Praying Without Ceasing

1 Thessalonians 5:16-23 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. 23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If there has been any point in my life, any point in which I could say I understood continual prayer, it was the twelve days in mission from which I just returned. It was not a requirement, not a duty put on the itinerary, not a feeling of obligation to the Lord, but a work of the Lord within the team. He was doing a greater work in us, likely than the work that he did through us. You must understand that we lived the book of Acts in the New Testament; we witnessed miracles before us, the works of God that are undeniable; if you deny the work of God, you are denying God himself. We can’t justify them through education, through explanation, through any means but God himself working his Spirit before our very eyes. All throughout the Bible are the request of men for a sign from God. All throughout the Bible the signs were given, and through many reasons, denied and explained away, but, rejoicingly, many came to faith as a result of them.

Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians church was one of great encouragement. Timothy had returned and told Paul of their great faith, but also of troubles in the church. Satan always seeks to divide the church; division is one of his greatest weapons. The division can be of any sorts, many sorts, and Satan is at work in all of them. Paul sought to encourage the believers, to unify the believers, to bring them together understanding the error of the false doctrine dividing. They were arguing of Jesus’ return; had he already – NO! Paul clearly lays out in this epistle what we understand as the Day of his return; the Rapture, the gathering of those first who died in faith, and then those of faith still living; the gathering of his church. 4:15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Listen to me! There is urgency of the gospel felt all around the world. There is evil peaking in terrorist attacks; Christian persecution, even martyrdom is it’s highest in history; God is giving you the signs of his imminent return. Will you worry more about work, about the Panthers game, about vacation, about Christmas presents, about the next purchase to make you feel good? What does Paul tell us; this letter to the early church pertains to us today also. Many try to explain away the relevancy of the Bible, but the God tells us a thousand years to us, is but a day to him (2nd Peter 3:8), so how can you justify your excuse of time that does not apply to God? 5:4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

You too can live a life of continual prayer. A life of continual prayer is a heart that is truly seeking the Lord with all their mind, body, and soul out of their love for him. It is a heart that seeks to abide in him, to walk in the Spirit, to live their life for the next one, and not pursue all the cares of this one. It is a life that seeks to lay down their cross, to dedicate each day to the One who is giving them breath for the day. It is one who seeks God in prayers and his Word each day with expectancy of hearing from him, for encouragement and direction for each day. When you seek God with everything you have, the Holy Spirit is praying without ceasing, on your behalf, with words to beautiful to be uttered. He is interceding for you before God; he is going to God on your behalf so that you are staying in God’s will for your life each day. Praying without ceasing is easy, you just turn your life fully over to God, and he will continually pray for you.