1 Tessalonicenses 5
Charles Spurgeon · Citado em PreceptAustin
1 Tessalonicenses 5:16
Spurgeon - Here follows a string of Christian precepts-a golden chain. You have always something to rejoice in; make the world ring with Christian music. Denney writes that... THE three precepts of these three verses may be called the standing orders of the Christian Church. However various the circumstances in which Christians may find themselves, the duties here prescribed are always binding upon them. We are to rejoice alway, to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks. We may, live in peaceful or in troubled times; we may be encompassed with friends or beset by foes; we may see the path we have chosen for ourselves open easily before us, or find our inclination thwarted at every step; but we must always have the music of the gospel in our hearts in its own proper key. Let us look at these rules in order. “Rejoice alway.” There are circumstances in which it is natural for us to rejoice; whether we are Christians or not, joy fills the heart till it overflows. Youth, health, hope, love, these richest and best possessions, give almost every man and woman at least a term of unmixed gladness; some months, or years perhaps, of pure light heartedness, when they feel like singing all the time. But that natural joy can hardly be kept up. It would not be good for us if it could; for it really means that we are for the time absorbed in ourselves, and having found our own satisfaction decline to look beyond. It is quite another situation to which the Apostle addresses himself. He knows that the persons who receive his letter have had to suffer cruelly for their faith in Christ; he knows that some of them have quite lately stood beside the graves of their dead. Must not a man be very sure of himself, very confident of the truth on which he stands, when he ventures to say to people so situated, “Rejoice alway”? But these people, we must remember, were Christians; they had received the gospel from the Apostle; and, in the gospel, the supreme assurance of the love of God. We need to remind ourselves occasionally that the gospel is good news, glad tidings of great joy. Wherever it comes, it is a joyful sound; it puts a gladness into the heart which no change of circumstances can abate or take away. There is a great deal in the Old Testament which may fairly be described as doubt of God’s love. Even the saints sometimes wondered whether God was good to Israel; they became impatient, unbelieving, bitter, foolish; the outpourings of their hearts in some of the psalms show how far they were from being able to rejoice evermore. But there is nothing the least like this in the New Testament. The New Testament is the work of Christian men, of men who had stood quite close to the supreme manifestation of God’s love in Jesus Christ. Some of them had been in Christ’s company for years. They knew that every word He spoke and every deed He wrought declared His love; they knew that it was revealed, above all, by the death which He died; they knew that it was made almighty, immortal, and ever present, by His resurrection from the dead. The sublime revelation of Divine love dominated everything else in their experience. It was impossible for them, for a single moment, to forget it or to escape from it. It drew and fixed their hearts as irresistibly as a mountain peak draws and holds the eyes of the traveller. They never lost sight of the love of God in Christ Jesus, that sight so new, so stupendous, so irresistible, so joyful. And because they did not, they were able to rejoice evermore; and the New Testament, which reflects the life of the first believers, does not contain a querulous word from beginning to end. It is the book of infinite joy. We see, then, that this command, unreasonable as it appears, is not impracticable. If we are truly Christians, if we have seen and received the love of God, if we see and receive it continually, it will enable us, like those who wrote the New Testament, to rejoice evermore. There are places on our coast where a spring of fresh water gushes up through the sand among the salt waves of the sea; and just such a fountain of joy is the love of God in the Christian soul, even when the waters close over it. “As sorrowful,” says the Apostle, “yet alway rejoicing.” Most churches and Christians need to lay this exhortation to heart. It contains a plain direction for our common worship. The house of God is the place where we come to make united and adoring confession of His name. If we think only of ourselves, as we enter, we may be despondent and low spirited enough; but surely we ought to think, in the first instance, of Him, Let God be great in the assembly of His people; let Him be lifted up as He is revealed to us in Jesus Christ, and joy will fill our hearts. If the services of the Church are dull, it is because He has been left outside; because the glad tidings of redemption, holiness, and life everlasting are still waiting for admission to our hearts. Do not let us belie the gospel by dreary, joyless worship: it is not so that it is