Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Pray without ceasing.
17. Pray without ceasing ] Twice the Apostle has used this adverb (ch. 1Th 1:3, 1Th 2:13), referring to his own constant grateful remembrance of his readers before God. Numberless other objects occupied his mind during the busy hours of each day; and the Thessalonians could not be distinctly present to his mind in every act of devotion; still he felt that they were never out of remembrance, and thankfulness on their account mingled with and coloured all his thoughts and feelings at this time. In like manner Prayer is to be the accompaniment of our whole life a stream ever flowing, now within sight and hearing, now disappearing from view, forming lie under-current of all our thoughts and giving to them its own character and tone.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Pray without ceasing – See the notes on Rom 12:12. The direction here may be fairly construed as meaning:
(1) That we are to be regular and constant in the observance of the stated seasons of prayer. We are to observe the duty of prayer in the closet, in the family, and in the assembly convened to call on the name of the Lord. We are not to allow this duty to be interrupted or intermitted by any trifling cause. We are so to act that it may be said we pray regularly in the closet, in the family, and at the usual seasons when the church prays to which we belong.
(2) We are to maintain an uninterrupted and constant spirit of prayer. We are to be in such a frame of mind as to be ready to pray publicly if requested; and when alone, to improve any moment of leisure which we may have when we feel ourselves strongly inclined to pray. That Christian is in a bad state of mind who has suffered himself, by attention to worldly cares, or by light conversation, or by gaiety and vanity, or by reading an improper book, or by eating or drinking too much, or by late hours at night among the thoughtless and the vain, to be brought into such a condition that he cannot engage in prayer with proper feelings. There has been evil done to the soul if it is not prepared for communion with God at all times, and if it would not find pleasure in approaching his holy throne.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Th 5:17
Pray without ceasing
I.
What is it to pray?
1. It is a desire. That is the nature of it. We may desire a thing–
(1) With our mouths only (Isa 29:13).
(2) With our hearts only (1Sa 1:13).
(3) Both with heart and mouth. This is prayer; and so prayer is both cordial and oral (Joh 17:1).
2. The subject: good things (1Ti 4:8).
(1) For our natural life.
(a) For our being (Jam 5:14-15).
(b) For our well-being (Pro 30:8).
(2) For our spiritual life.
(a) To understand the Scriptures (Psa 119:18; Jam 1:5).
(b) To repent of sin (Psa 51:7; Psa 51:10).
(c) To believe in Christ (Luk 17:5).
(d) To love God.
(e) For pardon (Act 8:1-40; Mat 6:13).
(3) For our eternal life.
(a) To hold out to the end (Psa 51:12).
(b) And then crown us with glory (2Ti 4:7-8).
3. The object: God, not saints. As appears–
(1) From Scripture (Rom 10:14; Luk 11:2).
(2) From reason.
(a) Saints cannot hear us.
(b) If they do they cannot help us (Isa 45:20).
(c) Prayer is a part of Divine worship.
II. How doth it appear we ought to pray.
1. God commands it (1Ti 2:8).
2. It is part of His worship (Psa 95:6-7).
3. By this we give Him glory.
(1) Of His sovereignty over us.
(2) Of His immensity and omnipresence (Mat 6:6).
(3) His all sufficiency.
(4) His mercy.
(5) His faithfulness to His promises.
4. This is the means appointed by God for our receipt of good things (Eze 36:37; Luk 11:13).
5. He has promised good things to it (Mat 7:7).
III. How should we pray?
1. With outward reverence (Heb 12:28; Psa 95:6; Isa 45:23). The saints always did so: Daniel (Dan 4:10); Solomon (2Ch 6:13); Peter (Act 9:40); Paul (Act 20:36; Act 21:5; Eph 3:14); Stephen (Act 7:60). Our Lord (Luk 22:41).
2. Inwardly.
(1) With the understanding (1Co 14:15).
(2) The heart (Isa 29:13; Eze 33:31; 1Co 14:15).
(3) In charity (1Ti 2:8).
(4) With respect to the promises (Gen 32:9-12).
(5) In the name of Christ (Joh 14:13).
(6) In faith (Heb 11:6).
(7) To a right end (Mat 6:6; Jam 4:3).
(8) So as to expect the answer (Psa 45:23).
IV. When should we pray? Without ceasing. Not as if all our time was to be spent in prayer; but–
1. So as always to have our hearts in a praying posture (Psa 55:17).
2. So as to take all occasions of prayer (2Sa 9:13; Luk 2:37; Luk 24:53; Act 1:14).
3. So as to pray in all conditions (Eph 6:18; Jam 5:13).
4. So as not to leave off praying for any mercy because God doth not at first hear us (Luk 18:1; 2Co 12:8-9).
5. So as to pray every day (Luk 1:75; Mat 6:11). There is not a day we sin, nor a day but we want mercies.
6. So as to take all occasions to lift up our hearts to God in ejaculations (Luk 17:1-37; Neh 2:4; Neh 5:19; Neh 13:22; Mar 9:24; 1Sa 1:13). (Bp. Beveridge.)
The nature, seasons, and obligations of prayer
I. The nature of prayer. It is an act of worship, consisting of four great parts.
1. Adoration.
2. Confession.
3. Petition.
4. Thanksgiving.
II. The principal seasons of prayer.
1. The Sabbath.
2. Such occasional days as are warranted by the Word of God and appointed by the Church.
3. The morning and evening of every day.
4. The times at which we receive our food.
5. Besides these regular seasons of prayer, there are many others continually occurring which can be designated by no general name.
The times at which all peculiar blessings are bestowed on us are times of prayer. In the same manner is prayer our especial duty at those seasons in which we are peculiarly distressed in body or in mind, are in peculiar danger, are exposed peculiarly to temptations, are sick, are bereaved of beloved friends, are threatened with alarming evils, or whenever we find ourselves the subjects of peculiar sloth, reluctance to our duty, or ready to repine at the dispensations of Gods providence, or to distrust His faithfulness or His mercy. Nor are we less obviously called to the duties of prayer and thanksgiving by the peculiar prosperity or distresses, the dangers or deliverances, of our country. In the same manner the great concerns of the Church of God ought continually to be subjects of fervent supplications.
III. Our obligations to perform this duty. To pray–
1. Is a dictate of conscience and common sense.
2. Is an injunction of Scripture.
3. Is after the example of Christ.
4. Promotes our own well-being.
God has taught us that He will be inquired of by mankind for the good which He is pleased to bestow upon them. The only promise that He will give or that we shall receive blessings is made to such as ask. (Timothy Dwight, D. D.)
Habitual communion with God in prayer
There are two modes of praying mentioned in Scripture: the one is prayer at set times and places and in set forms; the other is what the text speaks of–continual or habitual prayer. The former of these is what is commonly called prayer, whether it be public or private. The other kind of praying may also be called holding communion with God, or living in Gods sight, and this may be done all through the day, wherever we are, and is commanded us as the duty, or rather the characteristic, of those who are really servants and friends of Jesus Christ. These two kinds of praying are also natural duties. I mean we should in a way be bound to attend to them, even if we were born in a heathen country and had never heard of the Bible. For our conscience and reason would lead us to practice them, if we did but attend to these Divinely given informants. Most men indeed, I fear, neither pray at fixed times, nor do they cultivate an habitual communion with Almighty God. Indeed, it is too plain how most men pray. They pray now and then, when they feel particular need of Gods assistance; when they are in trouble or in apprehension of danger; or when their feelings are unusually excited. They do not know what it is either to be habitually religious or to devote a certain number of minutes at fixed times to the thought of God. Nay, the very best Christian, how lamentably deficient is he in the spirit of prayer! Let any man compare in his mind how many times he has prayed when in trouble with how seldom he has returned thanks when his prayers have been granted; or the earnestness with which he prays against expected sufferings with the languor and unconcern of his thanksgivings afterwards, and he will soon see how little he has of the real habit of prayer, and how much his religion depends on accidental excitement, which is no test of a religious heart. Or supposing he has to repeat the same prayer for a month or two, the cause of using it continuing, let him compare the earnestness with which he first said it, and tried to enter into it, with the coldness with which he at length uses it. Why is this, except that his perception of the unseen world is not the true view which faith gives (else it would last as that world itself lasts) but a mere dream, which endureth for a night, and is succeeded by a hard worldly joy in the morning? Is God habitually in our thoughts? Do we think of Him and of His Son our Saviour through the day? When we eat and drink, do we thank Him, not as a mere matter of form, but in spirit? When we do things in themselves right, do we lift up our minds to Him and desire to promote His glory? (Plain Sermons by Contributors to Tracts for the Times.)
