Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 272

September 30;      Romans 1:9;       118/260(III);        ‘Always Time to Pray’

Romans 1:9 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,

The Apostle Paul, about as busy as any man could be in the work of the Lord, tells the church in Rome how he prays for them without ceasing. In 2 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul teaches us to pray without ceasing. How could he do that? I Corinthians 14:18 gives us a vital clue. Paul tells us that he prays in tongues more than anyone. As Paul traveled either by foot or on a horse or donkey, he had plenty of time to pray for the church in Rome and all of the other churches as well. What this means is that Paul was constantly ‘ministering’ either by teaching the Word or by praying. In 2 Corinthians11, as Paul lists all of the things he has suffered continuing the ministry of Jesus, the last thing he mentions in v28 is his deep concern for the churches. No one can prevent you from praying for praying for someone or something. There is no distance in the Spirit, so you can pray wherever you are, for something close by or far away. The key really is how important prayer is to you and if you really believe in the power of prayer. Prayer changes circumstances. Prayer brings the Lord on the scene. There were churches started by Paul that he prayed for. There were churches like the one in Rome, that Paul did not start and had never visited that he prayed for. The key to this is how valuable do you believe prayer is. Paul had to believe it was incredibly important. The more you pray the more you enjoy praying. Prayer is so vital. Prayer changes things and you.