endeared to ourselves or commended to others. The Apostle’s exhortation contains a hint also for Christian temper. Not only our united worship, but the habitual disposition of each of us, is to be joyful. It would not be easy to measure the loss the cause of Christ has sustained through the neglect of this rule. A conception of Christianity has been set before men, and especially before the young, which could not fail to repel; the typical Christian has been presented, austere and pure perhaps, or lifted high above the world, but rigid, cold, and self-contained. That is not the Christian as the New Testament conceives him. He is cheerful, sunny, joyous; and there is nothing so charming as joy. There is nothing so contagious, because there is nothing in which all men are so willing to partake; and hence there is nothing so powerful in evangelistic work. The joy of the Lord is the strength of the preacher of the gospel. There is an interesting passage in 1 Corinthians 9, where Paul enlarges on a certain relation between the evangelist and the evangel. The gospel, he tells us, is God’s free gift to the world; and he who would become a fellow worker with the gospel must enter into the spirit of it, and make his preaching also a free gift. So here, one may say, the gospel is conceived as glad tidings; and whoever would open his lips for Christ must enter into the spirit of his message, and stand up to speak clothed in joy. Our looks and tones must not belie our words. Languor, dulness, dreariness, a melancholy visage, are a libel upon the gospel. If the knowledge of the love of God does not make us glad, what does it do for us? If it does not make a difference to our spirits and our temper, do we really know it? Christ compares its influence to that of new wine; it is nothing if not exhilarating; if it does not make our faces shine, it is because we have not tasted it. I do not overlook, any more than St. Paul did, the causes for sorrow; but the causes for sorrow are transient; they are like the dark clouds which overshadow the sky for a time and then pass away; while the cause of joy — the redeeming love of God in Christ Jesus — is permanent; it is like the unchanging blue behind the clouds, ever present, ever radiant, overarching and encompassing all our passing woes. Let us remember it, and see it through the darkest clouds, and it will not be impossible for us to rejoice evermore. It may seem strange that one difficult thing should be made easy when it is combined with another; but this is what is suggested by the second exhortation of the Apostle, “Pray without ceasing.” It is not easy to rejoice alway, but our one hope of doing so is to pray constantly. How are we to understand so singular a precept? (1 Thessalonians 5 - Expositor's Bible Commentary) James Moffatt - To comment adequately on these diamond drops would be outline a history of the Christian experience in its higher levels. Rejoice (5463)(chairo) means be glad, be joyful, be delighted. The present tense calls for the saint to continually be in a state of happiness and well being, something that is only possible as we surrender to the willing of the Holy Spirit, trusting in His supernatural enablement and not relying on our natural "strength" to pull this off (we can't!). Chairo is used 74 times in the NT - Matt. 2:10; 5:12; 18:13; 26:49; 27:29; 28:9; Mk. 14:11; 15:18; Lk. 1:14, 28; 6:23; 10:20; 13:17; 15:5, 32; 19:6, 37; 22:5; 23:8; Jn. 3:29; 4:36; 8:56; 11:15; 14:28; 16:20, 22; 19:3; 20:20; Acts 5:41; 8:39; 11:23; 13:48; 15:23, 31; 23:26; Rom. 12:12, 15; 16:19; 1 Co. 7:30; 13:6; 16:17; 2 Co. 2:3; 6:10; 7:7, 9, 13, 16; 13:9, 11; Phil. 1:18; 2:17, 18, 28; 3:1; 4:4, 10; Col. 1:24; 2:5; 1 Thess. 3:9; 5:16; Jas. 1:1; 1 Pet. 4:13; 2 Jn. 1:4, 10f; 3 Jn. 1:3; Rev. 11:10; 19:7. There are 30 uses of chairo in the Septuagint (LXX) - Gen. 45:16; Ex 4:14, 31; 1 Sam. 19:5; 1 Ki. 4:20; 5:7; 8:66; 2 Ki. 11:14, 20; 20:13; Esther 8:12, 15; Ps. 96:12; Prov. 2:14; 6:16; 17:19; 23:25; 24:19; Isa. 13:3; 39:2; 48:22; 57:21; 66:10, 14; Jer. 7:34; 31:13; Lam. 1:21; 4:21; Ezek. 7:12; Hos. 9:1; Joel 2:21, 23; Jon. 4:6; Hab. 1:15; 3:18; Zeph. 3:14; Zech. 4:10; 9:9; 10:7; I love Luke's description of Peter, et al, after imprisonment for proclaiming Jesus and defending themselves before the Jewish Sanhedrin... Acts 5:41 So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. Both Matthew and Luke record the command to rejoice in persecution... Matthew 5:11 (see notes) "Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. 12 "Rejoice, (present imperative = as your lifestyle) and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Luke 6:22 "Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and cast insults at you, and spurn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. 23 "Be glad (aorist imperative = Do this now!) in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. Paul gives a similar command to the Philippians... Philippians 4:4 (see notes) Rejoice (present imperative = as your lifestyle) in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice present imperative = as your lifestyle)!
