Pray without ceasing.    1 Thessalonians 5:17 NKJV

This verse reminds us we should always be praying. We are told in Proverbs 3:5-6 to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding. We are told to acknowledge Him in all our ways, and He will direct our path. In order to acknowledge God in all our ways we must give prayerful consideration to all the things we say and do.

So, now let’s look at this verse in context. Verse 16 says, “Rejoice always!” So, we are to always rejoice. When we can rejoice even in troubled times, it shows our faith in God. It can become a powerful witness which may cause others to see and want what we have.

We are then told to pray without ceasing. You can look at this verse in a couple of different ways. First, we should always be in prayer about everything. We should be consulting God and praising God as we go throughout the day. Secondly, don’t give up on praying for something or someone. My dad was saved when he was 80 years old. I have no doubt his mother prayed for him from his birth until her death. I know I had prayed for him for 30 years. My mom had probably prayed for him for the 50 plus years they had been married. We don’t know God’s timing, but we know His timing is perfect. Just keep praying.

We are told in James 5:16, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” Remove intentional sin from your life. Our sin creates a barrier between us and God (Isaiah 59:2).

In considering the context of our Scripture for today, we are instructed to rejoice always and pray without ceasing. In verse 18 we are told to give thanks in everything for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. It doesn’t say to be thankful when everything is going your way. It says to give thanks in everything. We know that even in bad times, God is working it out for our good if we love Him with all our heart and are called according to His purpose. We should always be thankful.

When you truly love someone, you want to have an open line of communication with them. Their opinion matters to you. You seek their approval. If we truly love the Lord and have surrendered our lives to Him, this is how we feel about our relationship with Him. We want to always be in communication with Him, we seek Him and love Him with all our heart and most importantly we seek to please Him in all we say and do.

Daily prayer and Bible study are essential. Prayer should not just be something we do before a meal or a quick shout out to God before bed. It should be a constant in our daily lives. We should continually praise Him in our hearts and minds. We should be thankful for all He does for us and rejoice with Him in good times. And we should bring our confessions and our concerns to Him. We can count on Him in times of trouble.

We should never only come to Him in times of trouble. We should always have that open line of communication that can only be had through continual prayer and daily Bible study.

Rejoice always. If things aren’t looking so great now, you have something great to look forward to. God’s got this. Pray continually. And be thankful for all he does for you.

Have a great day!