I will keep giving my Bible verses, because some may not have read my earlier articles, so our Bibles verses from I Thessalonians 5:14-22 say: “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.”
Perhaps before I finish with this series of articles more readers will become acquainted with the verses above, since I will be giving them a number of times, yet covering different aspects of them in each article. I do want to mention again the command to “Rejoice evermore”, which I gave in the last article, but did not finish with my comments about it. For God to command believers to rejoice evermore is indeed a “Big Order”, but it can be done, because Jesus Himself did it all of the way to the cross, and in spite of His being for a time “forsaken of God the Father”, because He had become the sin offering for us. To rejoice does not necessarily mean that we rejoice over every grief or hardship, but rather that we rejoice in spite of them. It would be uncaring to say the least, if we should rejoice because some calamity came to us or to a family member or friend, but we can rejoice in spite of hardships and heart breaking experiences. The point I want to make is that we can always, and forever, rejoice in our relationship with God through Christ our Savior, and I desire, as well as intend, to practice this as best I can, even when I am in a heart wrenching situation. I have often thought of the fact that some people are never able to walk, talk or do many of the things that some of us take for granted, and when I think of this, I am ashamed that I have ever grumbled about my situation, which is at present far better than that of some people whom I know.
Now we come to the command to “pray without ceasing”, which may not mean what some people suppose, for we cannot pray and never stop, since we do have to use our mouths and minds to communicate with other people. So, the idea seems to be that we never come to the end of prayer, in the sense that we keep the prayer line open, much like saying that we never “hang up the phone” when we are “online with God”. I have often thought about those of whom I have read, whose prayer lives would make mine look like a kindergarten child’s prayer! I have read that James, the brother of Jesus, who after having received Jesus for salvation prayed so much that his knees looked like a camel’s knees, meaning rather rough etc. I do not know that this can be proven, but I do know that God has taught us to pray continually. When we come to the place to recognize that prayer is a conversation with God, we know that it does not have to be spoken aloud, or prayed on our knees. Rather, it is a continual open line with God, so that either God or we can “just start talking” to each other. Although I have never heard God speak audibly in my ear, I have heard Him speak in my spirit many times! It seems that some people have the idea that God does not want to be “bothered with ours words” too often, but that is a mistaken idea. First, I need to say that God is not limited as we are concerning His ability to hear us when we speak to Him, for if that were the case He could not hear millions and millions of people pray at the same time and never get the prayers all “tangled together”. Our lack of understanding better the person and power of God sometimes causes us to think “kindergarten thoughts” about God and His ability to do whatever He desires to do! There is no shortcoming with Him, but there are many shortcomings with us! By J. Briggs King