Don’t Stop

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Never stop praying. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

BROTHER LAWRENCE EXCELLED AT constantly being aware of the presence of God and maintaining long conversations with him through the mundane tasks of his day. Of course, as a kitchen worker in a monastery, his mind could afford to wander into eternal realities while he scrubbed dishes. Even so, he did what many others have not had the discipline to do. He prayed with almost every breath.

We all have opportunities to fill downtime and mundane tasks with prayer. We might not be able to pray constantly—most of us have jobs and responsibilities that require focus on the matters at hand—but we can pray more than we do. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul is not necessarily instructing his readers to pray continuously. Instead, he is urging them not to give up on the prayers they are praying because their petitions are vital.

How is this so? God gave agency to human beings as partners with him in the work of this world. The keys of the Kingdom seem to have been ours at the beginning (Genesis 1:28), and we lost them in the Fall. Jesus won them back and gave them again to his followers (Matthew 16:19). He looks for those who will intercede (Isaiah 59:16) and reveals his plans to those who will hear them (Amos 3:7) so they will declare and pray his will into this realm. For whatever reason, God has chosen not to work around humanity but to work through us. Our prayers are critical to his intervention against evil on earth.

If you really want to be salt and light in this world, pray and don’t give up. Let your requests be reshaped by God’s Spirit, if needed, but don’t just drop them. Things are happening behind the scenes. Hearts are opening. Lives are changing. Your petitions, along with your persistence in them, are critical to the process. In the spiritual realm, you are an agent at the front lines, and your prayers are the means to advance. Don’t give up the fight.

{Spirit of God, fill my heart and my mouth with petitions you want to hear. Overcome the evils of this world, change the headlines I read, through my intercession. May the prayers of your people prepare a highway into the hearts and minds of many. Amen.