Constant Contact By Cortney Donelson

Source: www.matthew10-8ministries.org

Ephesians 1:16 (NIV)

“I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.”

Some of you may be familiar with the online marketing giant Constant Contact. Thousands of organizations use Constant Contact for email blasts or event promotion and to facilitate information flow with a large database of recipients. It’s an amazing service, allowing its customers to stay in touch with their key audiences at any time, with the simple click of a button. 

The premise is similar to how God wants our relationship with Him to be. He wants information flow to be immediate and available at any time - day or night. So, He created prayer. No clicks of a button needed.

God’s desire is that we are in constant contact with Him. Why? Our prayer life matters. 

I believe prayer unleashes divine powers, leads the charge for change, and brings us intimately close to God. Prayer allows us to give thanks, seek and find God’s will, and share our secrets, hopes, and challenges with the One who cares most of all. The Bible tells us that the prayers of those who follow Him are productive. “…The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16)

I pray often – in my car, at my job, as I write, before I eat, in the midst of parenting, before I fall asleep. Many of the prayers are short, expressing gratitude or praise. Some are deeply emotional. A few prayers are shared aloud with others, but most are one-on-one conversations with God that go on inside my heart and head. The styles and content of my prayers are as varied as my emotions. They take on different themes, come from different places of my heart (both the faithful and selfish sides), and are always heard and answered – just maybe not the way I would like.

There are times in my constant contact with God that I do get somewhat overwhelmed. There are so many things that require prayer. I could spend all day in prayer and feel I missed someone or something. I wonder how the apostle Paul did it. Paul wrote 13 books of the Bible. In most of them he was writing to specific churches or groups of people. With each letter to them, he opens with the same message; that he has been in constant contact with God prayerfully supporting that particular group of believers. 

To the people in Ephesus he wrote, “I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” To the Romans he said, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. God … is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times…” (Romans 1:10-11) 

There are moments in my day when I feel the weight of responsibility to cover everyone I know, and even those whom I have never met, with prayer. During those moments, I trust that God knows my heart. I trust the Holy Spirit will deliver all my God-honoring requests that I may forget to include but certainly have housed inside my chaotic brain. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” (Romans 8:26)

The more I pray, the closer I feel to God. The more I pray, the easier it becomes to hear His reply. The more I pray, the more I witness His hand in my life and learn to trust Him implicitly. It’s no wonder Daniel stopped what he was doing, knelt down in the solitude of his bedroom, and prayed three times every day. It’s no surprise he was willing to die in the jaws of lions than give up his constant contact with God. 

God invites us into His presence through prayer. The more often we accept that invitation, the more authentic and deep our relationship with Him will become. Bill Hybels, author of “Too Busy Not to Pray” says it this way, “Authentic Christianity is not learning a set of doctrines… Authentic Christians are persons who stand apart from others … their character seems deeper, their ideas fresher, their spirit softer, their courage greater … (They) are full of surprises. That’s because authentic Christians have strong relationships with the Lord – relationships that are renewed every day (through prayer).”

Source: Unknown

Constant contact with God through consistent and genuine prayer is one of the critical components of building our faith. Without my continuous focus on Him, the world seems to pull me in multiple directions. Even seconds spent with Him can be the difference between a wise and poor decision, a God-honoring rather than self-seeking path, and a positive rather than negative perspective about a situation. 

I challenge you today to get in touch with God hourly. I know – it sounds crazy! Yet, we do it with friends, co-workers, and family. We text, email, IM, post, and whatever else we do to stay in constant touch with people. Why not with our Heavenly Father? Set an alarm or a reminder on your phone. Then, commit to make at least one of those hourly contacts a deeply intimate prayer in a quiet place. You will discover that the more you talk to God throughout the day, the more you recognize His voice and are able to discern His reply – your prayers will become two-way conversations that never seem to cease. 

Who knows … you may soon find yourself unwilling to sacrifice your constant contact with God, no matter what the consequence.

"Prayer can never be in excess." - C.H. Spurgeon*

Prayer – God, I love You! I want to seek You with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind. To do this, I must act upon the fact that You are here with me – every moment. Help me remember Your presence and engage with You, having constant contact with You every day. I lift up my time and my prayers to You … in Jesus’ name. Amen.


* C.H. Spurgeon, also known as the "Prince of Preachers," was a British Baptist preacher in the late 1800's.

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