The spirit of prayer
Let us–
I. Explain the injunction in our text. It is the practice of the Scripture writers to use broad and forcible terms to express the extent or the intensity of their ideas. Such a phrase demands–
1. The frequent act of prayer. Thus, when St. Paul declares to the Romans (Rom 1:9) that without ceasing he made mention of them always in his prayers, he seems to refer to his intercessions for them at his stated approaches to the throne of grace; for when he tells the Ephesians (Eph 1:16), in a similar phrase, that he ceased not to give thanks for them, we find this to be his meaning, from the sentence that he immediately adds, making mention of you in my prayers. Just as he writes to the Philippians (Php 1:3-4). In all cases, habits are formed only by the repetition of acts; and therefore devotion is essential to devoutness.
2. The persevering habit of prayer–the patient waiting upon God in the face of difficulties and discouragement. For when the apostle says, pray without ceasing, his object is, as may be gathered from the context, to animate them to persevere in supplication, notwithstanding their disappointment with respect to the immediate coming of the Lord, their sorrow for the loss of Christian friends, and their experience of unruly and unstable brethren.
3. The pervading spirit of prayer. For without this all stated acts and persevering diligence of outward supplication will be vain. Prayer consists not in those acts, but in the spirit and temper of devoutness, generated, exercised, kept up under difficulty by those acts.
II. Enforce it. It might, indeed, appear at first sight strange that such a duty should need enforcement; that no very pressing argument would be necessary to persuade to such a privilege. Let me, then, press it upon you–
1. As a remedy for perplexity. Man is ignorant and foolish; and he has daily proofs that it is not in himself to direct his steps.
2. As a consolation under trouble.
3. As your strength against temptation. No sin can be successfully resisted without fervent prayer. (T. Griffith, M. A.)
Pray without ceasing
The position of the text is suggestive.
1. It comes after Rejoice evermore, and as if that had staggered the reader, Paul now tells him how to do it: Always pray. The more praying the more rejoicing.
2. In everything give thanks. When joy and prayer are married their firstborn is gratitude.
I. What do these words imply?
1. That the voice is not an essential element in prayer. It would be unseemly and impossible to pray aloud unceasingly. There would be no opportunity for any other duty. We may speak a thousand words and never pray, and yet cry most effectually, like Moses, and never utter a word. The voice is helpful, but not necessary, to the reality or prevalence of prayer.
2. The posture is not of great importance. Kneeling is a beautiful token, but who could be always kneeling? and, besides, good men have stood, sat, etc.
3. The place is not essential; if it were, our churches should be large enough for us all to live in them; and if for the highest acceptance we need aisle, chancel, etc., then farewell green lanes, fields, etc., for we must without ceasing dwell where your fragrance can never reach us. But this is ridiculous. God dwelleth not in temples made with hands.
4. The text overthrows the idea of particular times, for every second must be suitable for prayer. It is good to have seasons, but superstition to suppose that one hour or season is holier than another. Every day is a red letter day.
5. A Christian has no right to go into any place where he could not continue to pray. Hence many amusements stand condemned at once. Imagine a collect for the shooting match, the race course, the theatre. Anything that is right for you to do you may consecrate with prayer.
II. What does this actually mean?
1. A privilege. Kings hold their levees at certain times, and then their courtiers are admitted; but the King of kings holds a constant levee.
2. A precept. It means–
(1) Never abandon prayer for any cause. You must not pray until you are saved and then leave off; nor after you are experienced in grace; nor because of Satans temptation that it is all vain; nor because the heavens are brass, or your heart cold; nor because you cannot answer sceptical objections. No difficult problem about digestion prevents you eating. As we breathe without ceasing, so we must pray.
(2) Never suspend the regular offering of prayer. Never give up the morning and evening prayer. The clock is to go all day, but there is a time for winding it up.
3. Between these hours of devotion be much in ejaculatory prayer. While your hands are busy with the world, let your hearts still talk with God. He who prays without ceasing uses little darts or hand grenades of godly desire, which he casts forth at every available interval.
4. We must always be in the spirit of prayer. Our heart must be like the magnetic needle, which always has an inclination towards the pole. In an iron ship it exhibits serious deflections; if you force it to the east, you have only to take the pressure away and immediately it returns to its beloved pole again. So let your hearts be magnetized with prayer, so that if the finger of duty turns it away from the immediate act, there may still be the longing desire, to be acted upon the first possible moment. As perfume lies in flowers even when they do not shed their fragrance, so let prayer lie in your hearts.
5. Let your actions be consistent with and a continuation of your prayers. The text cannot mean that I am always to be in direct devotion, for the mind needs variety of occupation, and could not without madness continue always in the exercise of one function. We must therefore change the manner of operation if we are to pray without ceasing. He who prays for his fellow creatures and thus seeks their good is praying still.
III. How can we obey these words?
1. Let us labour to prevent all sinful interruptions.
2. Let us avoid all unnecessary interruptions. If we know of anything that we can escape which is likely to disturb the spirit of prayer let us shun it.
3. Sometimes we are too busy to pray. This is a great mistake. Luther said, I have so much to do today that I shall never get through it without three hours prayer. Sir H. Havelock rose two hours before the time to march that he might have time for Bible reading and communion with God. Payson, pressed by examinations, etc., abridged the time for private prayer, but when he corrected his mistake, he confessed that he did more in a single week than in twelve months before. God can multiply our ability to make use of them.
4. We must strive against indolence, lethargy, and indifference. We need waking up. Routine grows upon us.
5. Fight against despair of being heard. If we have not been heard after six times we must, like Elijah, go again seven times. Be importunate: heavens gate does not open to every runaway knock.
6. Never cease through presumption.
IV. Why should we obey this precept? Because–
1. It is of Divine authority.
2. The Lord always deserves to be worshipped.
3. You want a blessing in all the work you are doing.
4. You are always in danger of being tempted. Carry your sword in your hand; never sheathe it.
5. You always want something.
6. Others always want your prayers. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Unceasing prayer
I. Prayer must be incessant.
1. From the nature of the act.
(1) Prayer is intercourse with God, the Being in whom the creature lives and moves. To stop praying, therefore, is to break the connection. A man must breathe without ceasing because thereby his whole physical system is kept in right relation with the atmosphere. It is as strictly true that religious being depend upon communication with God.
(2) It may be objected that prayerless men suffer no distress. If a human body is removed from the air and shut up in the Black Hole of Calcutta, the report comes at once from the physical organization that the established relation of the fleshly nature and the world has been interfered with.
(a) To this we reply that as man is composed of two natures, so he lives two lives, and for this reason he is able to gratify the desires of one nature and lead only one life here; it is possible for the flesh to live and the soul to be dead in sin. Like an amphibious animal, if man can absorb his lower nature in the objects of sense, he is able to dispense with intercourse between God and his higher nature without distress. If the amphibian can breathe on land, he need not gasp like a fish when taken from his native element.
(b) But while this is so, the soul, the principal part of man, cannot permanently escape distress if out of communication with God. The halfway life is not possible in eternity. The amphibian cannot live year after year in one element. Each nature asserts its rights ultimately, and if its wants are not met suffocation is the consequence. And so man cannot live in only one of his natures forever.
(c) We appeal to the Christian and ask him whether complete cessation of prayer would not work as disastrously to his soul as the stoppage of breath would in his body. Suppose that that calming, sustaining intercourse were shut off, would not your soul gasp and struggle? What a sinking sensation would fill the heart of the afflicted or bereaved if it were found impossible to pray! Man has become so accustomed to this privilege that he does not know its full richness. Like other gifts, nothing but deprivation would enable him to apprehend its full value.
2. From the fact that God is continually the hearer of prayer. An incessant appeal supposes one incessant reply. God does not hear His people today and turn a deaf ear tomorrow. He promised to hear in His temple continually (2Ch 8:12-16); nor does its destruction disprove the Divine faithfulness. If the worshipper ceases to go into the temple, God, of course, goes out of it. God, as Creator, has established such a relation between the body of man and the air that there must be a continual supply of air; and therefore He has surrounded him with the whole atmosphere. The instant he inhales with his lungs, he finds the element ready. And God, as Saviour, has established such a relation between the renewed soul and Himself that there must be unceasing communion, and therefore in the gospel proffers Himself, so that whenever the heart punts out its desire it finds one ever present supply.
II. The feasibility of unceasing prayer. The fact that prayer is the only mode by which the creature can hold intercourse with his Maker, goes to prove that such intercourse is practicable. It cannot be that God has called a dependent being into existence and cut off all access. If the intercourse is broken, it cannot be by God. To pray without ceasing:–
1. Man must have an inclination to pray.
(1) Volition is impotent without inclination. A man does not continuously follow an earthly calling unless his heart is in it. The two differ as stream from fountain. A mans resolutions spring out of his disposition, and in the long run do not go counter to it. Suppose an entire destitution of the inclination to draw near to God, and then by an effort of will lashing yourself up to the disagreeable work; even supposing such prayer acceptable, you could not make it unceasing by this method. You would soon grow weary.
