Don’t Quit!

July 6, 2020

“Pray without ceasing,” Paul commands the Christians in Thessalonika. I’ve read that sentence countless times and wondered how that would even be possible. There’s no way anyone can pray all the time, every moment of every waking hour. Everyone has work to do, business to attend to, things that must be done. Our minds inevitably must dwell on countless matters that require complete attention, rendering ceaseless prayer impossible.

I recently heard a sermon by a well-known pastor teaching on this very statement. He uses the Lord’s Prayer as a model for continual prayer throughout the day. Following the medieval practice of the Hours, he uses a different phrase from the Lord’s Prayer as a launchpad for hourly moments of prayer. It was a good sermon, with many helpful tips, but I still came away feeling like something was missing. Tonight I found it.

At the tail end off our men’s prayer group this evening, brother Dan suggested that what Paul meant was, “Don’t give up.” When we’ve repeatedly prayed for something and nothing seems to happen, after awhile, we quit. “Pray without ceasing;” don’t stop short of the goal. If we cease our prayers before the answer comes, that cessation could very well be the reason our prayer fails. Pray without ceasing! Don’t let discouragement set in. You aren’t devoting every waking hour to prayer, but neither are you quitting before the answer comes. THAT makes great sense to me, and tonight I am thankful for Dan for his statement. It was like groping in the dark and suddenly finding the light switch. Don’t quit! That’s a good word for today.