Praying always, literally.

 Notice Jesus' words in Matthew 11:30: "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Have we found the Christian way either easy or light? In contrast, most of us seem to stagger from trial to trial!

Consider the following questions: If it is God's will that we be saved and grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ—which it is (I Timothy 2:4; II Peter 3:18)—why is it so hard? If God is working with us—which He is (Philippians 2:13)—should we not be more successful? Most of us have some sin or sins that so plague us that we fail miserably to overcome time after time. So, if our salvation is God's will, what is the problem? Why can we not be more successful in overcoming?

Is Christ just exaggerating, speaking in hyperbole, or is He telling it like it can be? Because Christ does not lie, the latter is true. The problem, then, must be with us. Where are we falling short? What are we missing in our efforts to overcome?

One answer is that spiritual Israelites are making the same mistake as their forefathers, the people of physical Israel. Because the Old Testament was written to teach spiritual lessons to those under the New Covenant (I Corinthians 10:11), some interesting implications arise when we apply the examples spiritually.

Notice God's promise in Deuteronomy 1:30: "He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes." God promises to fight Israel's physical battles for them. Egypt's destruction through the ten plagues is an extraordinary example of how God supernaturally fights for His people.

Israel was a slave people in Egypt, the most powerful nation on earth at the time. However, as powerful as Egypt was, it was never a match for God, as He demonstrated by devastating it through supernatural occurrences. God freed Israel without them "firing a shot," as it were. God did the heavy lifting of freeing them from Egypt. Israel had only to walk out. That was it!

In the Exodus from Egypt, not one Israelite had to do physical battle and risk injury, maiming, or death. Could our battle against our Egypt be easier by doing the same, single requirement—that we walk, that is, walk with God? All Israel had to do was flee, walk away from Egypt, a type of sin (I Corinthians 6:18; 10:14; I Timothy 6:11; II Timothy 2:22).

A Promise

Another promise from God along the same lines can be found in Exodus 23:20-30:

Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off. You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars. So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beast of the field become too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. (Emphasis ours.)

God offered to play a major role in driving out the inhabitants of the Promised Land: "I will cut them off." At this point, there is no mention of killing the enemy. There would be little need to shed much of their own blood because of God's promises to fight on their behalf. To receive this supernatural help, God gave a condition—obedience. The Israelites had to obey Him (verse 22) and walk in His ways.

Forty years and mostly negative experiences later, Numbers 33:50-53, 55 describes an entirely different picture of Israel's conquest of the land than the one given in Exodus 23:20-30. The people disobeyed and forfeited much of the supernatural help God had offered. Israel now had to use a great deal of their own strength, rather than God's, to do the driving out.

Israel did not obey—they did not submit to God's rule—because they did not believe just how good God is and how much He loved them (Psalm 78:22). Without that faith, they did not have the power to overcome what they could see versus what God said and thus be victorious (I John 5:4).

II Chronicles 16:9 is another example of the fruits of faithlessness: "The Lord's eyes scan the whole world to find those whose hearts are committed to him and to strengthen them. You [Asa] acted foolishly in this matter. So from now on, you will have to fight wars" (God's Word). Are we making the same mistake, having to fight our own battles because we are not faithful and not praying enough to have the right kind of faith (Matthew 17:19-21)?

Even though the wandering Israelites had to fight many of their own battles, God still worked with them, still performed miracles for them, still used them to accomplish His purposes. They were still His people. They had just chosen the more difficult path. Many suffered and died along the way, but it did not have to be that way. It was the result of a bad choice or a series of bad choices. Conquering the Promised Land did not have to be as difficult and bloody a path as they chose. God would have taken care of much of that for them, but instead they chose to fight the battles themselves. They chose the hard way instead of the easy way.

Are we acting foolishly and making the same choices spiritually that they did physically? After all, as the saying goes, the acorn does not fall far from the tree. Most of us are Israelites physically and all of us are Israelites spiritually (Romans 9:6-8). We are cut from the same bolt of cloth. God promised to help physical Israel in its battles, and we can be sure that God will provide that same help to spiritual Israelites in their battles—if they let Him. Romans 12:2 gives the same sense: "Don't be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him" (Contemporary English Version).

The Battlefield

Are we letting Him help us? How do we go about getting out of God's way—obeying Him, submitting to His rule—so that He can help us fight our battles? Christ gives us an answer in Luke 21:36: "pray always." Whether we are "praying always" or not "praying always" clearly shows on whom we are relying in our fight. The extent of our overcoming, the outcome or fruit of our spiritual battles, will tell the tale.

