Maybe like me you’ve wondered how it could be possible to obey the command to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). In fact, it seems so unrealistic that I’ve always assumed Paul had to mean something else. And to some extent he did. As Matthew Henry explains in his commentary, it doesn’t mean we do nothing but pray. Rather, prayer keeps working as we proceed through our day. In one specific area, I’ve discovered prayer as the solution to overcoming obsessive, stressful, and unhelpful thoughts. As a result, I find myself more and more swapping earthly thoughts with heavenly prayers. So, it turns out this weighty command is not just a task or discipline, but has practical benefits: 1) there’s simply more goodness engaging with Jesus than with my own mind, 2) there’s vast comfort and power in prayer-fueled living with the Holy Spirit, and 3) spending time in prayer means sacred time spent with my holy Father. And while these results may not yet be prayers “without-ceasing” – they are definitely prayers “in-creasing.”