Impossible Christianity!

For the longest time I struggled with the concept of "pray without ceasing ". How can I possibly accomplish this? This isn't humanely possible and feels a bit condemning. God is asking me to do something He knows I can't do. Every moment I'm to pray and when I'm not am I sinning? Is He setting me up to fail?

What I've learned with most scripture is not to throw the baby out with the bath water. Don't let something you don't understand or even feel is wrong lead you to believe all scripture is wrong and God can't be trusted. Aim for your questions to push you to dig deeper and not linger near the surface. Similar in education; I study more because I want know what I don't know. Not the opposite. Wait on the Holy Spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to what is clouded.

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."

Actually the whole text tells me not only to pray non stop, but I should also be rejoicing and giving thanks in the same fashion. Even more impossibilities piling up. Even more areas for me to come up short.

However, I believe the Holy Spirit finally shed some light here and gave me the truth I desired. This text isn't to be viewed as literal but as an analogy. That makes sense. There's many things in the Bible that if meant literally, would raise more than eyebrows. In the words of Ricky Ricardo "Lucy you got some splaining to do!"

Even the disciples missed this. When Jesus explained the act of communion and to eat His flesh and drink His blood, they all were taken back. (John 6) Jesus wasn't asking them to be cannibals but to grasp a concept.

Now I view pray without ceasing, rejoicing always, and giving thanks no matter the circumstance, as a concept. I compare this concept to breathing. We don't think about breathing. We just do it. It is an involuntary process that our very lives are dependent upon. Prayer, rejoicing, and gratefulness should be no different. They should become such an ingrained habit that we no longer have to think about doing it.

There have been recent times I suddenly realized I was speaking in tongues and/or praying. I literally did it without thinking about it. Yet in order for something to become a habit, there is a process of formation.There will be a time you have to grow in it. I didn't get to that unconscious moment of prayer without countless dedicated and decisive moments to pray.

Staying with the concept of breathing, this is also a main reason babies being carried to term is so crucial. The longer they are in the womb, the longer time to grow and develop their lungs. It is why many premature babies may end up on some measure of breathing apparatus or assistance. They have not grown enough to breathe on their own. That process has not become second nature yet and air has to be regulated for them.

Moreover like babies aren't conceived on a Monday and born on a Friday, it is a process. For babies it's 9 months. For Christians it's life. It is a life long process that only ends when He returns or calls us home. Till then we dive into the Book. We learn from it. We eat it. (more symbolism) We let it grow us and change us to look more and more like Him each day. We let God's word change our old habits to form new ones. We pray without ceasing. We rejoice always. We give thanks in all circumstances. We breathe in. We breathe out.