If we are going throughout our day with almost no thought of God, as it is all too easy to do, then who is doing battle with all the ungodly influences that are bombarding us? Isaiah 65:2 gives an answer: "I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts." For whatever time during our day we are not conscious of God, we are walking "according to [our] own thoughts," a way that God labels as "not good"! It is not good because we are fighting on our own, having to resort to our human ways and means. II Corinthians 10:3-4 tells us we are not to fight this way: "We are human, but we don't wage war with human plans and methods. We use God's mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil's strongholds" (New Living Translation).

Psalm 18:2 makes an interesting point: "You are my mighty rock, my fortress, my protector, the rock where I am safe, my shield, my powerful weapon, and my place of shelter" (Contemporary English Version, CEV). God was David's very "powerful weapon." Are we making full use of Him in our spiritual battles? Can we say we are if He is not in the forefront of every battle? Where does that battle take place? In our minds. Our battles are not physical, but rage in our minds, which contain the thoughts, philosophies, and ideas that motivate our behavior.

Since the day we were born, Satan's influences have assailed us, and through them, before our conversion, he was molding our minds into his image. Who will be able to change that? Who will fight the battle necessary to conquer our evil nature sold under sin? Who will free us just as God freed Israel in Egypt? Paul answers in Romans 7:24-25: "O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death? O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord!" (The Amplified Bible).

Enemies

Who will conquer our enemies? Romans 8:37 tells us: "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Paul answers that God and Christ will conquer our enemies! Our most determined enemy is, of course, Satan. Another foe is the world under the influence of Satan, a society full of distractions designed by the Devil to take our minds off God at every step. Finally, our own nature pulls us away from God because Satan has influenced it to do just that since the day we were born.

How are we to overcome these enemies? Do we overcome them or does God? Where does David look for help when faced with his mortal enemies? He answers this in many places (Psalm 44:5, 7; 60:12; 143:9, 12), but notice Psalm 17:8-9: "Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me under the shadow of Your wings, from the wicked who oppress me, from my deadly enemies who surround me." Our enemies are more deadly than David's because they can kill us eternally, not just physically.

In the following two passages, reminiscent of the "I will" statements in Exodus 23:20-30, notice who is fighting these spiritual battles with our enemies:

Psalm 37:5-6: "Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday."

Philippians 2:13: ". . . for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."

Are we taking advantage of the power and weapons God offers to us in the fight against our enemies, to win the battle for our minds?

Weapons of War

In Psalm 56:9, David informs us about one of the weapons he used against his enemies: "When I cry out to You, then my enemies will turn back; this I know, because God is for me." David used prayer, "when I cry out." It was only "then" that God turned back his enemies.

David expected God's help to send his enemies into retreat so that he would not have to do all the fighting. God would do much of it for him. Why? God was for him. David believed in how much God loved him, a wholehearted love that Jesus reveals in John 17:23. Are we like David? Do we believe God loves us that much?

David was a man after God's own heart (I Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). We should follow his example and use the weapon that worked for him—prayer. Christ concurs with David's belief in God's desire to protect us and send our enemies into retreat:

» Matthew 6:13 (The Bible in Basic English): "And let us not be put to the test, but keep us safe from the Evil One."

» Luke 11:4 (Revised English Bible): "And forgive us our sins, for we too forgive all who have done us wrong. And do not put us to the test."

» Luke 22:40: "When He came to the place, He said to them, 'Pray that you may not enter into temptation.'"

» Luke 22:46 (William Barclay's translation): "Why are you sleeping?" he said to them. "Up and pray that you may not have to face the ordeal of temptation!"

These verses are not asking for success to overcome but rather that He not allow temptations or trials to reach us. We are, in our flesh, too feeble and weak for the task without the help of God (Romans 8:26). The verses above show that prayer can protect us from temptation, quenching the fiery darts of Satan before they ever get near their target. Even Jesus initially asked God to take away His trial in Luke 22:42: "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." We can thank God that Christ chose to put our welfare above His physical life and submitted to His part in God's plan for our salvation.

What weapons are we to use in this battle against our enemies? Simply, God Himself, as Psalm 18:2 ("my powerful weapon") shows. Prayer allows God to become our weapon, one we desperately need.

Our Need

All of us should be aware of just how inadequate we are to accomplish the task of overcoming and growing in the way God is showing us. If we are not deeply aware of this need, we will never turn to God in the first place. We will not continuously turn to Him, thinking like the Laodiceans that we need nothing—we have all we need within ourselves.

