1 Thessalonians 5:17

A CHRISTIAN’S DUTY

‘Pray without ceasing.’

1 Thessalonians 5:17

How shall we use this help to holiness so that we may be able to get a tighter grasp of this sanctity that God has put within our reach? How shall we pray?

I. We must pray with preparation.—We must not go into the audience-chamber of God with lips unprepared, or hearts not made ready. Before thou prayest prepare thyself.

II. Pray with reverence.—Before we pray let us realise what prayer means; before we begin to speak to God let us realise that it is God to Whom we are about to speak; that it is God Who is listening to us, the Holy God, ready to hear and answer the prayers of us who are so sinful. Will there then be need to tell us to be reverent? ‘Put off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.’

III. We must pray with faith.—Not, I mean, believing that God will answer our prayers in the way that we look for them, not that He will give us exactly the blessings we ask for, that is not faith; but the perfect trust in God’s wisdom and love that He hears our prayers, that he answers our prayers not according to our ignorance in asking, but according to His great wisdom Who gives us what we ask. According to thy faith shall it be done.

IV. Pray with perseverance.—‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened.’ So Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane prays; He prays the same words. Oh, yes, ‘heaviness may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’

—Bishop C. J. Ridgeway.

Illustration

‘Prayer is a duty. God is our Creator—prayer is the duty that we owe Him as creatures that bow before Him in awe. God is our King—prayer is the duty that we owe to our King as subjects that draw near to Him in lowly reverence. God is our Father—prayer is the duty that as children we pay to Him as we draw near to Him in love. Prayer is a duty; yes, then every Christian when he prays is a priest going into the audience-chamber of God Himself, and spreading out his hands at the throne of grace, and offering his sacrifice always acceptable to God.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

THOUGHTS ABOUT PRAYER

Consider:—

I. What prayer is.—Intercourse between God and man.

II. The dignity of prayer.—It brings us into the very presence of God.

III. The power of prayer.—It can rule the world.

IV. The duty of constancy in prayer.—For supplication must be constant as well as persevering, therefore ‘Pray without ceasing.’

Illustration

‘We began to pray when we were little children, and we must pray on till death comes; and though in the hour of death the man may not be able to hear what is said to him, yet we know he can pray, although he cannot listen, by the movement of his lips. And who shall say that in paradise we shall not pray? What! be taught, be educated in the school of Jesus without wanting to know more! And who shall say that in heaven we shall not pray? for how can we gaze on God in His beauty and not ask that we may know more of God? But prayer is this, not only to do with the whole of life, but it pervades everything in the Christian life. Meditation, fasting, almsgiving, worship, communion, none of these things is possible without prayer; prayer is the first necessary condition of the sustenance of the spiritual life. Nothing can take the place of prayer, no efforts, no communion, no wishes, none of these can be put in the place of prayer, for “Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,” and a prayerless soul is a dead soul.’