1 Thessalonians 5:17: How to Pray Without Ceasing

INTRODUCTION

The last time I was here I read to you I Thessalonians 5:17, 18 and 19. Verse 17 says, “Rejoice always.” Verse 18 says, “Pray without ceasing” And verse 19 says, “Give thanks in all circumstances.”

I said, “Aren’t those really three impossible things? How could anyone—even the great Apostle Paul—be always happy, always saying prayers, always giving thanks?

St. Paul’s life was even more troubled than yours is—he was insulted and attacked by his enemies. He was often disappointed in his friends. He experienced failure as well as success. Several times he was stripped and beaten with rods and whips. He had been shipwrecked and adrift on the sea, and one time he was stoned and dragged out of the city half dead.

Was Paul always cheerful? Always saying prayers? Always thankful for everything that happened to him?

I talked about how it is possible to have a deep well of joy within us even when we are in the midst of sorrow.

Paul could have joy deep in his heart even in the midst of trouble because he knew deep in his heart that God was with him, and he knew that his suffering was for Jesus.

Paul looked forward to another world, a world in which God will wipe away all tears—another world in which he would meet Jesus and see him face to face and live forever in the joy of the Lord.

I. Today we will talk about the second of the three “impossible things”: “Pray without ceasing.”

A. To “pray without ceasing” doesn’t mean nonstop talking to God.

In the mental hospital where Charlotte and I used to work, there was an old man, a patient, who we often saw shuffling through the halls, head bowed, hands together, constantly mumbling. I think that in the haze of his mental affliction he found comfort in this habit of constantly repeating his prayers. But this isn’t what Paul means when he says, “Pray without ceasing.”

To pray without ceasing doesn’t mean constantly saying prayers or “being religious” all the time.

We can watch TV and read novels and thank God for the pleasure they give us.

We can play Bingo, play cards, or converse with friends, and still be aware that Jesus is at our side.

It will mean that we play the game more for the sake of friendship than the desire to win.

If we belong to Jesus, we will be good company for our friends. But it may mean that we will decline to enter into certain conversations.

Jesus was a social person. He enjoyed a good dinner with his friends.  In fact, he was criticized for his sociability. Are we to suppose that at these happy occasions Jesus and his companions didn’t share stories and laugh together?

B. To pray without ceasing means to live one’s life in the presence of God—to always be aware that God is with us, to thank God simply and naturally for the good things in life, and to bring to God our needs and the needs of others.

To live in an attitude of prayer is to turn your thoughts to God whenever worries or doubts assail you or when you are tempted to anger or unworthy thoughts.

When you’re in pain—of course you have prayed to God to take it away, but it’s still there—so you offer your pain to God, asking him to use it to teach you some lesson of life. Or you may ask God to use your pain to help you be more sympathetic to others who are also suffering.

C. When—in the midst of anything you are doing—you think of someone in need, you can send up a prayer to God to bless that person.

When you think of some hurt you have experienced from someone, you will remember Jesus’s instructions to pray for those who abuse us, and you pray, “God bless so-and-so, and help me to love him and show him that I love him.”

And when you see someone struggling through life without God, ask God: “Dear Father, help so-and-so find the joy of salvation.”

When you watch the news on TV you see many sad stories. Make a prayer for those who suffer. You don’t know in what way blessing may come into their lives because of your prayer, but it will keep you in tune with the needs of others and maybe help you get your mind off yourself.

II. I don’t want to give the impression that all our praying can be “on the run”—just in bits and pieces through the day.

A. We need to have set times to pray, just as we need a set time to brush our teeth and to take baths.

Daily prayer needs to become a habit. You could have a time of prayer as soon as you wake up but before you have to get out of bed. Ask God to go with you. Pray that God will lead you to someone you can serve in some way. In several of the Psalms, the psalmists tell us of praying on their beds.

Or you can pray in your bed when you lie down to sleep. This doesn’t work if you are one of those people who are asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow. But if you can keep awake for a while, you can bring to God the concerns of the day and the needs of people and give thanks for the blessings and opportunities you’ve experienced.

Sometimes when I wake up in the night and can’t sleep, instead of tossing and turning and wishing I could go back to sleep, I think of think of people who have been important in my life and thank God for them. If they are still in this world I ask God to bless them. I thank God for those who have taught me about God. I thank God for those who have been my examples.

You can pray sitting, or standing, walking, or kneeling.

Once in our Bible study at the prison, one of the inmates said, “Last night I had the strongest feeling that God would have me kneel at the side of my bed and pray. And I did.” I was really proud of that man because at Mt. Pleasant prison the inmates sleep in dormitories. He exposed himself to the ridicule of the other men.

Charlotte and I write our prayers on paper—daily letters to God. To write your prayer helps to keep our minds from wandering. It keeps us honest.

B. Daily prayer needs to be a habit. Habits are hard to form, but a habit, once established, is also hard to break. The habit of prayer is a good habit. The more you keep it up the habit of prayer, the more you want to keep it up. If you have a time of prayer every day, you will find that to miss a day leaves you with an unsatisfied feeling.

III. To pray without ceasing means never to give up on God.

A Jesus told two parables to make this point:

In the Parable of the Friend at Midnight (Luke 11) the man who needed a loaf of bread to set before his unexpected guest who arrived at midnight. So he went to his neighbor and pounded on his door. The neighbor was in bed and didn’t want to get out of bed and help his friend. But because of his neighbor’s shameless persistence, he finally got up and gave him his bread.

In the Parable of the Widow and the Unrighteous Judge (Luke 18), the unrighteous judge doesn’t want to hear the case of the widow, but he finally does so because she pesters him day and night.

The lesson in both of these stories is not that God needs to be begged and nagged and pestered by our continual praying; the lesson is that it is earnest, persistent, determined prayer that enables God to act. Half-hearted, casual, routine prayers don’t have the same effect.

B. God has so arranged the world as to leave part of the governing of it to his people. Our heartfelt prayers somehow free God to act on our behalf.

I heard a lecture by a famous physicist who was also a theologian. He put it this way: “Prayer is the alignment of human will with the divine will, that enables things to happen that otherwise wouldn’t have happened” (John Polkinghorne).

God loves to answer prayer, and he loves to bless people, and he has given us prayer so that we can have a part in that blessing—both of ourselves and others.

So praying without ceasing means

to live in a spirit of dependence on God,

to pray repeatedly and often,

never to give up,

and to live in the conscious presence of God.

CONCLUSION

Some years ago I went to University Hospital to visit a friend from church who was sick.

My friend was asleep, so I turned to his roommate. This man was sitting beside his bed. The first thing I noticed was an open Bible on his bedside table in front of him. His hand was on his Bible.

I said, “I see you have your Bible. You must be a Christian.”

He said, “Yes, I’ve got Doctor Jesus with me.”

We talked a while. He told me his name was Tom and that he had worked as a janitor. He told me that had his stomach removed; he was pretty sick.

But then he said something I have never forgotten. He said, “You know, it’s not enough just to go to church.” He patted his Bible and said, “You’ve got to get it into your bloodstream.”

Tom had Jesus in his bloodstream. He knew how to live in the presence of God, even though things weren’t going well for him.

Tom knew how to “pray without ceasing.”