A Prayer with a Sword in Hand

“Pray without ceasing.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (KJV)

Brother Lawrence wrote letters to friends, and some of them were about ordinary people in hard places. One was about a young soldier the friend knew. Lawrence’s description of him might fit plenty of teenagers: he had a good heart, “but there is in him still a little of the world, and a great deal of youth.”

The young man had been through something painful, and Lawrence hoped it would draw him to God. But a soldier on campaign has no time for long prayers in a quiet chapel. So what should he do? Lawrence’s answer is one of the best things he ever wrote:

“A little lifting up of the heart suffices. A little remembrance of God, one act of inward worship, though upon a march, and a sword in hand, are prayers, which, however short, are nevertheless very acceptable to God.”

Far from making a soldier weaker, Lawrence said, these quick prayers “best serve to fortify” his courage. And then, practically: “No one will notice it, and nothing is easier than to repeat often in the day these little internal adorations.”

This is the practice of the presence of God at its simplest. You don’t need a candle and an hour. You can pray in the corridor between lessons, on the pitch, on the bus, in a tense moment at home. A two-second “Thank you, Lord” or “Help me” counts.

In another letter Lawrence told an older friend the same thing. God, he said, “requires no great matters of us; a little remembrance of Him from time to time.” He added: “Lift up your heart to Him, sometimes even at your meals, and when you are in company.” And: “You need not cry very loud; He is nearer to us than we are aware of.” We do not need to be in church to be with God. We can “make an oratory of our heart,” a private prayer room inside, where we step in for a moment to talk with him.

To another friend he gave a picture that is hard to forget. If a friend came to visit you and you just walked off and left them sitting alone, that would be rude. Lawrence wrote: “You would think it rude to leave a friend alone who came to visit you: why then must God be neglected?” God, he said, “is always near you and with you: leave Him not alone.”

The Bible says to pray without ceasing. That sounds impossible until you see what Lawrence meant: not nonstop words, but a friendship that never really goes quiet.

One thing to do this week: set yourself a few everyday triggers: walking through a doorway, sitting down to eat, picking up your phone. Each time, lift your heart to God for a second: “Thank you,” “Help me,” or just “I’m here.” Nobody will notice.