Hi, I’m John Bevere, co-founder of Messenger International ad I want to welcome you to God Today. I want to give you a little nugget I think will really help you. Paul the apostle makes the statement in 1 Thessalonians 5. It is only one short sentence I am going to read to you. “Never stop praying.” Other translations say, “Pray without ceasing”, how can you do that? Let me give you a little example of what happened in my life.
In 1982, I read a book about prayer. It really impacted me and I made a commitment I was going to get up everyday at 4:45 in the morning. So I did. I would pray everyday and pray from 5:00am, because I would go out to a remote place. I knew if I went to the living room and prayed on the couch, or sat down, I would fall back asleep. I would drink an entire glass of lemon water, which wakes you up so fast, then I would go out. And make sure you brush your teeth because that would wipe out your enamel.
Anyway, I would go out to pray and I would pray from 5:00-6:30 in the morning. It kept getting longer and longer. Eventually, it got to a place where I was praying 5:00-7:00 am every morning. You know, there is a pride factor that can come in. I started to get a little kind of proud of the fact that, “Man, I am getting up, I am praying 2 hours every morning before I get to work.”
One day, I remember saying, “Amen,” at 7:00am, and I am walking back to our apartment. Lisa and I were living in an apartment complex at that time. And I heard the Holy Spirit say this so clear. He said, “I would like the other 22 hours of the day.” That hit me like a ton of bricks. Then He gave me this example. “Suppose your wife, Lisa, were to say to you, ‘John, you get every afternoon between 3 and 5. That is your time. That is when we meet together.’” And He said, “Let’s say you’re at the office at 9:00 in the morning and you call your wife and say, ‘Babe, I got to tell you something!’ And she goes, ‘Oh, John, it is 9am. Our time doesn’t begin for another 6 hours. We will see you at 3:00pm.’ Then you call her at noon and you say, ‘Hey babe, something has come up. I gotta talk to you about it!’ And she goes, ‘John, John, it is still 3 hours before our meeting! Just wait, we are meeting at 3:00pm.’ So, then finally, you come in at 3:00pm and you got these two really important matters to talk to her about. She starts talking non stop and she goes, ‘Blah, bah, blah, blah.’ And you go, ‘Wait, uh, Wait, uh.’ And then at 5:00pm she goes, ‘Well, it’s been great talking to you, see you tomorrow at 3:00pm. And she leaves the room.’” He says, “How would you like that?” I said, “I’d hate it.” He said, “What kind of relationship is that?” I said, “That is no relationship.” He said, “You come out, every morning at 5:00am and you talk non stop to me for two hours.” He said, “Then you say, ‘Amen’ at 7:00 and you go about your business for the next 22 hours and you totally leave me out.” He said, “Son, I want a relationship with you.”
That totally transformed my life. I realized it is very, very important to realize that He is with you constantly. You know, I would imagine if some girl is in the backseat of a car with her boyfriend and her Dad sitting in the front seat, her awareness of her Dad sitting in the front seat – she is not even going to kiss him. They might hold hands, but she is not even going to kiss him. Why? Because Dad is right there. Okay. When we go through our day, the person who really, really has a relationship with God realizes, “Everything I do – He is right there.” It is going to affect the way you talk to your employees, your children, your wife, your husband. Let me tell you something. Pray without ceasing. Bring God into your daily life and watch your life change.