Praying Unceasingly

Romans 1:9

Today we will continue on in our study of Romans. We have now reached verse nine which says, “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.” Let’s pick apart this verse and gather some truths.

Paul tells the Romans that he prays unceasingly for them. We know he is not making this up because of the beginning of the verse. God is his witness. God knows that Paul prays for the Romans all the time. This type of dedication to prayer is one we all ought to try and replicate! Paul is also the one who told the Thessalonians to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and we can see here that he practices what he preaches.

Prayer is heavily undervalued in the Christian walk. Often times I think that we also believe that praying unceasingly is not possible, but these verses show that it is possible. Obviously we cannot close our eyes, fold our hands, and pray non-stop, but we can be in constant communion with Him. Some of us have likely experienced a day or perhaps half a day where we are talking to God without ceasing. Those are incredible experiences! However, we always seem to get distracted by something or someone. Perhaps it is giving into an old sinful habit, or things get busier at work, or your kid gets sick. Life always seems to make it impossible to pray without ceasing.

As I stated above, the wonderful thing about this verse is that it shows us that it is not impossible to pray without ceasing. It will be a slow, methodical journey to get to this point, and there will always be failure, but if we can say along with Paul that with God as our witness we pray without ceasing then we will be pleasing in His sight and will develop a deep, intimate relationship with Him that will be unmatched!

Unfortunately, I cannot say that I speak from experience. I have times where I will pray unceasingly for a long time, but I cannot say this is a regular occurrence. But I think we can all agree that nothing is better than walking alongside our Savior. Sharing burdens, seeking advice, conversing about different biblical topics, and listening to His advice. Nothing beats it. And when we remember Him and what He has done for us, that Jesus was willing to come down, and that the Holy Spirit makes this type of closeness possible, it just makes it that much sweeter.

Paul also states that he serves God with his spirit through Jesus Christ. He is referring to the spirit that we receive the day we get saved; the one that makes us want to do right. It is his new nature. This is not the Holy Spirit, but his own spirit. We see an example of this in Hebrews 8:10-11. The New Covenant shows us that God has written His law on our heart. Our desires change from having no problem with sin to hating it. We have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, but we also have a new spirit that now wants to do what is right.

Paul is not saying that he is righteous and therefore can pray without ceasing, but that the spirit that he now has, that he obtained through Jesus, makes it possible. He can serve Him because when he got saved he received a new nature. A nature that wants to do what is right. If he did not get saved he would not have any desire to pray without ceasing nor would he have any desire to serve God, nor would he care about the church of Rome the way that he does. It is only possible because of Jesus.

God is the only One who can produce good. We were lost without Him, unable to enjoy Him, and unable to serve Him. The day we got saved changed that, but we still must work to become holy and righteous. We are called to pray unceasingly. We are called to glorify His Name.

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