Pray Always (Aug 17)

1 Thessalonians 5:17

17 Pray without ceasing.

I've spoken before on this scripture, I believe. Pray without ceasing. I told you before that prayer is your connection with God. It is your line of communication with the creator and master of all things. It is in prayer and in the Word that you will truly know God. It is then that you can make your requests known to God and also praise and worship Him. It is also then that He will speak to you. How can you live without prayer? That's why the scriptures tell us to always pray. Today I want to look at another aspect of that verse, though. Pray without ceasing. Don't quit. Keep praying and don't give up. Maybe you don't see an answer to your prayer right away and you feel like giving up. Maybe you have worried and worried about some difficult things in your life and you don't see a solution. Maybe you're looking at some impossible situations and you want to throw up your hands and say, “I quit!” Have faith. Trust God and don't give up. He is faithful. He will come through in the end.

Luke 18:1-8 NIV

1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' 4 For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!'" 6 And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

You see, this unjust judge wouldn't listen to this lady that kept coming to him looking for justice. Finally he heard her and saw to it that her needs were met, not because he cared about her or wanted to do the right thing, but because he couldn't take the incessant begging any longer. How much more will God hear your continual prayer since He is not only just (unlike the judge), but He also loves you and cares about you and wants the best for you. Do you have faith? Will He find faith in those that come to Him to ask or are you praying heartless petitions? Sometimes people think that they have not given up because they are continuing to pray. But they have already given up in their hearts because their prayers are no longer backed by faith. They continue to rattle out the words, but the words no longer have any meaning to them.

James 5:16

16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Are your prayers not accomplishing anything? Where's your heart? If you have a hidden sin in your heart, you cannot have communion with God and your prayers will be empty words echoing through your own ears. Do you have an issue with someone? You need to take care of that so that your heart can also be right with God. What prayer gets results? The effectual (able to produce a desired effect), fervent (marked by great intensity of feeling, zealous) prayers of a righteous (free from guilt or sin) man.

Don't give up! Keep praying always! Don't resort to worrying or figuring out how you'll fix things yourself or turn to other people! Keep coming and asking God! Just be sure that your prayers are effectual and fervent and that your heart and life are righteous before God!!! Then you will see the power of God!