Pray 1 Thessalonians 5:17

As Paul the apostle began to close his first letter to the Thessalonian church, he shared several directives they should be practicing. They were to “know” and “honor” those who “labored among” them, were “over them” and “admonished” them, and they were also to “warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men, render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good” toward themselves and “all men”. In the midst of these activities, they were to “rejoice evermore”, and in chapter five and verse seventeen of his letter Paul tells the Thessalonians to “pray” where we read:

Pray without ceasing.

The verse begins, “Pray...” Paul began with the word, “Pray” which is the Greek word “proseuchomai” means “offering prayer, supplication and worship”. If the Thessalonians were going to prosper according to the manner in which Paul described, they were going to be a people who “pray”.

The verse goes on to say, “...without ceasing.” After giving the directive to “pray”, Paul added the frequency in which the Thessalonian church members were to do so, “without ceasing” which means “without intermission, incessantly, uninterruptedly and without omission”. Not only were the Thessalonians to “pray”, but they were to “pray” continually.

When we think about Paul's words, we must be careful not to breeze by this idea. We are to be a people who “pray” which in it's root means to “communicate”. People often think “prayer” is a one way street where a person is doing all the talking to God, however, there should be a time for “listening” as well. Most of the time we would be much better off to hear what “God” has to say to us rather than what we have to say to Him. When we stay in a constant state of “communicating with God”, we are talking and listening to Him all day long. Praying “without ceasing” is only accomplished by understanding the importance of relating to God through Jesus Christ throughout the day, and once this is accomplished, we will know how precious our incessant prayers will be.

Next time Paul tells the Thessalonians to “give thanks”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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