Sounds impossible, right? Praying without ceasing? I’ll openly admit I am not always faithful in prayer. In fact, most of the time, I’d say I tend to neglect it. Why do we find it so hard to talk to the God who created us, loves us, and wants to desperately have a relationship with us?
One thing I have noticed about our hosts, Gregoire and Gisele, is how devoted to prayer they are. Every time they come to pick us up for ministry, they have one of us pray before leaving. And if they return to our apartment with us after ministry, they again have one of us pray to ask God to work in the hearts of the people we were with. We went on a prayer walk with them a few weeks ago, and their list of things to pray for was so intentional and thought out. When we have handed out tracts, they try to have some of us standing by the others handing out tracts praying for the people who take them.
I love how they don’t just do ministry to check a box on the Christian to-do list. Our hosts don’t just hand out tracts to people just to feel like they are good Christians. They don’t lead kids’ ministries in multiple communities in Abidjan and just hope people find their way to Jesus. Gregoire and Gisele make a point to pray for the people they encounter, and they love people so well through their prayers. They seem to really understand how powerful prayer is and how important it is to not just go do the thing but to ask God to move in order that the thing might truly be fruitful. Ministry doesn’t really do a whole lot if you go into it with a “let’s get this done” mentality and never invite God into it.
Corrie Ten Boom says it so well: “Don’t pray when you feel like it. Make an appointment with the Lord and keep it.” How often do I only pray when I feel like it? I’d say it’s far too often. How drastically could my life change if I offer up every part of my day to the Lord? What if I tell him about all the little things that frustrate me? Or the things about each day I love? 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Pray without ceasing sounds impossible, but I think the heart behind it is to invite the Lord into all parts of your day, not just the parts where you go to church or pray before meals. Our hosts have modeled so well what it looks like to ask God to be a part of ministry, because without him, our ministry really doesn’t mean much. How cool would it be to take that intentionality and incorporate it into all aspects of our lives?
**On a different note, we had an adventure day yesterday and went to St. Paul’s Cathedral, which was huge and fun to see, and then half of us went to Zoo d’Abidjan after that. THE ZOO WAS SO WORTH IT. We were starting out with the monkeys (half of them out of their cages and just hanging out by our feet) and a man who worked at the zoo came up to us. His name was Mr. John and he said he would show us around the zoo! It was awesome to have him tell us more about the animals (everything is in French and the signs were limited anyway), and he knew the animals and called most of them to the front of the cage for us. My favorite part was the elephant, which didn’t really have a cage? We walked right up to him and could touch his trunk, feed him leaves, and it was just so much fun. Guess how much we paid for taxis to the Cathedral, taxis to and from the Zoo and admission into the zoo? $4.08 per person. The zoo only cost $0.51, yet it was one of the most interactive zoos I’ve ever been to, and we had our own tour guide! 10/10 would recommend but ask for Mr. John!
I had more pictures to share, but the WiFi we have is not great 🙂
