1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: Pray Without Ceasing
Saturday, October 25, 2025
Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
I have come from my son’s house after spending the afternoon with their four-year old while he and his wife visit funeral homes to make plans for a service that will honor the life of their infant daughter. Sophie died too quickly a few days ago. And in all of the wrenching grief, there is prayer.
We sit at a meal together as night closes in. A friend visits bearing fresh fruit and vegetables. We laugh over small things, finding comfort in one another’s presence. The deep sadness is just out of sight but still with us. And in all of this quiet pain, there is prayer.
It is not the will of God that we suffer. It is the will of God that we rejoice in spite of the pain, knowing that life here is only temporary.
It is not the will of God that we sink into darkness. It is the will of God that we rise with him into the light, knowing that life in Christ is never-ending.
Pain cannot be erased, but with patient prayer and unswerving reliance on God it blooms into a rejoicing beyond any happiness we can imagine. It brings firmness out of the smelting fire. It brings purity out of the crucible. It brings a holy presence into a place where only sadness was previously felt. It brings a knowing that we are eternal and that we will meet again in newness despite any separation this earth can visit on us.
It is through pain that we find our true selves. It is in pain that we kneel before God in petition. It is after pain that we rise again in the crystalline newness of our life in Christ.
For all of these reasons, we must pray without ceasing.
A re-post from September 30, 2011.
Image from: https://guideposts.org/prayer/how-to-pray/4-ways-to-let-your-hands-do-the-praying/
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