Prayer is Hard Work

Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.

—1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 WEB*

In this passage the Apostle Paul is writing to the church in Thessalonica, then the capital and largest city of the Roman province of Macedonia. The establishment of the church by Paul and Silas is recorded in Acts 17:1-9. The church began under fire, being opposed by several unbelieving Greeks and Jews in positions of great influence, and causing Paul and Silas to flee by night with the assistance of new believers. Even so, it grew to be a strong church. Based upon Paul's recorded travels (Acts 17:10-18:11) and based upon what is written in the letter (1 Thessalonians 3:1-6), many suggest that this letter was written to the church soon after Paul's hasty departure, and may be the oldest of Paul's letters that we have available to us. In the letter, Paul seems to be following up on his first work, teaching the new believers those important things that he did not have time to convey in person.

Paul was quite familiar with opposition and persecution. Before his conversion to Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-19), Paul persecuted Christ's followers. In fact, we first meet Paul, then called Saul, when he played a supporting role in the persecution and stoning to death of the disciple Stephen. During the stoning, Saul watched the coats of those who did the dirty work. (Acts 7:54-60).

Now on the receiving end of the persecution, Paul made sure that fellow believers had everything they needed to see them through. He therefore charged them to always rejoice, to always pray and to always give thanks. These were not just Paul's recommendations to them. Paul reinforced his charge by explaining that God wanted them to do these things.

On the surface, these commands seem quite obvious and proper. But as we put them in the perspective of day-to-day living, we realize that this is tough stuff; this is hard work. Consider this: In everything that happens to us, in everything we think about, for every moment of every day, we are to rejoice in it; we are to pray about it; we are to give thanks for it. Wow. That is really hard work. This could be thought of as a spiritual form of multitasking—a process that has become all too commonplace to us.

But how do we begin? Well, like any type of work, we just do it. We take what we know and we use it. As we do the work, we learn how to do it better. We build confidence and we even learn to enjoy it to some extent, depending on the work. We learn from productive fellow workers by listening to their advice or by following their example. And as each new day comes we must begin our work again and again.

This work may come naturally to some believers, but not necessarily to all. There is no question that it is hard work to always rejoice, to always pray and to always give thanks. Maybe that is why God's Word reminds us to do it.

--Jimmy Thomas

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* WEB – the World English Bible, a Public Domain, Modern English translation of the Holy Bible developed by Rainbow Missions, Inc. URL: http://ebible.org