Remember Peter, who confidently boasted that, unlike others, he would never desert Christ (Matthew 26:33; Mark 14:29). Then, shortly thereafter he grossly failed in a way that should be a sobering lesson to us all (Matthew 26:69-75; Mark 14:66-72). One principle we can take from this is that the secret to overcoming lies largely in realizing our powerlessness and acknowledging it before God.

Do we believe Christ when He tells us in John 15:5, "for without Me you can do nothing?" Without help from a Source greater than ourselves, we can do nothing of a true, godly, spiritual nature that could ever meet God's standards (Isaiah 64:6). We are far short of the mark. It is time to turn to God with all that is in us (Deuteronomy 10:12). We cannot just play church at this time in history. Judgment is now on us (I Peter 4:17), and if we fail, there never will be a greater failure.

However, if we turn to God with all our heart—and prayer is a major part of that process—He promises that He will hear from heaven and respond: ". . . if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (II Chronicles 7:14). This method of healing the land applies equally to healing the church today.

How do we access the power from God to humble ourselves? How do we overcome? How do we avoid the attitude of "I can do this myself"? Luke 21:36 has the answer—striving to pray at all times. It brings God onto the battlefield that is our mind, putting Him at the front of every skirmish we fight. For where He fights as our weapon, there can be only success against our enemies.

Praying always or at all times is an overlooked key to overcoming all of our enemies—Satan, the world, and our human nature. It may be more accurate to say that, while it is the most vital key to overcoming, it is also the most underused. Many overlook the importance of prayer as the primary tool we have been given to accomplish "job one"—overcoming. We may be depending too much on our will rather than on the power of our great God. Luke 21:36 emphasizes the importance of careful attention to overcoming and praying always, the latter needed to build the faith needed to accomplish the former.

By striving to pray always, we will be able to look to God with confidence and repeat Psalm 55:18: "I am attacked from all sides, but you will rescue me unharmed by the battle" (CEV, emphasis ours).

Now that we have identified praying always as a primary tool for overcoming, why does it work? 

In Luke 21:36, our Savior provides us with the two tickets we need—watching (careful, vigilant attention to overcoming our nature) and praying always—to be accounted worthy to escape the troubles at the close of this age and to enter the Kingdom of God. These two activities are pillars that support the foundation on which our Christian lives rest during these end times.

How important are these two pillars? Exactly what is Christ instructing us to do as we encounter the end of an age?

In Luke 21:36, when Christ says, "Watch," He is calling for us to scrutinize our lives in order to change them. We are not just to note the problems we see but to overcome them. How important is it to overcome? If God mentioning something twice establishes it (Genesis 41:32), how significant is a subject when He mentions it fifteen times? Not fifteen times throughout the whole Bible but in just one book! And not in just any book, but a book of special significance to us, one about the end time—Revelation!

In this end-time message, Christ says seven times, "I know your works" (Revelation 2:2, 9, 13, 19; 3:1, 8, 15). What are works? They are simply the results of our efforts in overcoming, both the failures and successes. Jesus is saying, "I know the level of your overcoming." Then, for each church—whether era, group, or attitude—He comments on that effort. Overcoming is highlighted another seven times (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21), as Christ ends each of His critiques with a promise that begins, "To him who overcomes. . . ." As an exclamation point, Christ warns us seven times, a number signifying completeness, to heed what He says to all these churches (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).

Finally, in Revelation 21:7, Christ addresses overcoming a fifteenth time. He makes a promise to those who successfully overcome: "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son."

Revelation shows us that "Job One" for a Christian is overcoming, especially for someone living at the end time. This is the message in Luke 21:36 also: We have to overcome to be with Him in God's Kingdom. Salvation itself hinges on our cooperation with Him in overcoming (Matthew 25:30).

The Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) demonstrates the importance of overcoming. The difference between the wise and foolish virgins is their supplies of oil. While water represents the power of God's Holy Spirit to cleanse, oil represents its power to work, to do good. Thus, the difference between the virgins is their good works ("I know your works"), how much they overcame their selfish human natures by acting in love toward God and man.

Both groups had oil, but the foolish virgins did not have enough for the unexpectedly long delay (Luke 21:34-35). When the cry went out, their lamps were still burning but sputtering and about to go out. They were not prepared for the long haul. They had not continued to overcome. They were not enduring to the end. Their oil—their good works, their overcoming—proved insufficient for the task. In this one point, they failed, and what a foolish failure it was!

Emphasizing the importance of Luke 21:36 and watching, Christ makes a specific promise to those living at the end who are watching, that is, successfully overcoming: "Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them" (Luke 12:37).

