Why do we pray?
Prayer is how we talk to God. As we grow spiritually in our walk we learn that it is also how we listen to God and the whisper that is referred to as the Holy Spirit. It is through prayer that we develop relationship with God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. But it also through prayer that our wounded soul is healed, our mind is renewed and we discover what it means to become a spiritual being in a human body, rather than a human being with a spiritual aspect.
“Pray without ceasing” is what we are commanded to do from Jesus, our Lord. This is a tall order for any person not walking with God. But when we begin to see that every breath we take, every activity we do, every morsel of food we eat, and all the words that come from our mouth are a type of prayer we begin to see that to pray without ceasing means to -- become prayer. To become prayer is as simple as placing your thoughts on God. During every waking moment we need to be willing to hear Him when he speaks, gives guidance, expresses his love, and show his grace. As you drift away throughout the day you acknowledge it and ask to have your thoughts and life back in line with Gods path. We are human we all drift away, what is important is that you drift back and develop a desire in your heart to be next to God.
How is the command to pray without ceasing for Christians different from that of our fellow man? Our Jewish brothers and sisters were commanded to pray three times a day, basically morning, noon, and night. The Muslims have been instructed by Mohammad to pray five times a day to the east towards Mecca. Our new age friends pray towards the light, or mother earth, the great creator, the universal energy and so on. As Christians we are to submit ourselves to God the Creator of heaven, earth and the universe as a result we become one with him through prayer. (There are many other faiths and numerous commands for each belief system and the differences mentioned here are not meant to be all inclusive. The simplicity of this definition is to help illustrate some of alternatives that exist about prayer and help us to develop some framework when we try to talk about how to pray.)
Prayer is the way we are instructed by Christ to communicate with our Heavenly Maker. We develop relationships with Him by learning His Word and entering into a total state of contemplation also known as the last step before Divine Union with God. Christianity is the only faith in the world to my knowledge that teaches “to find ourselves, we must lose ourselves.”