1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Notice how these  verses all go together. In order to rejoice always, we need to pray always and in everything give thanks. We can rejoice because we are doing the will of God in Christ. But, how do we pray without ceasing?

Does this mean we must spend every minute in constant prayer to God so that we are unable to do our daily tasks or anything else for that matter? It is a matter of communication and we should always have the line of communication open between us and God. We do this in two ways.

First of all, we must be thankful not just for but in all things. This means we should approach all things and everyday with thankfulness to God in our hearts, being always ready to turn to Him in prayer at any moment. We should always be ready to pray and indeed be in a state mentally as if we are praying to God with every word we utter. This means that we shouldn’t say or do anything unless we would say it to God or as if we are doing all things before God.

Indeed, all that we do is seen of God, so we should not think that we can do anything that is hidden from Him and thus do all things before Him as if we were in prayer to Him. If we pray often we will keep the lines of communication from our end open and will draw ever closer to God the more we pray.

Another thing we should be sure of is that God talks to us. He does this through His Son (Hebrews 1:1,2) who is the word of God (John 1:14). So it is through the word of God, which has been preserved for us through time, by which God speaks to us in these latter days. If we prayerfully spend much time in bible study, we find that God is communicating with us even as we communicate with Him in prayer.

If we do these two things we will be in constant communication with God and this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us. God would not leave us on our own to flounder through life and without hope for the here-after. He has given us the way that we may be in constant communication with Him for guidance and for strength, as we travel down the road through our life.

Without this we would surely be lost. Jeremiah 10:23 says: “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.” That is why we all so desperately need God and should always keep the lines of communication open between Him and us by praying without ceasing and studying  His word, making application in our lives as need be..

May God bless and keep you until next time.