(2) But if the inclination do exist, prayer will be constant and uniform. A good tree cannot but bear good fruit, and year after year without ceasing; because there is a foundation laid for this at the root. So if the soul is inclined towards God, nothing can prevent it from approaching Him–not sorrows, imprisonment, death.
2. This inclination must be strengthened by cultivation. Because it is the product of the Holy Spirit, it does not follow that we may neglect the means of development. You cannot originate a flower; but you must supply it with means of nurture, or it will die. And so with the inclination to pray. The means are–
(1) Regularity in the practice of prayer. Man is a creature of habit, and whatever he leaves to chance is likely to be neglected. He who has no particular time for winding his watch will often let it run down. There is a time for everything, and that Christian will be the most likely to pray without ceasing who at particular times enters his closet and shuts the door.
(2) The practice of ejaculatory prayer. Prayer does not depend so much upon its length as its intensity. We are not compelled to go to some central point, as Jerusalem or Mecca. In any section of space or point of time, the ejaculation of the soul may reach the Eternal mind, and be rewarded by the Hearer of prayer. (Prof. Shedd.)
The spirit of prayer
The life of religion consists in dependence upon God; and prayer is the breathing forth of this life, the exercise and energizing of this life.
I. The explanation of the injunction of the text.
1. The frequent act of prayer.
2. The persevering habit of prayer.
3. The pervading spirit of prayer.
II. The enforcement of the text.
1. As a remedy for perplexity.
2. As a consolation under trouble.
3. As strength against temptation. (T. Griffith, A. M.)
Unceasing prayer
I. The duty. Two extreme errors are to be avoided–that of the ancient Euchites, who took these words literally, and that of these who fail in constant prayer.
1. For those who would never intermit this exercise. Let us explain the word. A thing is said to be done without ceasing which is done at constant times and seasons, as often as they occur (2Sa 19:13; 2Sa 9:12; Rom 9:2; 1Th 2:13; 2Ti 1:3). The matter may bear a good sense if you interpret the apostles direction either of–
(1) The habit of prayer or praying temper (Psa 104:9).
(2) Vital prayer. All duties may be resolved into prayer or praise (Psa 25:5; Pro 23:27).
(3) Continuance in prayer till we receive the answer (Luk 18:1; Mat 15:22-28; 2Co 12:8).
(4) Frequency of return in the occasions of prayer. Praying–
(a) At all times, never omitting the seasons of prayer, stated or occasional (Mat 6:11).
(b) In all conditions, afflicted or prosperous (Jam 5:13; Jer 2:27; 1Ti 4:5).
(c) In every business, civil or sacred (Pro 3:6; Gen 24:12; 2Th 3:5).
2. To those who excuse infrequent prayer on the pretence that they are not bound to pray always, and that the time of duty is not exactly stated in the New Testament.
(1) Though there is no express rule, yet the duty is required in the strictest and most comprehensive terms (Eph 6:18; Col 4:2 : Psa 62:8; Luk 21:36).
(2) The examples of the saints should move us. David (Psa 55:17); Daniel (Dan 6:10).
(3) The ceasing of the daily sacrifice was accounted a great misery (Dan 9:27).
(4) God trusts love, and would not particularly define the times of the duty; surely, then, we should be more open-hearted and liberal with Him. He expects much from a willing people (Psa 110:3).
(5) God complains of His peoples neglect (Jer 2:32).
II. The reasons.
1. With respect to God–
(1) We acknowledge His Being in prayer (Heb 11:6; Psa 65:2).
(2) We acknowledge His supreme providence (Mat 6:11).
2. With respect to the nature of prayer. It is the nearest familiarity which a soul can have with God. Now acts of friendship must not be rare, but constant (Job 22:21). Men that often visit one another are acquainted. Prayer is visiting God (Isa 26:16). This is necessary–
(1) For present comfort; it gives boldness to come to God in your necessities if you daily wait upon Him (Eph 3:12). A child is not afraid to go to his father, nor a friend to a friend in trouble.
(2) For future acceptance (Luk 21:36).
3. With respect to the new nature (Zec 12:10; Act 9:11).
4. With respect to the necessities of the saints (Jam 1:5; Eph 3:10; Heb 4:16).
5. With respect to its utility and profit.
(1) The three radical graces–faith, hope, and love–are acted on and increased in prayer (Jud 1:20-21; Psa 116:1-2).
(2) The three related duties–joy, prayer, thanksgiving–are promoted by frequent prayer (Php 4:6-7; Psa 116:2; 1Sa 1:27-28). (T. Manton, D. D.)
Prayer all pervading
A man cannot really be religious one hour and not religious the next. We might as well say that he could be in a state of good health one hour and in bad health the next. A man who is religious is religious morning, noon, and night; his religion is a certain character, a mould in which his thoughts, words, and actions are cast, all forming parts of one and the same whole. He sees God in all things; every course of action he directs towards those spiritual objects which God has revealed to Him; every occurrence of the day, every event, every person met with, all news which he hears, he measures by the standard of Gods will. And a person who does this may be said almost literally to pray without ceasing; for, knowing himself to be in Gods presence, he is continually led to address Him reverently, whom he always sets before him, in the inward language of prayer and praise, of humble confession and joyful trust. (J. H. Newman, D. D.)
The all pervasiveness of prayer
Prayer is to be regarded not only as a distinct exercise of religion, for which its own time must be set apart, but as a process woven into the texture of the Christians mind, and extending through the length and breadth of his life. Like the golden thread in a tissue, it frequently disappears beneath the common threads; yet, nevertheless, it is substantially there, like a stream running underground for a certain period of its course. Suddenly the thread emerges into sight again on the upper surface of the tissue, and suddenly again disappears; and thus it penetrates the whole texture, although occasionally hidden. (Dean Goulburn.)
Watching and prayer
Venice may well call upon us to note with reverence, that of all the towers which are still seen rising like a branchless forest from her islands, there is but one whose office was other than that of summoning to prayer, and that one was a watch tower only. (J. Ruskin.)
Regularity in prayer
Sir Thomas Abney had for many years practised family prayer regularly; he was elected Lord Mayor of London, and on the night of his election he must be present at a banquet; but when the time came for him to call his family together in prayer, having no wish either to be a Pharisee or to give up his practice, he excused himself to the guests in this way: he said he had an important engagement with a very dear friend, and they must excuse him for a few minutes. It was most true; his dearest friend was the Lord Jesus, and family prayer was an important engagement; and so he withdrew for awhile to the family altar, and in that respect prayed without ceasing. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Example of constant prayer
Fletchers whole life was a life of prayer; and so intensely was his mind fixed upon God, that he sometimes said, I would not move from my seat without lifting up my heart to God. Whenever we met, says Mr. Vaughan, if we were alone, his first salute was, Do I meet you praying? And if we were talking on any point of Divinity, when we were in the depth of our discourse, he would often break off abruptly and ask, Where are our hearts now? If ever the misconduct of an absent person was mentioned, his usual reply was, Let us pray for him. (Life of Fletcher of Madeley.)
Necessity of constant prayer
Some graces, like the lungs, are always in use. Pray without ceasing; be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long; and such like exhortations appertain to continuous duties. Thus David says, I have set the Lord always before me–he was always living in the presence of God. Other parts of the human frame are exercised occasionally, but the lungs are always at work; and, even so, certain of the graces are in active motion in their appointed seasons; but faith never ceases to believe in the Lord Jesus, for it is essential to spiritual vitality. Hence we ought never to go where we shall be out of the atmosphere of heaven. Lungs must have air, and cannot endure a dense smoke or a poisonous gas; nor can faith bear error, false doctrine, and evil conversation. Since we always need the pure air of heaven, let us not go where it cannot be found. Who in his senses would desire to have been in the Black Hole of Calcutta? Who wishes to dwell where drunkenness and loose living abound? How can faith breathe in such a suffocating atmosphere? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Constant prayer in practice
At a monthly meeting of ministers in London, a question was proposed to be discussed at the next meeting, viz., How can we pray always? A woman at the bottom of the room, attending to the fire, turned round and said, Why, gentlemen, I could answer that question now. Ah, said a minister, Susan, do you know how to pray always? I hope so; said Susan. But, said the minister, you have so much to attend to; how can you find time to pray always? Oh, said Susan, the greater the variety I have to attend to, the more I am assisted to pray. In the morning, when I open my eyes, I pray, Lord, open the eyes of my understanding, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law. Whilst I am dressing I pray, Lord, may I be clothed in the robe of righteousness, and adorned with the garment of salvation! As I am washing myself I pray, O Lord, may I be washed in the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness! When kindling the fire I pray, O Lord, kindle a fire of sacred love in this cold heart of mine! And whilst sweeping the room I pray, Lord, may my heart be swept clean of all its abominations! And so, gentlemen, I am praying all the day! O happy woman! (Clerical Library.)
