Pray without ceasing

A Mini-Sermon by Mike Ingo <><

16 Rejoice evermore.
17 Pray without ceasing.
18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
19 Quench not the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-19

Having to replace the batteries in my daughter’s toys or the boy’s gadgets seems to be an ongoing process. The Energizer Rabbit ends at our house. That drum quits beating quite often when having to power C.D. players and talking story books! I gave a message on the verse, “rejoice always,” in a devotional recently, and tied it into the very next verse. “Pray without ceasing.” When reading these verses, my mind picks up on the words, “always and without ceasing.” Two words that describe eternity in a sense. Always meaning; will ever be. Without ceasing meaning; will never end. Put those two together and we get; will ever be without ending. It’s a good thing they never had energizer batteries in Paul’s day. We may have an addition to these verses that might have read; “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and replace the batteries often.”

Praying without ceasing means that we are to be continuously in an attitude of prayer. If we just say a prayer, close it with “amen,” and leave it there; we are doing ourselves an injustice. Imagine if my kids should talk to me first thing in the morning or the last thing at night, and never in between! Imagine them needing help with something, but having to wait until bedtime or the next morning to tell me about it. I would feel ignored and left out of their lives. That is the same idea God is presenting to us when He says, “pray without ceasing.” Prayer is not a formal, ritualistic, rehearsed, planned, speech to the Father. Prayer is simply communication with God! We can call it talking to Him, but seeing how as God is Spirit, we have to connect with Him spiritually as well. Therefore we call this form of spiritual communication; prayer. It is the key to being able to follow the Apostle’s first charge to us; rejoice always.

What about the next part? “In everything give thanks.” How can we give thanks for things we are not thankful for? Such as a bad report from our doctor. That charge also goes along with the other two verses. Give thanks in all things, always rejoicing, when praying to God. God gave us His Son, Jesus, so that we could have everlasting life. Not so we could have happy, unending life here on earth; but that we may have joyful, unending life in Heaven. Joy that never ends. Happiness is an earthly, physical, emotion. Joy is an eternal, spiritual, state.

Now, there is one more part to this passage that is the key to applying it in our lives. “Do not quench the Spirit.” God speaks to everyone, all time, everyday. Some of us recognize His voice and others do not. He “speaks” to us in His word, in our spirits, through other people, and in nature. When we tune our “spiritual ears” toward Him and listen to what He has to say, we can fulfill the Apostle’s call to rejoice always. The Spirit calls everyone to “be in Christ.” That simply means to commit our life to Him. If we will heed the “voice” of the Holy Spirit and not reject His calling us to Jesus, we can know real joy in our lives. Thereby causing us to rejoice! That is why God sent Christ, the Apostle says. “It is God’s will (desire, want) for us that we are to have everlasting joy and He has given us the ability to do that through His Son, Jesus the Christ. “Don’t quench the Spirit; talk with God; thank Him for Jesus. That will cause you to rejoyce!

May the Grace and Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you all!

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