KEEP PRAYING. DON’T GIVE UP!

Recently, I have been thinking about praying without ceasing. That exhortation comes from 1 Thessalonians 5:17. It’s among a list of other miscellaneous exhortations that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in the closing thoughts of his first letter to them.  This list occurs in verses 5:12-22:

¹² We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, ¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. ¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle,^[a] encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. ¹⁵ See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 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. ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not despise prophecies, ²¹ but test everything; hold fast what is good. ²² Abstain from every form of evil. 

It is interesting how that short little statement is a list of many has things that give direction to Christians and one that stands out from the rest of them in this list.  At least it has for me it has.  Equally interesting is how it is followed up by “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will in Christ Jesus for you” in verse 18.  It never occurred to be before studying this, but everything listed from 12-18 fits into that “God’s will in Christ Jesus for you” verse.  Most of my Christian life, I’ve seen people “cherry-pick” from this list when they have taught from here.  It never occurred to me, just how much all this passage should be seen as one thing.

I wish I could say that I’m not going to “cherry-pick” today, but I’m going to a little.  I want to focus on verse 17.  Let us consider “pray without ceasing.”

Luke 18:1-8 says: The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. ² He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. ³ And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” ⁶ And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷ And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? ⁸ I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

There are 3 things relating to Praying Without Ceasing here that I want us to see this morning.

1)             1) Our prayers do not always get answered right away.

        A.       And He will not for a while. 

2)  It’s OK to keep praying for something until we get an answer.

        A.    This woman must have had a reputation of bugging this judge.  Or else, we supposed that she would be a pain and constantly come to him.  We don’t really know for sure.  All we know is that the judge gave her request because he was concerned about her “wearying” him.

        B.     P.U.S.H. – Acrostic to guide us.

        C.   Pray Until Something Happens.

3) We can take courage and gain hope by this passage of scripture.

        A.    This judge, as Jesus pointed out, did not fear God nor regard man.

        B.    But he gave justice to this woman anyway, just so she wouldn’t bother him             anymore.

Let’s be mindful of how Jesus closed out this parable.  God WILL answer our prayers.  There was a reason that Jesus pointed out that the judge didn’t not fear God nor regard man.  This judge still granted the widow’s petition despite that.  How much more will God answer our prayers… those whom He loves and cares for?