In the Crowded Mind

Learning to Pray Without Ceasing

By Cameron Lawrence

The buzzing train station shook our bodies free of any grogginess left over from the peaceful, sleepy ride into Paris. We stood with our backs to a wide pillar, holding out a tourist map, as hundreds of passengers poured from the gaping mouths of train cars. People and people—throngs of them going who-knows-where, spilling around us like salmon dodging a boulder midstream.

That’s what a Paris metro stop looks like in the morning. But it’s also a picture of my thought life at any given moment. Can you relate? I imagine that my mind is a train station, and I am standing on its cool, tiled floor. Instead of people, a torrent of thoughts bombards me. Some look familiar and pleasant. Others, just as recognizable, are strange and disturbing—they’ve haunted me for years. Some continue on their way, while others linger in distant shadows or stand close with stinking breath, like street salesmen hawking wares.

Where is Christ in all this? It’s difficult to hear Him above the din of so many questions, memories, and emotions. I seek His face in the crowd but it eludes me. All these thoughts, voluntary and involuntary, make it difficult to do the one thing I need to do most—to pray, as the apostle Paul said, without ceasing.

About now you’re probably hearing the small voice of doubt nattering in your brain. Pray without ceasing? it asks. That’s impossible—how boring, tiresome, unnecessary. I’d rather bang my head against the wall. The voice will go on to suggest that Paul must have been exaggerating to make a point. One can’t be expected to pray all of the time, surely. It might even say you’re justified in scoffing at the idea. But don’t believe a syllable.

The apostle gave us these words not only as exhortation, but as a pastoral command. “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus,” he wrote to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 5:16-18). And to the Ephesians, “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:18). As people who hold to Scripture’s teaching, we have to believe that Paul thought ceaseless prayer was both possible and necessary.

What Is Prayer?

In the fourth century, theologian and celebrated preacher John Chrysostom said, “Prayer is the light of the soul, giving us true knowledge of God.” The kind of knowledge he spoke of was not the sort learned in books, but that borne of a true encounter with the living Christ.

Fundamentally, prayer is communion with God. Yes, we come to Him with our needs and wants, as Scripture encourages. Yes, prayer involves conversation with the Lord, speaking and listening. But neither our conversing nor our petitions are really what prayer is all about—they are the means, not the end. Rather, what we’re after is an ever-deepening oneness with the Savior that each of these parts facilitates. What we long for is God Himself.

“You should not think of prayer as being a matter of words,” Chrysostom said. “Anyone who receives from the Lord the gift of this type of prayer possesses a richness that is not to be taken from Him, a heavenly food filling up the soul.”

Our fellowship with the Lord transcends language. We don’t always need to speak in order to experience Him. And in one sense, we don’t always need to be listening, or straining to hear instructions, in our private devotions. Rather, believers should strive for watchfulness at all times—looking out for anything internal or external that steals our attention from His constant, healing, life-giving presence within us. Nothing stands in the way of our turning to Him but ourselves. And the biggest hindrance is our thought life.

The Assault of the Mind

Have you ever tried to quiet your thoughts to focus on God? Leave aside the idea of ceaseless prayer for a moment. If we honestly assess the state of our minds as we approach the Lord in prayer, every kind of thought, from good to wicked, bombards us. With our mouths, we speak. But another dialog incessantly eddies within, distracting us from truly engaging the Lord. It seems impossible to overcome.

Eastern Chrisitan tradition has a name for this flood of thoughts that often overwhelm efforts to commune with God—the Greek logismoi, meaning many thoughts, or logismos for one. But they don’t stem from where you might assume.

Author Frederica Matthewes-Green, a proponent of historical Christian worship, explains that what we consider “the mind” today is not the same as what the Bible means by that word: “Confusingly enough, the authors of Scripture, and Jesus Himself, presume that thoughts arise instead in the heart. As Jesus said, ‘For out of the heart come evil thoughts’ (Mt. 15:19) . . . When you see the word ‘mind’ in Scripture, the Greek word that lies behind it is usually nous, and it doesn’t equal our concept of ‘mind’ today.”

“The nous,” she says, “is primarily a little receiver,” like a “little radio” given by God to perceive His presence and hear His voice, but in its fallen state, it needs repairing. “[The nous] doesn’t perceive things clearly, due to the damage caused by the fog of sin that affects us all. Healing [it] involves getting rid of the erroneous thoughts and emotions that cloud our minds. We need to have a clear-eyed view of reality, if we want to encounter God. Reality is God’s home address.”

Our thoughts don’t often present an accurate picture of the world, our loved ones, neighbors, or circumstances. The mind needs healing, and only the presence of God can restore its proper function. But how do we overcome distractions and truly commune with Him?

Learning to Pray

There’s no formula for overcoming our mind’s difficulty at achieving a life of ceaseless prayer. But there’s a proven method, centuries old, to help us find the way, slowly through perseverance—regardless of what we’re doing or who’s around.

For hundreds of years, Christians have quietly repeated fragments of Scripture or short prayers throughout the day to remain present to God. As the Russian Christian writer Anthony Bloom put it, “God is never absent . . . We complain that He does not make Himself present to us for the few minutes we reserve for Him, but what about the twenty-three-and-a-half hours during which God may be knocking at our door and we answer ‘I am busy, I am sorry’ or when we do not answer at all because we do not hear the knock . . . we are a great deal more absent than He ever is.” Having a simple refrain to call upon during the day helps us maintain connection to Christ and tunes the heart to hear him knocking at its door.

It also helps dislodge unwanted thoughts. Rather than engaging a logismos head on, we let it pass like a bird flying by a window, and then turn attention back to God through our prayerful refrain.

But what about the scripture that says, “When you pray, do not use vain repe-titions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matt. 6:7 NKJV)? Not all repetition is “vain” or “meaningless,” as the nasb reads. A well-chosen verse or prayer is anything but. Reciting them with devotion and attention to God yields a habit of the heart that brings us closer to the Savior, and further into His likeness.

Choosing a Prayer

Prayer may not be solely a matter of words, as John Chrysostom said. But language helps our hearts arrive where they need to be. Here are a few of the most typically chosen passages:

The Lord’s Prayer: Memorize the prayer lesson Jesus gave His disciples, which Christians have recited ever since (Matthew 6:9-14). If you find it hard to repeat through the day, let certain daily events serve as reminders to stop and commune with the Father.

The Publican’s Prayer: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” In Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, the first man thanks God that he is not as sinful as others, while the second honestly assesses his sinfulness. Jesus said, “I tell you, [the tax collector] went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:9-14 NKJV).

Note two things about this prayer. Though the word “mercy” often evokes the idea of a pardon, here it refers to God’s “lovingkindness,” asking Him to pour His healing love upon us. Also, the word “sinner”shouldn’t make us feel bad. Rather, it is a statement of humility and neediness. As James 4:6 reminds us, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” You can also try an adapted version of the prayer, which is “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”

The Psalms: Praying spontaneously is a good practice, but many people find written prayers helpful when they don’t know what to say. Consider turning to what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “the Bible’s prayerbook”—the Psalms—and using 51:10, 70:1, or 139:23.

Keeping Perspective

There’s no magic in this method. Practicing the discipline of ceaseless prayer doesn’t replace the time you set aside to meditate upon Scripture and to fellowship with God. It’s an extension of that devotion—a way to carry it as you do the dishes, mow the lawn, serve at church, or work your job. Be careful not to slip into vain repetition; God wants us to mean what we say. Learning to call out to Him in this way won’t detract from your daily responsibilities. You’ll only discover the Lord to be the constant companion He already is.