Never Stop Praying

I am glad that all of you were able to join us for this prayer and communion service.

It is a blessing to celebrate the Last Supper each month taking this regular time to remember this communion with God we have.

Through the death of Christ, we are able to Commune with God which is an amazing blessing.

Before we come to the time in our worship service, we will be looking at prayer.

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 ESV

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Rejoice Always

There are a lot of reasons we can come up with to be down. We are is a difficult time right now. It would be easy to shut ourselves off from everything and shut down. But this is not what God has called believers to.

We are told here to rejoice always.

Now, let us remember that this final section of this letter are instructions for moving forward.

This instruction would be easy to pass by because it is so short, but it is important.

Rejoice always.

This does not mean rejoice when things are going well.

This does not mean rejoice when you are successful.

This does not mean rejoice when God directly answers our prayers.

No, this means always be rejoicing.

That mean we should be rejoicing right now.

We are living through a strange time, and a difficult time.

We have struggled as a body. We are going through a pandemic.

We are living though one of the greatest political divides in our country’s history.

There are a lot of reasons to sulk, but instead let us rejoice.

Instead of obsessing over all of these things let us rejoice for what we have.

Regardless of what we do not have, rather let us remember of the faith we hold onto.

This is by far the best thing we can rejoice for.

We are all sinner, but God loved us so much that he sent his son to die that all who have faith in him will have eternal life with him.

This truth outweighs any negative, this give us true reason to rejoice over any sorrow.

Application: We must make a choice to rejoice in all things. This is easy to say and hard to do, but this is something we must learn and look to examples for. Our first reaction must be hold to the gospel, not why is this happening. We may struggle, but we must hold to the hope of our gospel overall.

Illustration: This is something I honestly struggle with. I am always looking for the solution and if I cannot find it, I have had a tendency for concern. A few years ago, while Naomi and I were in Seminary we went through one year in particular we were going through a lot. We owed extra on taxes than we planned, we had so many car issues, we had trouble finding enough work for our expenses, and I can say it was an extraordinarily difficult time to rejoice. This same year Naomi had some relatives going through a truly difficult time. The husband we diagnosed with an extremely aggressive late stage cancer, but they were rejoicing that Christ might be seen in their circumstance. After a few months of treatment, it seemed that the cancer was gone, and they praised God. But unfortunately, it came back after a short time, but again they rejoiced. Even when the Doctor said there was no hope, they held to real hope. They continued to rejoice because they knew even if he lost his life he would be with his savior. Naomi and I were able to visit with them a few weeks before he passed and this was obvious, we could see this rejoicing and it radically changed our attitude of difficult times.

Pray without Ceasing

I think in this passage we see this verse taken out of place the most, but what does it mean.

Some will say that it means we must be continually praying.

That groups of churches must always be having someone pray.

Now, I do not think this a bad thing, especially in certain season, but this does not seem to be what is referenced here.

Some may say pray all the time, but this would be impossible. We cannot constantly be praying.

It seems the last option is the best, which is pray regularly throughout our lives.

This morning Pastor David said “Don’t give up praying.

I think this is the best way to put this. We should not give up praying because things are really good, or really bad, or unlikely.

Application: We must be sure that we do not give up on prayer. This may be difficult at different times when we are discouraged.

Illustration: A professor tells a story of when he was in college. He was an agnostic philosophy major and came to faith in the midst of his studies. Shortly after this conversion experience he was going to take an exam, his roommate told him he would be praying for him. The future professor said this would be an easy exam and he did not need prayer. It struck him shortly after what he said. We need God in all times, and he did not want prayer.

This is the type of this we should be praying about. It can be big a small. It can be the 1st time of 10th time. We need to be praying continually, let us not give up on prayer just because we do not see the purpose. Instead let us remember that we have the privilege to come before the God of the Cosmos and speak to him. Instead of making excuses let us continually go to him and pray.

Give Thanks in All Circumstances

This idea is similar to rejoice in all times, but it is different.

Rejoice is talking about being glad. It is a general state of joy.

This on the other hand is a reaction. It is to give thanks.

Now this can be difficult to do.

We need to be thankful for everything that happens.

In all circumstances we should show thankfulness.

Again, this doesn’t mean when things are going right, but in all times be thankful.

But why should we be thankful when we are going through trials.

Why should we be thankful when we lose our job or our car breaks down, or when we get sick.

We know that God cares for us and will use it for his good.

He does not allow things to happen for no reason, but to prepare us for His purpose.

He shapes us. We can have thankfulness in all circumstances because we know the potter will shape his clay.

Application: Let us give thanks. Each week or each day lets take time to reflect on what to be thankful.

Illustration: Charles Spurgeon Coming to faith.

Conclusion

We see these acts that are difficult.

Its not our natural state, but it is an important discipline

We are called to worship God

Our calling is to worship and glorify God.

Let us remember all that God has done and hold to him in all things.

Let us change our perspective from reasons to close ourselves off, or to stop praying, reasons to be upset to everything to be upset about to remembering who God is.

God is the savior to all who hold to him.

As we prepare to move to a time of prayer tonight let us remember what we are called to here. Let us:

1. Always Rejoice

2. Never Stop Praying

3. And, Give Thanks for All

For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for You

This is the position we must take before God our Father.

Instead of finding reasons to do ignore these commands, let us remember why we do this.

We do it because it is the will of God for us.

This last thought is connecting all three of these things.

This is the will of God for us. It is not just a good thing, but it is the will of God that we do these things.

How much greater is it