Value of constant prayer
Can you stand on the beach a moment? You can scarcely see, but yet you may discern, by the lights of lanterns, sundry brave men launching the lifeboat. It is out; they have taken their seats–helmsmen and rowers, all strong hearts, determined to save their fellows or to perish, They have gotten far away now into the midst of the billows, and we have lost sight of them; but in spirit we will take our stand in the midst of the boat. What a sea rolled in just then! If she were not built for such weather, she would surely have been overset. See that tremendous wave, and how the boat leaps like a sea bird over its crest. See now again, it has plunged into a dreary furrow, and the wind, like some great plough, turns up the water on either side as though it were clods of mould. Surely the boat will find her grave, and be buried in the sheet of foam;–but no, she comes out of it, and the dripping men draw a long breath. But the mariners are discouraged; they have strained themselves bending to yonder oars, and they would turn back, for there is small hope of living in such a sea, and it is hardly possible that they will ever reach the wreck. But the brave captain cries out, Now, my bold lads, for Gods sake, send her on! A few more pulls of the oar, and we shall be alongside; the poor fellows will be able to hold on a minute or two longer–now pull as for dear life! See how the boat leaps; see how she springs as though she were a living thing–a messenger of mercy intent to save. Again he says, Once more, once again, and we will do it! No, she has been dashed aside from the ship for a moment; that sea all but stove her in; but the helmsman turns her round, and the captain cries, Now, my boys, once more! And every man pulls with lusty sinews, and the poor shipwrecked ones are saved. Ay, it is just so with us now. Long have Christs ministers, long have Christs Church, pulled with the gospel lifeboat. Let us pull again. Every prayer is a fresh stroke of the oar, and all of you are oarsmen. Yes, ye feeble women, ye confined to your beds, shut up in your chambers, who can do nothing else but pray, ye are all oarsmen in this great boat. Pull yet once more, and this week let us drive the boat ahead, and it may be it will be the last tremendous struggle that shall be required; for sinners shall be saved, and the multitude of the redeemed shall be accomplished. Not we, but grace shall do the work; yet is it ours to be workers for God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Continuous and stated prayer
Prayer is the act of spiritual respiration; that true prayer can no more be limited to certain hours than respiration can. Yet even the image itself does not warrant us in thinking lightly of the virtue of stated prayer. It is true, indeed, that life can be supported even in the populous market, in the crowded street, nay, in the worst ventilated alleys, so long as respiration continues; but what a source of health and strength would the poor overwrought artizan find, if he could resort now and then to the transparent air of the open country, undefiled by smoke; to the purple-heathered down, where sweet gales fan the cheek; or to the margin of the ocean, over whose surface careers the invigorating wind! In spots like these we not only breathe, but breathe easily, freely, and spontaneously; the mere process of animal life is a delight to us, and with every breath we drink in health. Such is the effect of an hour of stated prayer after a day busily, yet devoutly spent. That hour wonderfully recruits the energies of the soul which human infirmity has caused to flag; and if we cannot say with truth that such an hour is absolutely necessary to spiritual existence, yet we can say that it is absolutely necessary to spiritual health and well-being. (Dean Goulburn.)
Prayer independent of moods
The late Mrs. Prentiss, daughter of the saintly Edward Payson, was pre eminently a woman of prayer. From her early years prayer was her delight. In describing the comforts of her chamber in the Richmond School, she valued as its crowning charm the daily presence of the Eternal King, who condescended to make it His dwelling place. She was accustomed to speak of learning the mysterious art of prayer by an apprenticeship at the throne of grace. She saw that prayer is not to be made dependent on the various states of emotion in which one comes to God. The question, she said, is not one of mere delight. She illustrated in her own quaint way the truth that moods have nothing to do with the duty of prayer. When one of your little brothers asks you to lend him your knife, do you inquire first what is the state of his mind? If you do, what reply can he make but this: The state of my mind is, I want your knife. (J. L. Nye.)
Prayer a training for prayer
Manton says, By running and breathing yourselves every day, you are the fitter to run in a race; so the oftener you come into Gods presence, the greater confidence, and freedom, and enlargement it will bring. No doubt by praying we learn to pray; and the more we pray the oftener we can pray, and the better we can pray. He who prays by fits and starts is never likely to attain to that effectual, fervent prayer, which availeth much. Prayer is good, the habit of prayer is better, but the spirit of prayer is the best of all. It is in the spirit of prayer that we pray without ceasing, and this can never be acquired by the man who ceases to pray. It is wonderful what distances men can run who have long practised the art, and it is equally marvellous for what a length of time they can maintain a high speed after they have once acquired stamina and skill in using their muscles. Great power in prayer is within our reach, but we must go to work to obtain it. Let us never imagine that Abraham could have interceded so successfully for Sodom if he had not been all his lifetime in the practice of communion with God. Jacobs all-night at Peniel was not the first occasion upon which he had met his God. We may even look upon our Lords most choice and wonderful prayer with His disciples before His Passion as the flower and fruit of His many nights of devotion, and of His often rising up a great while before day to pray. A man who becomes a great runner has to put himself in training, and to keep himself in it; and that training consists very much of the exercise of running. Those who have distinguished themselves for speed have not suddenly leaped into eminence, but have long been runners. If a man dreams that he can become mighty in prayer just when he pleases, he labours under a great mistake. The prayer of Elias, which shut up heaven and afterwards opened its floodgates, was one of a long series of mighty prevailings with God. Oh, that Christian men would remember this! Perseverance in prayer is necessary to prevalence in prayer. These great intercessors, who are not so often mentioned as they ought to be in connection with confessors and martyrs, were nevertheless the grandest benefactors of the Church; but it was only by abiding at the mercy seat that they attained to be such channels of mercy to men. We must pray to pray, and continue in prayer that our prayers may continue. O Thou, by whom we come to God, seeing Thou hast Thyself trodden the way of prayer, and didst never turn from it, teach me to remain a suppliant as long as I remain a sinner, and to wrestle in prayer so long as I have to wrestle with the powers of evil. Whatever else I may outgrow, may I never dream that I may relax my supplications. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Ejaculatory prayer
Ejaculations take not up any room in the soul. They give liberty of callings, so that at the same instant one may follow his proper vocation. The husbandman may dart forth an ejaculation, and not make a balk the more; the seaman, nevertheless, steer his ship right in the darkest night. Yea, the soldier at the same time may shoot out his prayer to God, and aim his pistol at his enemy, the one better hitting the mark for the other. The field wherein bees feed is no whit the barer for their biting; when they have taken their full repast on flowers or grass, the ox may feed, the sheep fat on their reversions. The reason is, because those little chemists distil only the refined part of the flower, leaving only the grosser substance thereof. So ejaculations bind not men to any bodily observance, only busy the spiritual half, which maketh them consistent with the prosecution of any other employment. (T. Fuller, D. D.)
Prayer without petition
Prayer is not always petition, thanksgiving, confession, adoration, etc.; it is often an unuttered and unutterable communion. A nervous clergyman, who could only compose to advantage when absolutely alone and undisturbed, thoughtlessly left his study door unlocked, and his little three-year-old child softly opened the door and came in. He was disturbed, and, a little impatiently asked, My child, what do you want? Nothing, papa. Then what did you come in here for? Just because I wanted to be with you, was the reply. To come into Gods presence and wait before Him, wanting nothing but to be with Him–how such aa hour now and again would rest us! We have a friend who leaves his business place, especially when particularly burdened with care, and rides up to the great cathedral, where he sits down for an hour, and then goes back again to business. He says, It is so quiet there, it rests and quiets me. How much more might we find a quiet resting place for our weary souls and bodies, by just resting in the Lord, sitting without petition at His feet, or as John, leaning our heads upon His bosom. (Independent.)
Prayer always seasonable
There is nothing which is right for us to do, but it is also right to ask that God would bless it; and, indeed, there is nothing so little but the frown of God can convert it into the most sad calamity, or His smile exalt it into a most memorable mercy; and there is nothing we can do but its complexion for weal or woe depends entirely on what the Lord will make it. It is said of Matthew Henry, that no journey was undertaken, or any subject or course of sermons entered upon, no book committed to the press, nor any trouble apprehended or felt, without a particular application to the mercy seat for direction, assistance, and success. It is recorded of Cornelius Winter that he seldom opened a book, even on general subjects, without a moments prayer. The late Bishop Heber, on each new incident of his history, or on the eve of any under taking, used to compose a brief prayer, imploring special help and guidance. A physician, of great celebrity, used to ascribe much of his success to three maxims of his fathers, the last and best of which was, Always pray for your patients.
Continuous prayer
Dr. Raleigh used to say that he could not preach without communion with nature, and this meant, for him, communion with God. Those who knew him best knew that he lived in an inner world of prayer. He seldom spoke of such experiences; but he has said, I cannot always pray when I would, but some days I seem to pray all day long. He used to think out his sermons during his solitary walks, and his freshest thoughts came to him under the open sky. (Life of Dr. Raleigh.)
