Don’t Give Up The Fight!

Many translations of 1 Thessalonians 5:17 read:  “Never stop praying.”

That’s an instruction that on the surface seems daunting.  We have to think – how can I “never stop praying?”  I have things in my life every day that have to be accomplished that require my mind to be focused in order to do them correctly and to the best of my ability.  If I focused on praying without stopping, I couldn’t get anything else done!

“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.” *  The translation of that verse from the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition seems to explain it in that way.  “Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly]”  

So our objective should be to persevere – don’t give up the fight – just continue on, regardless of whether or not we see the results in our preferred timing.  “God has chosen not to work around humanity but to work through us.  Our prayers are critical to his intervention against evil on earth.”*

It can be easy to get discouraged when we fervently pray for something that we know falls within the will of God, yet no answer seems to appear.  But, I’ve heard many stories about how someone prays for a family member or a friend to come to the Lord, for years and years.  Then suddenly one day, the prayer is answered.  

It can be hard for us to understand those delays, but it’s not our place to question.  We need to learn to just settle our minds and our spirits and understand that God is always working and God answers prayers.  

It can take time to change a person’s heart and/or mind – sometimes our own, sometimes the recipient of our specific prayer.  It could be that lack of maturity is an issue, or a wrong attitude – things that need to be corrected before the prayer can be answered.  

But, there’s also the issue of our enemy Satan.  He is always at work trying to stop or at least hinder God’s work; and, many times, people are stubbornly living their life outside the realm of God, hand-in-hand with that enemy oblivious to the blessings they’re missing out on.  Our persistent prayers may be the only thing holding back truly adverse results of their refusal to accept God into their life, until their heart can be changed.

We must learn to employ patience when it comes to prayer results.  There may be times when we see them quickly.  There may be times we were given the answer but don’t recognize it because the answer was not exactly how we had determined it should be.  But probably more often than not, we may have to wait for a season for our answer.  

When it comes to our prayer life, we need to just stay in the trenches and don’t give up the fight!  Psalm 46:10a (AMP) says:  “‘Be still and know (recognize, understand) that I am God.’”  We need to learn to just let go and let God.  He’ll take care of things in His perfect way and in His perfect timing.  

Written by Karran Martin – March 2, 2024

[All bold emphasis is mine]

*Quotes by Chris Tiegreen