Chapter 5
1Thess 5:17
Pray without ceasing.
Right after rejoicing, before thankfulness, we have prayer. How fitting.
(I suck at prayer, I am bad at it, so this is painful for me to write about.)
Much is said and discussed about prayer, this most confusing subject. How is it to be done?
Well, let us go to the Webster’s 1828 and get a definition:
1. To ask with earnestness or zeal, as for a favor, or for something desirable; to entreat; to supplicate.
2. To petition; to ask, as for a favor; as in application to a legislative body.
3. In worship, to address the Supreme Being with solemnity and reverence, with adoration, confession of sins, supplication for mercy, and thanksgiving for blessings received.
4. I pray that is, I pray you tell me, or let me know, is a common mode of introducing a question.
These are four good definitions to help us grasp this task set before us.
So basically, it is talking, discussing, conversing, which includes asking, but also informing, it is dialogue – it is dialogue between you and the Father. You talk to him, inform, ask, etc. about things and people in your life.
But it is not a magic wicca board thing. This is not Santa Clause central.
This is you in conversation with the Father, where you unload your heart, and seek direction and wisdom, and relief. You are not changing him, you are changing you – you are expressing yourself but in the end you get enlightened as to what his will is – and of course that is going to be understanding achieved through your Bible.
Talk to him about “x” and ask about “y”, go to the Bible and read: then you hear the Father answering back.
Now, this “Pray without ceasing” obviously cannot mean “with every head bowed, and every eye closed”, and it cannot mean continuous second after second, minute after minute “without ceasing”.
This is an ongoing action, or behavior we are to incorporate into our life. All through the day, as we encounter our thoughts, troubles, good things, people (good and bad), we can go to the Father and prayer, discussion, question, etc. You do not need to stop everything and plop prostrate on the ground and start bellowing out this sanctimonious oration; it can be brief and to the point.
Paul mentions the same consistent tone:
Rom 12:12
Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
Eph 6:18
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Col 4:2
Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;
Look at the content of some of the prayers Paul prayed in Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians:
Eph 1:15-23
Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
Eph 3:14-21
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Phl 1:9-11
And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
Col 1:9-12
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
These prayers are for the saints, that they would be edified, that they would be growing in knowledge and understanding, strengthening the inner man, increasing in the knowledge of God, understanding our position in the world, understanding our position in spiritual things. Some things to think about. Some things to pray about.
Grace and Peace James
Cease not to pray
Eph 3:14-21
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Phl 1:9-11
And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
Col 1:9-12
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
These prayers are for the saints, that they would be edified, that they would be growing in knowledge and understanding, strengthening the inner man, increasing in the knowledge of God, understanding our position in the world, understanding our position in spiritual things. Some things to think about. Some things to pray about.
Grace and Peace James
Cease not to pray
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