Prayer a security
There is a curious fish found in some of the Indian rivers, which may be called the river Remora. Nature has provided it with a sucker beneath the jaws, which enables it to attach itself to a rock, and so resist the terrific current to which it is exposed in the rainy seasons. What that provision is to the fish, prayer is to you. By it you may cling to the rock, though all else threatens to sweep you away.
Given to prayer
During his seclusion at Enderley, writes one of the biographers of Robert Hall, almost entirely without society, he spent much of his time in private devotion, and not infrequently set apart whole days for prayer and fasting–a practice which he continued to the end of life, deeming it essential to the revival and preservation of personal religion. When able to walk, he wandered in the fields and sought the shady grove, which often echoed with the voice of prayer and witnessed the agony of his supplications. He was frequently so absorbed in these sacred exercises as to be unaware of the approach of persons passing by, many of whom recollected with deep emotion the fervour and importunity of his addresses at the mercy seat, and the groanings which could not be uttered. His whole soul appears, indeed, to have been in a state of constant communion with God; his lonely walks amid the woodland scenery were rendered subservient to that end, and all his paths were bedewed with the tears of penitential prayer. Few men have spent more time in private devotion, or resorted to it with more relish, or had a deeper practical conviction of its benefits and its pleasures, as well as of its obligation as a duty binding upon all. (Joseph Cook.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. Pray without ceasing.] Ye are dependent on God for every good; without him ye can do nothing; feel that dependence at all times, and ye will always be in the spirit of prayer; and those who feel this spirit will, as frequently as possible, be found in the exercise of prayer.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This is a means to maintain our rejoicing, and therefore next mentioned. Prayer is a making known our requests to God, Phi 4:6. And it is either mental, in the heart only, as Hannahs was; or vocal, expressed with the voice; or, as some add, vital: so good works have a voice to bring down blessings, as mens sins cry for vengeance.
Without ceasing; not as the Euchites and Messalians of old, who hence thought no other duties were required, but always praying; but by the word in the text, is either meant a praying without fainting, as in the parable, Luk 18:1, and which the apostle calls a perseverance in prayer, Eph 6:18; Col 4:2; , or praying with strength, as the Greek word there imports, and so not to faint; so Rom 12:12. Or a praying in every thing, as Phi 4:6; In every thing let your requests be made known, & c. Or, in every season, as Eph 6:18; to take hold of the seasons of prayer. Or, in all seasons and times, whether good or bad, yet still to pray. And all this is meant by the word in the text, which is also used 1Th 1:3; 1Th 2:13; Rom 1:9; and implies in general no more but a constant course of prayer, so Col 4:2, to watch unto prayer, as that the course of it be not interrupted by any diversions. As also to preserve a heart disposed to pray at all times, and to mingle ejaculatory prayers with the several actions of our lives: our wants are continual, and God will be acknowledged in all our supplies, and therefore we ought to pray continually.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. The Greek is, “Praywithout intermission“; without allowing prayerless gapsto intervene between the times of prayer.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Pray without ceasing. Not that saints should be always on their knees, or ever lifting up their hands, and vocally calling upon God; this is not required of them, and would clash with, and break in upon other parts of religious worship, and the duties of civil life, which are to be attended to, as well as this, and besides would be impracticable; for however willing a spiritual man might be to be engaged in this work always, yet the flesh is weak, and would not be able to bear it; and it requires food and drink, sleep and rest, for its refreshment and support; for all which there must be time allowed, as well as for other actions of animal life, and the business of a man’s calling. But the meaning is, that believers should be daily, and often found in the performance of this duty; for as their wants daily return upon them, and they are called to fresh service, and further trials and exercises, they have need of more grace, strength, and assistance, and therefore should daily pray for it; and besides certain times both in the closet, and in the family, in which they should attend the throne of grace, there is such a thing as mental prayer, praying in the heart, private ejaculations of the soul, which may be sent up to heaven, while a man is engaged in the affairs of life. The Ethiopic version renders the words, “pray frequently”; do not leave off praying, or cease from it through the prevalence of sin, the temptations of Satan, or through discouragement, because an answer is not immediately had, or through carelessness and negligence, but continue in it, and be often at it; see Lu 18:1. These words are opposed to the practice of such, who either pray not at all, or, having used it, have left it off, or who only pray in a time of trouble and distress, and bear hard on those who think they should not pray but when under the influences of the Spirit, and when his graces are in a lively exercise: the reason for this rule of praying with frequency and constancy is, because the saints are always needy, they are always in want of mercies of one kind or another, and therefore should continually go to the throne of grace, and there ask for grace and mercy to help them in time of need.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Without ceasing [] . Comp. Romans 9; Rom 12:12; Eph 6:18; Col 4:2.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Pray” (proseuchesthe) “pray ye”; Like diamonds and dewdrops in sunlight, prayer reflects the true character of a Christian. Prayer is to be like an ever-flowing brook, an undercurrent giving continual strength to the life of every believer, Luk 18:1; Luk 21:36; Rom 12:12.
2) “Without ceasing” (adialeiptos) “not ceasing, or unceasingly”; without doubting, wavering, or forgetting that the source of all help and hope is in the Lord. To continue, persevere, in Christian living through the enabling instrument and channel of prayer is pleasing to our Lord, 2Co 4:2; Eph 6:18; 1Pe 4:7.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(17) Pray without ceasing.Theophylact well says, This shows the way to rejoice alwaysto wit, incessant prayer and eucharist, for he that has accustomed himself to hold converse with God, and to give thanks to Him over everything that happens as happening well, will evidently have unbroken joy. Though a man cannot be incessantly praying in words, the mind may be held continuously in an attitude of prayer, even in sleep (Son. 5:2).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. Pray without ceasing This recipe of St. Paul’s for a perpetual rejoice is in two Greek words, Pray incessantly. It means, not the being incessantly upon our knees, provided there be a perpetual submission of soul. It requires not perpetual utterance of words, provided there be a permanent communion of the heart with God. Yet will that submission and that communion often frame themselves in definite thought and positive words, and go out in vocal prayer for our own well-being and the highest good of others. And when the heart is in communion with God, and the soul has an interest in his unchanging favour, despondency, gloom, glowering over earthly prospects and discomforts, are out of place.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Th 5:17. Pray without ceasing. “And, in order to maintain and improve this holy joy, pray incessantly. Be constant in your stated devotions at their returning seasons, and endeavour to keep your minds habitually prepared for those pious ejaculations which have so happy a tendency to promote the Christian temper.” See Luk 18:1; Luk 24:53. Act 2:46-47.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Th 5:17 . One means of promoting Christian joyfulness is prayer . Theophylact: , , , . Paul also exhorts to continued prayer in Eph 6:18 , and to perseverance in prayer in Col 4:2 ; Rom 12:12 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
17 Pray without ceasing.
Ver. 17. Pray without ceasing ] While prayer standeth still, the trade of godliness stands still. All good comes into the soul by this door, all true treasure by this merchant’s ship. Paul beginneth, continueth, and concludeth his Epistles with prayer, Nehemiah sends up ejaculations ever and anon. Of Carolus Magnus it was spoken, Carolus plus cum Deo quam cum hominibus loquitur, that he spake more with God than with men. Our hearts should be evermore in a praying temper; and our set times of prayer should not be neglected, though we be not always alike prepared and disposed thereunto. Disuse breeds lothness to do it another time. Mahometans, what occasion soever they have, either by profit or pleasure, to divert them, will pray five times every day. a Oratio est quantitas discreta, saith the philosopher. Oratio debet esse quantitas continua, saith our apostle. A Christian must ever be praying habitually, and vitally too; for, semper orat qui bene semper agit. He hath manifold occasions of calling actually upon God, as, 1. His daily morning and evening sacrifice, the neglect or non-performance whereof the Jews counted and called an “abomination of desolation.” 2. The sanctification of creatures, calling, and relations. 3. New mercies. 4. New infirmities. 5. Variety of crosses. 6. Faintness of faith, spiritual desertions, temptations of Satan. 7. Sweetness of meditation. 8. Forethought of his last account, &c. Neither let any say we cannot awhile; for, 1. “A whet is no let;” a bait by the way is no hindrance to the journey; time spent in prayer hindereth not our business; for though it take so much from the heap, yet it increaseth the heap, as it is said of tithes and offerings, Mal 3:10 ; Blind Popery could say, Mass and meat hindereth no man’s thrift. 2. The greater the business, the more need there is of prayer to speed it; to be as oil to the wheel, as wings to the bird. Jacob, after he had seen God at Bethel, lift up his feet, and went lustily on his journey, Gen 29:1 ; Gen 3:1-24 . How much idle time spend we, either in doing nothing, or worse, that might better be bestowed in this holy duty! Only take heed that frequency breed not formality, that we pray not in a lazy, customary, bedulling strain, like the pace the Spaniard rides, but rousing up ourselves, and wrestling with God, set we sides and shoulders to the work, lift up hearts and hands to heaven, lean upon Christ’s bosom as the beloved disciple did, lie hard upon him, as she did upon Samson, to learn out his riddle; press him as they did the prophet, till he was even ashamed to say them nay, 2Ki 2:17 , till you put him to the blush, and leave “a blot in his face,” , as the importunate widow dealt by the unjust judge,Luk 18:5Luk 18:5 . So this is prayer; and thus we are to “continue instantly in prayer,” to wait upon it (as the word signifieth), and to persevere in it, as David did, Psa 27:4 ; Psa 119:81-82 .
a Lawless Liberty, in a sermon by Mr Terry.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17 .] See Chrys. and Thl. above.
