“Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17). As Robert Cleaver Chapman explained this: “Turn everything in life into something to talk to God about.” To use the typology of Leviticus 6:13, “A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out.”
Charles Wesley expressed this well in this hymn:
“O Thou, whose Spirit from above
the pure celestial fire imparts,
Kindle a flame of sacred love
on the low altar of my heart.
There let it for Thy glory burn
with inextinguishable blaze;
And trembling to its source return
in humble prayer and fervent praise.
Jesus, confirm my heart’s desire
to work, and speak, and think for Thee;
Still let me guard the holy fire,
and still stir up Thy gift in me.”
Paul, Peter, and James link arms when they suggest that being fervent (boiling hot) in spirit to serve (Rom 12:11) and fervent to love the saints (1 Pet 4:8) will stoke the heart to be fervent in prayer (Jas 5:16). Lord, may my fervency to serve and love stir me to burn brightly today.