Conversely, considering the implications of John 17:3, Jesus gives a chilling judgment to the virgins who fail to overcome: "I do not know you" (Matthew 25:12).

How Important Is Prayer?

Coupled with watching and overcoming, the next subject that Jesus addresses in Luke 21:36 is prayer. To grasp just how important prayer is, notice the example of Daniel, one of the three most righteous men in the Bible, according to Ezekiel 14:14. Part of his story is in Daniel 6:7, 10:

All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counselors and advisors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. . . . Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.

Daniel believed that prayer was so essential that he chose to risk his life to lions rather than lose contact with God for even a part of a day. We could say that he feared the Lion of Judah more than any physical lion. To him, prayer was a life-and-death issue. Is it to us? How many excuses would we have made to avoid those lions? What excuses do we make today to justify a lack of prayer?

Is anything more serious than a life-and-death issue? Because of the Bible's obviously high regard for Daniel, it is reasonable to assume that his attitude about prayer played a significant part in deserving the label of "righteous." Prayer, for us, becomes a spiritual life-and-death question, not just a physical one as Daniel faced.

Faith to Endure

If we do not have enough faith to endure to the end, we will not survive spiritually (Matthew 24:13). So, how do we increase that faith? How do we increase it to the level needed to ensure our survival? Without the answer, we face possible spiritual death.

The good news is that we have an answer, and we have had it for decades. Herbert W. Armstrong answers that very question in his booklet, "What is Faith?":

When Jesus walked the earth in human flesh, He possessed faith! . . .

Peter, Stephen, Philip, Paul—all common, humble ordinary men themselves—all had that power, the same identical power Jesus had, because they lived and walked close to God and were filled with the Holy Spirit!

And we seem to lack that power today, not because God denies us that power, but because we are so close to a modern, materialistic world—our minds are so filled with the material interests of this life; our minds and our hearts are so far from God; we are so out of touch with Him through lack of enough time spent in the study of His Word, and lack of enough of the right kind of surrendered, submissive, earnest and heart-rending prayer—and consequently, because we are not filled with the Holy Spirit! . . .

And let us remember, faith is the gift of God.

So many think that everything else that comes from God is His gift, but the faith required to receive these things is something we ourselves must somehow work up, or strain and strive for. But we have to just relax and trust God, even for the faith by which we receive everything else! (Ephesians 2:8.)

In Revelation 14:12 is a description of the true Church of this day. Those in this church have the faith of Jesus. Notice, the faith of Jesus! It is not just our faith in Him, but His faith—the very faith with which He performed His miracles—placed in us and acting in us.

How can you get it? Draw closer to God. Get to know God. Surrender all the way to Him, and do His will. And then pray. You get to know Him in prayer. We are too close to the material things. Through prayer, much more prayer, you can come closer to God and the spiritual things. And what a happy, joyous experience it is, once you have really done it!

What is his answer to a lack of faith? Prayer and surrender to God's will. Surrendering to His will is our act of overcoming our rebellious carnal nature. His answer, prayer and overcoming, is the same instruction Christ gives in Luke 21:36 to those of us living at the end time.

Building Faith

A lack of faith is a sign of a weak prayer life. Notice the proof of this in Matthew 17:19-21:

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast him out?" So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."

He advises us how to address unbelief—prayer and fasting.

On a human level, how do we build trust, faith, and loyalty? Will we have faith in someone we do not know? Can we be loyal to a stranger? We build confidence in others through repeated contact with them over time—close and frequent communication. As we get to know them, to see them in action, to see their characters, we eventually reach a point where we can have trust and faith in them and in their behavior. Is it any different with God?

Prayer provides the repeated and continual contact with God that we need to get to know Him. This sets in motion the process that will lead to faith, to God being willing to give us the gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8). The prayerful person becomes the faithful person, not the other way around. Hebrews 11:6 illustrates this point: "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

Notice the condition in this verse: God is not the rewarder of everyone, but "of those who diligently seek Him." The gift of living faith comes from diligently, actively seeking Him, consistently and with zeal. Prayer is a major tool in seeking God, along with study, fasting, and using the knowledge gained to conform to His will—practical Christian living and overcoming. Those who prove their diligence by doing these things are the ones rewarded with the faith to overcome (I John 5:4).

The Sabbath is an external sign that identifies God's people (Exodus 31:13, 17). Nevertheless, others not in God's true church observe it. Is there another sign—a less visible one—that perhaps only God sees? Yes, and Zechariah 13:9 shows it is prayer: "They will pray in my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'You are my people,' and they will reply, 'You, Lord, are our God!'" (Contemporary English Version).

