love.

I once asked a powerful man of God, “How do you prepare a sermon?” He looked at me and, without pause, instructed, “You don’t prepare the sermon; you prepare the man. If I live in the Word and prayer, I’m always ready to go. When you live in preparation, you’re always ready to minister.” That’s a benefit of unceasing prayer that the prayer-less cannot know.

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere (Ephesians 6:18).

The prayer-less become rusty, spiritually dull. They are not alert. They take forever to jump into the flow of the spirit. It’s difficult for them to pivot from their many distractions and into the flow of the anointing. They miss divine opportunities to touch people with God’s power. They are too hurried to notice God in the details; they move too fast to hear God’s quick instructions. Rarely do they ever pause.

But those who practice unceasing prayer don’t have to “switch.” They simply live in a readied spiritual stance.