, not of the mere spirit of prayer, as Jowett: but, as in parallel, Eph 6:18 , of direct supplications to God. These may be unceasing, in the heart which is full of his presence and evermore communing with Him.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Th 5:17 . “ Pray always , says the Apostle; that is, have the habit of prayer, turning your thoughts into acts by connecting them with the idea of the redeeming God” (Coleridge, Notes on the Book of Common Prayer ), cp. iii. II, 1Th 5:23 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Pray. Greek. prqseuchomai. App-134.
without ceasing. See 1Th 1:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
17.] See Chrys. and Thl. above.
, not of the mere spirit of prayer, as Jowett: but, as in parallel, Eph 6:18, of direct supplications to God. These may be unceasing, in the heart which is full of his presence and evermore communing with Him.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Th 5:17
pray without ceasing;-Feeling his own weakness, his shortcomings, and his dependence upon God. the child of God cannot otherwise than pray earnestly and fervently for the help of God in all the difficulties, temptations, and trials of life. He realizes his own weakness and infirmities, and Gods power and goodness, and he cannot do otherwise than pray. A spirit of prayer and devotion should be so cultivated and maintained in the Christians heart that will make every breath he draws fragrant with the odor of prayer. [If prayer is thus combined with all our works, we shall find that it wastes no time, though it fills all. Certainly it is not an easy practice to begin, that of praying without ceasing. It is so natural for us not to pray that we perpetually forget and undertake this or that without God. But surely we get reminders enough that this omission of prayer is a mistake. Failure, loss of temper, absence of joy, weariness, and discouragement are its fruits, while prayer brings us without fail the joy and strength of God. The apostle himself knew that to pray without ceasing requires an extraordinary effort; and in the only passages in which he urges it, he combines it with the duties of watchfulness and persistence. (Eph 6:15; Col 4:2; Rom 12:12.) We must be on our guard that the occasion for prayer does not escape us, and we must take care not to be wearied with this incessant reference of everything to God.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Ceaseless Prayer
Pray without ceasing.1Th 5:17.
It seems as if these words contained some exaggeration, as if they were more a figure of speech than a reality, as if they expressed more than the actual truth. We can hardly suppose that a man of active duties, requiring close attention, application and energy, could possibly be engaged all day long in prayer and acts of devotion. And we may suppose that the idea to be conveyed is rather that we are required to attend regularly to the duties of private devotion. If we interpret the text thus the grand truth which it contains is lost sight of, and the sublime spirituality which it enjoins is not realized. It is no mere rhetorical description, no figure, no exaggeration, but a simple actual fact. And when we are enjoined and commanded by the Apostle to pray without ceasing, to continue instant in prayer, to pray always, it naturally occurs to us to ask, If this is a literal duty, how is it to be complied with? How can we, amidst our ordinary employments and engrossing duties, fulfil this requirement?
Let us answer this question first of all; and then let us see what we can do to fulfil to the letter the Apostles injunction.
I
Prayer is a Spiritual Attitude
1. The chief, sometimes the one, idea we have of prayer is that it is petition, asking for certain things we want, some help we desire, or deliverance from the power of some evil. But this is just where we make a mistake. Prayer, the very highest, is where there is least petition, least asking of definite benefits, most of communion, reliance, trust in God. The higher our spirituality, the more full our confidence in God, the more complete our acquiescent surrender to His will, the less petition there will be. Prayer in its highest meaning is thus communion with, recognition of, and sympathy with God, continual desire of the soul after God as the one supreme object of its love, intercourse of our spirit with the Divine. It is the soul living and feeling as if it were always in the presence of God, holding converse with Him, not always by audible words, but with a constant sense of His presence, trusting, loving, following, and serving Him. In one word, the soul in a state of sympathy and love to Godthat is prayer. As the needle, however the ship may swing, points ever to the pole, so the soul, in every place and in every circumstance of life, turns to God and sets and rules its life by Him.
It is impossible to doubt the spiritual intensity, the religious fervour, of passages such as these from the pages in Suggestions for Thought in which she describes Communion with God:
If it is said we cannot love a lawthe mode in which God reveals Himselfthe answer is, we can love the spirit which originates, which is manifested in, the law. It is not the material presence only that we love in our fellow-creatures. It is the spirit, which bespeaks the material presence, that we love. Shall we then not love the spirit of all that is lovable, which all material presence bespeaks to us? What does ignorant finite man want? How great, how suffering, yet how sublime are his wants! Think of his wounded aching heart, as compared with the bird and beast! his longing eye, his speaking countenance, compared with these! they show something of such difference, but nothing, nothing compared with what is within, where no eye can read. What then, poor sufferer, dost thou want? I want a wise and loving counsellor, whose love and wisdom should come home to the whole of my nature. I would work, oh! how gladly, but I want direction how to work. I would suffer, oh! how willingly, but for a purpose. God always speaks plain in His lawsHis everlasting voice. My poor child, He says, dost thou complain that I do not prematurely give thee food which thou couldst not digest? My son, I am always one with thee, though thou art not always one with me. That spirit racked or blighted by sin, my child, it is thy Fathers spirit. Whence comes it, why does it suffer, or why is it blighted, but that it is incipient love, and truth, and wisdom, tortured or suppressed? But Law (that is, the will of the Perfect) is now, was without beginning, and ever shall be, as the inducement and the means by which that blight or suffering which is God within man, shall become man one with God.1 [Note: Sir Edward Cook, The Life of Florence Nightingale, i. 489.]
2. If, then, we define prayer as the means whereby the fellowship of the soul with God, the oneness of our life with the life of God is realized, prayer will not necessarily be the saying of prayers. Words give definiteness to our thoughts, and there are those to whom words make concentration of mind possible; but the words in themselves are nothing. The real act of prayer is not in the words that are used, but in the attitude of the man towards his God when he is using them. God does not hear the words, but He is infinitely sensitive to the spiritual attitude. So prayer is much more than the saying of prayers. The utterance of thoughts in words may be true prayer; thinking may also be true prayer; work may be prayer; wrestling with a problem may be prayer; fighting for a noble cause may be prayer; private meditation may be prayer; there is such a way of doing the ordinary round and the daily task of life that this shall be true prayer; any act of our lives, whatsoever it may be, if we do it in such a way as consciously and concentratedly to cultivate a spiritual attitude of sympathy and fellowship with God, is prayer.
St. Anthony was once asked how we might know if we prayed properly. By not knowing it at all, he answered. He certainly prays well who is so taken up with God that he does not know he is praying. The traveller who is always counting his steps will not make much headway.
I am asked to explain that saying attributed to our Blessed Father St. Anthony, that he who prays ought to have his mind so fixed upon God as even to forget that he is praying. Here is the explanation in our Saints own words. He says: The soul must be kept steadfastly in this path (that, namely, of love and confidence in God) without allowing it to waste its powers in continually trying to ascertain what precisely it is doing and whether its work is satisfactory. Alas! our satisfactions and consolations do not always satisfy God; they only feed that miserable love and care of ourselves which has to do neither with God nor with the thought of God. Certainly children whom our Lord has set before us as models of the perfection to be aimed at by us are, generally speaking, especially in the presence of their parents, quite untroubled about what is to happen. They cling to them without a thought of providing for themselves. The pleasures their parents procure them they accept in good faith and enjoy in simplicity, without any curiosity whatever as to their causes or effects. The love they feel for their parents and their reliance upon them is all they need. Those whose one desire is to please the Divine Lover have neither inclination nor leisure to turn back upon themselves, for their minds tend continually in the direction whither love carries them.1 [Note: J. P. Camus, The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales, 246.]