Those with a weak prayer life have weak faith (Matthew 17:19-21). Those with weak faith are sinful (Romans 14:23) and are promised death (Ezekiel 18:20; Romans 6:23). That is just how important earnest prayer is as part of a solid foundation, especially during the end time. As I Peter 4:7 instructs, "But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers."

Faith's Role

Consider the connection the apostle John makes in I John 5:4-5: "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"

How do we overcome? John writes that our victory comes through belief, the power of faith—God's gift. How do we build that faith to the needed levels? As we saw in Matthew 17:19-21, we do it by prayer and fasting.

Whether His people would have enough faith to overcome, to have a sufficient supply of oil in their lamps, is an issue Christ knew would be critical as the world neared the end of the age. In Luke 18:8, Christ looked down the corridors of time to the period of His return and wondered, "Will I really find faith on the earth?" Are we praying enough in both quality and quantity to build the faith that God is seeking at the end, the faith He knows we need both to overcome and to survive the great trials of the day?

We can now realize the power of Christ's message in Luke 21:36. To overcome, we need faith. To have and show faith, we need prayer. God requires works on our part, the works of prayer and overcoming. However, the power comes only from God and His gift of faith.

Overcoming and prayer are absolute requirements for those living at the end. They are the two tickets we must have to be among those counted worthy to escape and enter God's Kingdom. Without both of these requirements in abundance, we will not be granted either blessing.

Praying Always

While prayer is important, notice that in Luke 21:36, Jesus does not use just the word "pray" but the phrase "pray always." Why is this significant?

As we begin to answer this question, it is good to know that the word "always" is a translation of three Greek words. A literal translation of those three words, en pantí kairoó, would be "in all times," and many Bible translations have chosen to use similar wording, such as "at all times." Other versions may use "all the time," while some use words like "constant" and "constantly." Weymouth's New Testament goes so far as to read, "every moment."

Christ is speaking, not just about prayer, but also about the frequency of our prayers. How often are we in contact with God throughout our day? Do we give Him some time in the morning or evening, but the rest of the day He is in none, or very few, of our thoughts? Doing so places us in very dangerous company (Psalm 10:4).

Laodiceans have lukewarm relationships with God, thus Christ has to say to them in Revelation 3:20: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." He calls for them to rekindle the relationship. Making the first move, He suggests what friends who have a close relationship do—they share a meal. What happens at a meal with friends? Conversation, which is what prayer is. Humans, whether with people or with God, build their relationships the same way: They talk to each other—a lot.

We can see why Christ tells those living at the end, when Laodiceanism reigns, that we have to overcome and pray always. Generally, the relationship between God and the Christian is weak and must be rebuilt, requiring considerable conversation, prayer, at all times of the day.

If we observed a marriage in which the husband and wife only mumbled to each other a little in the morning and/or a little at night, we would conclude that that relationship was in trouble. Our God who sees all knows the same thing when He experiences it.

How does a Christian "pray always"? In one of Herbert W. Armstrong's radio broadcasts on the book of Hebrews, he says, paraphrased, "You need to be in contact with God every hour!" I Thessalonians 5:17 instructs, "Pray without ceasing." Hebrews 13:15 urges us to offer prayer to God "continually." God's purpose for us requires a great deal of contact with Him.

A speaker once reported that he heard Herbert Armstrong say that he always tried to be aware that he was in God's presence and that he was constantly asking God for help. It is reported that it was common for him to pray 30 or 40 times a day—short prayers asking for help with a decision, in counseling a person, in preparing an article or sermon, etc.

Notice the advice he gave church members in the October 1957 Good News:

You must go to a private place, alone with God, and have long talks with Him—yes, every day! Unburden your heart to Him. Take all your problems, your interests, your plans, your troubles to Him. Talk over everything with Him, continually. Then, even when going about your work—when walking down the street—when driving your car, or wherever you are or whatever you do, talk with God as you work or as you drive or walk along. Go to a private place, and kneel in prayer (on both knees) as often as you can, and at least once every day. But talk with God often in between. Pray without ceasing!

Are we following that good advice? Herbert Armstrong followed the advice of Jesus Christ in Luke 21:36 to "pray always" or to "pray at all times." Are we always praying? It is those who are overcoming and praying always, at all times of the day and night, that will be counted worthy to escape the end-time troubles and to stand before the Son of Man in God's Kingdom.