Ceaseless Prayer?

Pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

"Perhaps the best way to illustrate the idea of ceaseless prayer is to compare it to breathing. Inhaling and exhaling is so natural for us that it often seems totally involuntary; it's actually harder to hold your breath than it is to breathe. The same should be true of prayer for the Christian. Prayer is like breathing for us. The natural thing for us to do is commune with God. When we don't pray, we're holding our breath spiritually -- fighting against the very existence and presence of God in our lives. Prayer should flow naturally and continually from our hearts...

I think of prayer as living in continual God-consciousness, in which everything we see and experience becomes a kind of prayer, lived in deep awareness of and surrender to our heavenly Father. Whatever happens, there is a Godward response. To obey this exhortation means that when we are tempted, we bring the temptation before God and ask for His help. When we experience something good and beautiful, we immediately thank the Lord for it. When we see evil around us, we ask God to make it right and to allow us to help remedy the evil, if such involvement is according to His will. When we meet people who do not know Christ, we pray for God to draw them to Himself and to use us as faithful witnesses. When we encounter trouble, we turn to God as our Deliverer. "

-from Lord, Teach Me to Pray, by John MacArthur