So far is this pray without ceasing from being absurd, because extravagant, that every mans life is in some sense a continual state of prayer. For what is his lifes prayer but its ruling passion? All energies, ambitions and passions are but expressions of a standing nisus in life, of a hunger, a draft, a practical demand upon the future, upon the unattained and the unseen. Every life is a draft upon the unseen. If you are not praying toward God you are toward something else. You pray as your face is set, towards Jerusalem or Babylon. The very egotism of craving life is prayer; the great difference is the object of it. To whom, for what, do we pray? The man whose passion is habitually set upon pleasure, knowledge, wealth, honour or power is in a state of prayer to these things for them. He prays without ceasing. These are his real gods, on whom he waits day and night. He may from time to time go on his knees in church, and use words of Christian address and petition. He may even feel a momentary unction in so doing. But it is a flicker; the other devotion is his steady flame. His real God is the ruling passion and steady pursuit of his life taken as a whole. He certainly does not pray in the name of Christ. And what he worships in spirit and in truth is another God than he addresses at religious times. He prays to an unknown God for a selfish boon. Still he prays. The set and drift of his nature prays. It is the prayer of instinct not of faith. It is the prayer that needs total conversion. But he cannot stop praying either to God or to Gods rivalto self, society, world, flesh, or even devil. Every life that is not totally inert is praying either to God or Gods adversary.2 [Note: P. T. Forsyth, in Prayer, by Dora Greenwell and P. T. Forsyth.]
3. This attitude, this spiritual communion with God may be carried with us all day. It may pervade all we do, be a light and a joy, a principle and a motive in the midst of every duty, and in every position. In the case of husband or wife or child, parent or friend, or any one that we love sincerely, the love for them is not dropped at the threshold of the door. We cannot always be beside them to lavish endearments, or to whisper affection, but the thought of them goes with us, the sense of their presence comes unbidden to mould and inspire, to elevate and ennoble our whole life and acting. Carry something of that idea into our relations with God. We have hours of close fellowship and converse with God, times when we are alone with Him, when our heart goes out in deeper intensity, in more earnest consecration, times of whisperings and breathings of love and tenderness between our soul and God. But the love of God and the thought of God are not confined to such times. The thought of God goes with us all the day long. Let us make it the wish and endeavour of our life that every thought, word, and action shall be ruled as if we felt that we were constantly under the eye of Omniscience. Our desire is that all may be done to please Him, that there may be nothing to offend Him, or opposed to what we know to be His will and wish. To have our life full of the consciousness of God, as if we heard ever the voice of God bidding us, and the eye of God looking on us, and the hand of God leading us, to do everything so that He may be pleased with and approve of it, that He may be honoured and glorifiedthis is what makes the whole life one great connected beautiful prayer.
The greatest thing any one can do for God and for man is to pray. It is not the only thing. But it is the chief thing. A correct balancing of the possible powers one may exert puts it first. For if a man is to pray right, he must first be right in his motives and life. And if a man be right, and put the practice of praying in its right place, then his serving and giving and speaking will be fairly fragrant with the presence of God. The great people of the earth to-day are the people who pray. There are people that put prayer first, and group the other items in lifes schedule around and after prayer. These are the people to-day who are doing the most for God; in winning souls; in solving problems; in awakening churches; in supplying both men and money for mission posts; in keeping fresh and strong these lives far off in sacrificial service on the foreign field where the thickest fighting is going on; in keeping the old earth sweet awhile longer.1 [Note: S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talks on Prayer, 12.]
II
How to Maintain the Spirit of Prayer
This spirit of devotion is itself the fruit of ceaseless prayer this strong consciousness of dependence on God becomes an ever-present and abiding thing only when in all our necessities we betake ourselves to Him. Occasions are never wanting, and will never be wanting, which call for the help of God; therefore, let us pray without ceasing. It is useless to say that the thing cannot be done, before the experiment has been made. There are few works that cannot be accompanied with prayer; there are few indeed that cannot be preceded by prayer; there are none at all that would not profit by prayer. Take the very first work to which we must set our mind and our hand, and we know it will be better done if, as we turn to it, we look up to God and ask His help to do it well and faithfully, as a Christian ought to do it for the Master above.
1. Thus the spirit of prayer is created and fostered by frequent and deliberate approaches to the Throne of Grace. This medical advice is given to students who sit much at their desks, contracting their chests by bending over their books: Rise from time to time, throw back your head and shoulders, and draw a deep, full breath. This is what we do when we definitely and consciously pray: we draw a deep, full breath. And it is a habit which it were well for us to acquire and practise. We need our still hours, our stated seasons of communion, morning by morning, evening by evening; but these are not enough. It would rid us of many a vexation and deliver us from many a temptation if, amid our toil and fret, we would ever and anon remember Jesus and tighten our grip upon Him, escaping for one refreshing moment from the noise and dust and getting our heads into Eternity.
I do not believe in silent adoration, if there is nothing but silence; and I do not believe in a man going through life with the conscious presence of God with him, unless, often, in the midst of the stress of daily life, he shoots little arrows of two-worded prayers up into the heavens, Lord! be with me; Lord! help me; Lord! stand by me now; and the like. They cried to God in the battle, when some people would have thought they would have been better occupied in trying to keep their heads with their swords. It was not a time for very elaborate supplications when the foemens arrows were whizzing round them, but they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of them.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.]
While your hands are busy with the world, let your hearts still talk with God; not in twenty sentences at a time, for such an interval might be inconsistent with your calling, but in broken sentences and interjections. He who prays without ceasing uses many little darts and hand-grenades of godly desire, which he casts forth at every available interval.2 [Note: C. H. Spurgeon.]
2. Further, if we honestly try to obey this precept we shall more and more find out, the more earnestly we do so, that set seasons of prayer are indispensable to realizing it. There must be, away up amongst the hills, a dam cast across the valley that the water may be gathered behind it, if the great city is to be supplied with the pure fluid. Otherwise the pipes will be empty. And that is what will become of Christian professors in regard to their habitual consciousness of Gods presence, if they do not take care to have their hours of devotion sacred, never to be interfered with, be they long or short, as may have to be determined by family circumstances, domestic duties, daily avocations, and a thousand other causes. But, unless we pray at set seasons, there is little likelihood of our praying without ceasing. Unless we set apart each day certain times for private prayer, we should tend to neglect it altogether; we should be giving a terrible opportunity to the world to take advantage of a day of forgetfulness to encourage us to forget God altogether. If we said that this prayer without ceasing of which the Apostle is here speaking was the only kind we needed, that our aspirations always accompanied our actions, we should indeed be presumptuous, we should indeed be forgetting our real character; we should become day by day less definite in our efforts, because we should be omitting periodical self-judgment, and so through want of any regulation we should tend to relapse into carelessness or presumptuous fanaticism. Private prayer at definite periods reminds us of our aims, enables us to judge of our actions, brings back our life into Gods presence, from which it has too often strayed.
Every morning he renewed his touch with Christ so that he would not lose it through the busy hours. It was his habit to close every day by reporting to his Friend. Of this habit he said: The disciples returned at evening and made a report to Christ of their work. Thus I tell Him of my life during the day, my dealings with persons who have come into it, and whatever has been attemptedin short, the whole days work: its efforts, failures, mistakes, sins and joys. That is my evening prayer.1 [Note: J. T. Faris, The Life of Dr. J. R. Miller, 223.]
It will, I suppose, be admitted that there is no greater proof of complete religious sincerity than fervour in private prayer. If an individual, alone by the side of his bed, prolongs his intercessions, lingers wrestling with his Divine Companion, and will not leave off until he has what he believes to be evidence of a reply to his entreatiesthen, no matter what the character of his public protestations, or what the frailty of his actions, it is absolutely certain that he believes in what he professes. My Father prayed in private in what I may almost call a spirit of violence. He entreated for spiritual guidance with nothing less than importunity. It might be said that he stormed the citadels of Gods grace, refusing to be baffled, urging his intercessions without mercy upon a Deity who sometimes struck me as inattentive to his prayers or wearied by them. My Fathers acts of supplication, as I used to witness them at night, when I was supposed to be asleep, were accompanied by stretchings out of the hands, by crackings of the joints of the fingers, by deep breathings, by numerous sounds which seemed just breaking out of silence, like Virgils bees out of the hive, magnis clamoribus. My Father fortified his religious life by prayer as an athlete does his physical life by lung-gymnastics and vigorous rubbings.2 [Note: Edmund Gosse, Father and Son, 229.]
One of the surprises of my childhood was my fathers locked study. It is true that when his children knocked he would come to the door, and open to us, but there was first a little shuffling of feet, and then in a few moments he stood before us. Sometimes I thought there must be some one else in the roomfor I heard my fathers voice; but on entering I saw him only. It was all mysterious to a child, but as the years passed on I learnt what it meant. For the locked study was the secret of the Open Heart. Because he dwelt every day in the kingdom of penitence and tears and submission, he found his city of mirth and laughter and sunshine.3 [Note: Love and Life: The Story of J. Denholm Brash, 65.]
