Graceful Prayer

“Rejoice always; pray continuously; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus” (I Thessalonians 5:16-18). Note the bookends holding up continuous prayer: rejoicing and giving thanks. Frankly, rejoicing isn’t the first thing I think to do in most circumstances; or giving thanks, for that matter. “Rejoicing always” seems even more unrealistic than “praying always.” And while it’s one thing to ask God for help with whatever’s happening, it’s quite another to thank God for what’s happening. (For those people who make a distinction between thanking God in everything and thanking God for everything, read Ephesians 5:20, where Paul uses the word “for.”)

Then Paul gives an example: “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything, holding on to the good and avoiding all that is evil.” A couple of days ago I talked about how we’re living in that chapter of the gospel story called Pentecost, and that one of the things every follower of Jesus is learning how to do is to hear God. Someone I read recently compared this to learning a new language. One of the reasons children are better at learning a language than adults is that they aren’t afraid to take risks and make mistakes. They know they aren’t experts. They don’t pretend to be anything more than learners. They don’t take it personally if they hear or say something inaccurately and have to be corrected. They instinctively know that’s how you learn.

So Paul tells us not to quench people’s attempts to listen and speak in the Spirit by glaring at them or rolling our eyes. Don’t put a stop to our brothers’ and sisters’ fledging attempts to use their prophetic wings. Just sift and sort. Discard the stuff that’s worthless or even evil, without seeing the persons themselves as evil. Thank God that he’s so gracious as to entrust his Spirit to mere mortals and morons like you and me. Thank him for his patience and thank him for this opportunity to become like him.

The assumption here is that God is always speaking, always working. We can rejoice in all that he has done for us in Jesus, in all that he will do for us in Jesus, and all that he’s doing right now in Jesus, even if we can’t see it yet. Probably the most important words in this passage, the ones we’re most likely to gloss over, are the words “in Christ Jesus.” We’re to rejoice always, pray without ceasing and give thanks in all circumstances because that’s God’s will for us “in Christ Jesus,” or “in Messiah Jesus.” The order of words is itself instructive. Jesus Christ (Greek for ‘Messiah’) is called Christ Jesus to point to his being the superior counterpart to Caesar Tiberius. First the title, then the name. Whether you lived in Thessalonica, Jerusalem or Rome, you were always aware of living in the Roman Empire, or in the realm of Caesar. Caesar established and maintained control over his minions through the rule of law, through coercion and through intimidation.

As daughters and sons of God and as people who live in another Kingdom with another “Caesar,” we live “in” the One who is ultimately in control and promises to use everything for good. Instead of being coercive, he’s creative. Instead of our having to send petitions through emissaries, we have direct and immediate access to him everywhere and in every moment. Instead of living in fear, we live in grace.

So there is a lot to be joyful about and to be thankful for all the time, and most of our praying consists of acknowledging God’s past, present and future blessings and rejoicing in his goodness. As far as the tough stuff that’s happening in our lives right now, that, too, God is using to bless us. Most of all he’s using it to “sanctify” us, to make us holy, which is to say, to make us like Jesus. So Paul winds things up by saying:

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”

Jesus is Lord – not Caesar or your company or your boss or your spouse or your circumstances. You have his ear every moment of every day. We are learning how to talk to him and be with him in all sorts of ways. We are also learning how to hear him through the different ways he speaks to us. Finally, we are also learning how to receive his grace and to show his grace to each other.

Let’s allow Paul’s final words and benediction to wash over us: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” May we rejoice in the many signs of his grace to us today — the ones that have already happened, and the ones that are about to happen – and give him thanks. Then maybe prayer will begin to feel natural. Then maybe we won’t want to stop.

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