Many churches we relate to began the New Year with a strong emphasis on prayer and seeking God. What a powerful way to start the year! Across various congregations, we see unique prayer strategies such as special meetings and organized fasting for designated days or weeks, all designed to draw us closer to the Lord. These cycles of dedicated prayer and spiritual focus are deeply rooted in both Scripture and church history.
Biblical Foundations of Prayer and Special Gatherings
Throughout the Old Testament, we find numerous special festivities that incorporate prayer, worship, and seeking God’s presence:
- The Day of Atonement – Leviticus 16: A solemn day of repentance and intercession.
- The Feast of Trumpets – Leviticus 23:23-25: A time of reflection, prayer, and seeking God’s favor.
- The Feast of Tabernacles – Leviticus 23:33-43: A joyous celebration of God’s provision, including prayers of thanksgiving and petitions for future blessings.
- The Passover – Exodus 12, 2 Chronicles 30: A commemoration of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, marked by prayers of remembrance and gratitude.
Beyond these festivals, Scripture records national calls to prayer and fasting:
- The National Fast Called by Joel – Joel 2:12-17: A summons to repentance through fasting, weeping, and prayer.
- The Solemn Assembly – Nehemiah 9: A day of fasting, reading the Law, confessing sins, and seeking national renewal.
After the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, we see the early church devoted to prayer, gathering in the temple and in homes to seek God continually.
It is not just how we begin but also how we continue that is essential to our lives.
As some special prayer events are winding down, prayer is still an essential call upon us. Some important ideas as we continue.
- Success in God is not just how we start something but how we stay the course and finish.
- The beginning of something in God matters, as does the journey and the conclusion.
- We must begin well but also remain steadfast and end well.
- The beginning sets the stage, but continuing affects the outcome.
We are instructed by God’s word that prayer is something we always do. It is never to stop.
- 1Th 5:16-18 Rejoice always; (17) pray without ceasing (NLT “never stop praying”); (18) in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Jesus was our example of this and instructed us that prayer was a continual and essential part of our lives.
- Luk 18:1 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,
- Luk 5:16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.
- Luk 11:1 It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”
We know that prayer is essentially our actual communication with God. Prayer is the soul’s lifeline to heaven—a divine highway where God speaks to us and we commune with Him, which enables us to live with Him. It is as vital to our spiritual health as breathing is to our physical bodies. Prayer is like spiritual breathing; we can’t live without it. Prayer is to be our constant, unbroken connection with God.
Cultivating an ongoing prayer life.
One of the most significant resources ever written on cultivating daily, ongoing awareness of God’s presence is a timeless classic titled “The Practice of the Presence of God,” written by Brother Lawrence in the 1600s. It shows us the importance of and how to have an unceasing prayer life while at the same time living our real, everyday lives.
Brother Lawrence: An Ordinary Man with an Extraordinary Pursuit
Brother Lawrence, born Nicholas Herman in Lorraine, France, lived from 1610 to 1691. Before entering a monastic life, he worked as a soldier and a footman. Dissatisfied with the ordinary and longing for deeper intimacy with God, he joined a Carmelite monastery as a lay brother—not a priest, just an ordinary man seeking an extraordinary closeness to God. This, in essence, is the call of every authentic Christian: “An ordinary man or woman desiring to walk closer with God.”
Although Brother Lawrence disliked kitchen work, he served as a cook for 15 years. Rather than viewing his tasks as mundane, he transformed them into acts of worship. He determined to do all things “to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31), cultivating an awareness of God’s presence even in the ordinary.
Prayer in Every Breath
The beauty of Brother Lawrence’s teaching lies in his practice of continuous prayer. His habit was not limited to specific prayer times but extended throughout his day. He described his moments of prayer as so constant that his set hours of prayer became a continuation of his everyday communion with God:
“Thus by rising after my falls, and by frequently renewed acts of faith and love, I am come to a state wherein it would be as difficult for me not to think of God as it was at first to accustom myself to it.”
One of the methods he used to sustain this practice was “breath prayers.” This ancient Christian practice, rooted in Eastern Christianity, helps believers move toward ceaseless prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17). A breath prayer is a short, simple phrase that aligns with the rhythm of your breathing—God’s name spoken on the inhale and a petition or praise on the exhale.
For example:
- Inhale: “Jesus, Son of God,”
- Exhale: “Have mercy on me.”
This type of continual prayer helps spark our ongoing relationship with God. Gregory of Sinai once said, “One’s love for God should go before breathing.” Over time, these brief prayers become the rhythm of the soul, fostering an awareness of God’s presence throughout the day.
Familiar Conversation with God
When Jesus taught prayer, He warned against praying eloquent prayers to impress people (Matthew 6:5) or using a bunch of “meaningless repetitions supposing one will be heard because of it” (Matthew 6:7). Brother Lawrence believed that prayer is simply a continual conversation with God. He encouraged believers to speak to God freely and with simplicity, recognizing His intimate presence:
“God requires no great matters of us; a little remembrance of Him from time to time, a little adoration… sometimes to pray for His grace, sometimes to offer Him your sufferings, and sometimes to thank Him for His favors… You can make an oratory of your heart, wherein to retire from time to time and converse with Him in meekness, humility, and love.”
This is not about striving for emotional feelings of God’s presence but cultivating a focus on Him. The awareness of His presence often follows. Lawrence wrote:
“We should establish ourselves in a sense of God’s presence by continually conversing with Him… In order to form this habit, we must at first apply ourselves with diligence. But after a little care, we will find His love inwardly excite us without difficulty.”
Rooted in Prayer, Fruitful in Life
One of the keys to a fruitful life is rooting ourselves deeply in God’s presence through prayer:
- Isaiah 37:31 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
- John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
Brother Lawrence exemplified this rooted life, showing that ordinary work done with an extraordinary focus on God transforms the mundane into holy ground.
A Treasure Worth Reading
“The Practice of the Presence of God” is a short but profoundly impactful book—a must-read for anyone desiring to cultivate a deeper awareness of God. It can even be accessed/downloaded for free online by clicking here. https://ccel.org/ccel/l/lawrence/practice/cache/practice.pdf
This classic work of Brother Lawrence teaches us that prayer is not just an activity; it’s a way of life—a continual communion with God that transforms our hearts and aligns us with His purposes. Let us take the challenge to live in His presence and make our hearts an altar of ongoing worship and conversation with Him.