3. Public prayer, too, is a necessary corrective to private prayer, which, if that were all, would tend to spiritual selfishness, would isolate the individual believer from the great company of his fellow-Christians, would limit his conception of his Christian duties by rendering him liable to think only of some and forget others, would, in fact, leave him one-sided in his religion, just as solitude makes a man one-sided in his social character.
We know how hard it is for most men, how hard, it may be, we ourselves continually find it, to keep the act of worship truly, purely spiritual; to be always lifting up our hearts to the Unseen, the Eternal, the Incomprehensible; always striving beyond the thoughts, the scenes of sense and time; always remembering that the ultimate reality of worship is in the light that no man can approach unto, and that our highest acts are but as hands stretched out, as avenues of access, towards the everlasting adoration and intercession that is on high, where Christ ever liveth to make intercession for us: where St. John saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as though It had been slain. We know how our hearts are ever faltering away from the effort of faith, and wanting to stay at some resting-place amidst the things that are seen, amid the ways of that lower level which we think we can understand. That appeal to come up higher, to raise the venture of our hearts above all that is on earth, is made to us all; and to answer it rightly is the souls great task. It is a task from which men swerve in diverse ways; proffering in lieu of the uplifted venture, sometimes a moral life or activity in good works, sometimes a zeal for the cause of religion, sometimes the acceptance of a creed, sometimes the conviction that they are saved, and sometimes a worship that lingers unduly at the counterpart on earth of the supreme reality, the fount of all reality, in heaven. Out of the knowledge of our own weakness, let us learn the care we need to take lest others be weakened, lest others be allowed to halt where they should find the very spring and power for that ceaseless ascent to which God beckons all.1 [Note: Francis Paget, Bishop of Oxford, 354.]
I build the palace of my Lord the King
Wherein Life makes her crimson offering,
With rite of consecration and long praise.
With weight of prayer and length of many days
She makes her sacrament of suffering.
The music of meet words and magical,
That rise as incense and as incense fall,
Fills all the palace of my Lord the King.
The House is dim with voices murmuring
The sacred burden of their ritual.
If, after many suns have come and gone,
The light of some apocalyptic Dawn
Shall flame with splendour in a crimson sky,
Grant, Dweller in the Shrine, that even I
May hear the Voice, and see Thy veil withdrawn!1 [Note: D. H. S. Nicholson, Poems, 69.]
Ceaseless Prayer
Literature
Bibb (C. W.), Sharpened Arrows and Polished Stones, 122.
Caughey (J.), Revival Sermons, 15.
Cooper (T.), Plain Pulpit Talk, 170.
Cornaby (W. A.), In Touch with Reality, 45.
Creighton (M.), University Sermons, 34.
Dawson (E. C.), Comrades, 160.
Drury (T. W.), The Prison-Ministry of St. Paul, 113.
Elmslie (W. G.), Expository Lectures and Sermons, 266.
Fnelon (F. de S.), Counsels to Those Who are Living in the World, 90.
Hall (F. O.), Soul and Body, 178.
Hamilton (J.), Works, i. 151.
Henson (H. H.), Preaching to the Times, 98.
Illingworth (J. R.), University and Cathedral Sermons, 164.
Ingram (A. F. W.), Banners of the Christian Faith, 61.
Lewis (E. W.), Some Views of Modern Theology, 35.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Philippians, etc., 229.
Matheson (G.), Times of Retirement, 245.
Miller (J. R.), Our New Edens, 43.
Murray (A.), With Christ, 248.
Pearse (M. G.), Parables and Pictures, 113.
Romanes (E.), Thoughts on the Collects for the Trinity Season, 25.
Shore (T. T.), Some Difficulties of Belief, 1.
Smith (D.), Mans Need of God, 187.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xviii. (1872), No. 103.
Stephen (R.), Divine and Human Influence, ii. 85.
Tipple (S. A.), Sunday Mornings at Norwood, 109.
Westcott (B. F.), Village Sermons, 324.
Cambridge Review, v. Supplement No. 120 (A. J. C. Allen).
Christian World Pulpit, xli. 15 (J. Hall); lxii. 97 (H. H. Henson); lxvii. 269 (J. G. Bowran); lxxv. 393 (A. B. Boyd Carpenter).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
Pray: Luk 18:1, Luk 21:36, Rom 12:12, Eph 6:18, Col 4:2, 1Pe 4:7
Reciprocal: Exo 30:8 – a perpetual 1Sa 1:12 – continued praying Neh 11:17 – thanksgiving Job 27:10 – will he always Psa 55:17 – Evening Isa 62:6 – keep Dan 6:10 – gave Dan 6:20 – servest Mat 6:5 – when Mat 20:31 – but they cried Act 10:2 – and prayed Act 12:5 – prayer was made without ceasing Rom 1:9 – that Rom 13:13 – as Eph 1:16 – Cease Phi 4:6 – in Col 1:9 – do 2Th 3:1 – pray Jam 5:16 – pray
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A CHRISTIANS DUTY
Pray without ceasing.
1Th 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 Gods 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 Creatorprayer is the duty that we owe Him as creatures that bow before Him in awe. God is our Kingprayer is the duty that we owe to our King as subjects that draw near to Him in lowly reverence. God is our Fatherprayer 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 Christians vital breath, and a prayerless soul is a dead soul.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1Th 5:17. Pray without ceasing. This would not mean that Christians are to spend every minute of their waking hours in prayer, for that would not leave them any time for other duties. It means for them never to cease being praying disciples, in the same sense we would say a man should not cease to partake of food or he would die.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Th 5:17. Pray without ceasing. One of the Greek commentators (Theophylact) remarks that the apostle now shows how we may continually rejoice, viz. by continuing in prayer and thanksgiving. We obey this precept when our prayers are not fitful and intermittent, but steady and persistent; when we are careful to lay all our concerns before God, and when day is linked to day in our life by a regular recurrence to Him as our Guide and Father. Paul does not mean that we should employ our whole time in prayer, but that we should not omit those times of devotion we have resolved upon, nor forget to bring any matter before God, nor relax our earnestness through any disappointment or decay of faith
should, as Barrow says, with assiduous urgency drive on the intent of our prayers, never quitting it, or desisting, till our requests are granted, or our desires are accomplished. The words do not refer to the spirit of prayer but to the practice of it, although it is of course true that unless the spirit of prayer be maintained, the practice also will be fallen from. In thy prayers wait for God, and think not every hearty prayer can procure everything thou askest. . . . A little omission of any usual exercise of piety cannot happen to thee without some loss and detriment, even though it be upon a considerable cause (Jeremy Taylor).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Note from the connection, that he that would rejoice evermore, must pray evermore; seldom praying and constant rejoicing will never stand together; according to our constancy in prayer, such will be the constancy of our joy.
Note, 2. That frequent and constant prayer to God, is a duty required of all Christians; we are then said to do a thing continually, when we do it seasonably, when we pray at stated times, morning and evening every day, when upon extraordinary occasions we perform the duty in an extraordinary manner, and when we perform it with unfainting perseverance, both frequently and fervently, though we receive no present answer to our prayers; and in a word, when the heat is always kept in a praying frame, this is to pray continually; and the reason for it is, because we stand in contiunal need of God, we want him continually, we sin against him continually, we are surrounded with temptations continually, we are exposed to trouble and affliction continually, and we ought to glorify God continually; and if so, we must pray continually; not that a man should do nothing else but pray; for though we may do nothing without prayer, yet we must do many things besides praying.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
pray without ceasing [This not only means to observe habitual seasons of prayer, and to cultivate a disposition to pray, but to be ever in a prayerful spirit, to have constantly a subconsciousness of the presence of God. Compare 1Th 1:9; 1Th 2:12; Eph 6:18; Col 4:2];
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Greek writers used the adverb translated "without ceasing" to describe a hacking cough. Paul did not expect his readers to be in prayer every minute but to continue praying frequently.
"Not surprisingly Paul wished his converts to be people of prayer. He himself was devoted to prayer as a fundamental activity in his life (cf. 1Th 1:2 b; 2Th 1:11; Rom 1:10; Col 1:3; Col 1:9). In several of his letters he instructs his readers to devote themselves to prayer (cf. 1Th 5:25; 2Th 3:1; Rom 12:12; Php 4:6; Col 4:2-3)." [Note: Wanamaker, p. 200.]
"If we live in this way, conscious continually of our dependence on God, conscious of His presence with us always, conscious of His will to bless, then our general spirit of prayerfulness will in the most natural way overflow into uttered prayer. It is instructive to read again and again in Paul’s letters the many prayers that he interjects. Prayer was as natural to Paul as breathing. At any time he was likely to break off his argument or to sum it up by some prayer of greater or less length. In the same way our lives can be lived in such an attitude of dependence on God that we will easily and naturally move into the words of prayer on all sorts of occasions, great and small, grave and gay. Prayer is to be constant." [Note: Morris, The First . . ., p. 173.]