1 Tessalonicenses 5:16
Spurgeon writes that... This is a sunny precept. When we read it we feel that the time of the singing of birds has come. That joy should be made a duty is a sure token of the blessedness of the New Covenant. Because Jesus has suffered, we are encouraged, commanded, and enabled to rejoice. Only the Man of Sorrows and his chosen apostles can teach for a precept such a word as this — Rejoice evermore. Happy people who can be thus exhorted! We ought to rejoice that there is a command to rejoice. Glory be unto the God of happiness Who bids His children be happy. While musing on this text, I seem carried in spirit to the green woods, and their bowers. As in a dell all blue with hare-bells, where the sun smiles down upon me through the half-born oak leaves, I sit me down, and hear the blessed birds of the air piping out their love-notes: their music saith only this — Rejoice evermore. All that I see, and hear, and feel, surrounds me with garlands of delight; while the fairest of all the shepherds of Sharon sings to me this delicious pastoral — Rejoice evermore. The very words have breathed spring into my soul, and set my heart a blossoming. Thus am I also made to be as a daffodil which long has hidden away among the clods, but now at last ventures to uplift her yellow lily, and ring out her golden bell. Who can be sad, or silent, when the voice of the Beloved saith Rejoice evermore? Our apostle speaks of rejoicing as a personal, present, permanent duty to be always carried out by the people of God. The Lord has not left it to our own option whether we will sorrow or rejoice; but he has pinned us down to it by positive injunction — Rejoice evermore. He will have this cloth of gold spread over the whole field of life. He has laid down as first and last, beginning, middle and end — Rejoice evermore. Some things are to be done at one time, some at another; but rejoicing is for all times, for ever, and for evermore, which, I suppose, is more than ever, if more can be. Fill life’s sea with joy up to highwater mark. Spare not, stint not, when rejoicing is the order of the day. Run out to your fall tether; sweep your largest circle when you use the golden compasses of joy. Some things being once done are done with, and you need not further meddle with them; but you have never done with rejoicing. Rejoice evermore... The command to rejoice is set in the midst of duties; it is put there to teach us how to perform them all. Also notice that our text comes after just a flavoring of trouble and bitterness. Read verse fifteen: “See that none render evil for evil unto any man.” Children of God are apt to have evil rendered to them. They may have slanderous reports spread about them: they may be accused of things they never dreamed of: they may be cut to the heart by the ingratitude of those who ought to have been their friends; but still they are bidden, “rejoice evermore.” Even rejoice in the persecution and in the slander. “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” So says our Lord. “Rejoice ye,” he says, “and be exceeding glad.” There is an expression in the Greek that never has been rendered into English, and never will be — agalliasthe. Old Trapp half puns upon the agalliasthe as he says, “dance a galliard.” I do not know what a “galliard” was, but I suppose that it was some very joyous kind of dance. Certainly we know of no better way of translating our Lord’s word than by — exult, or leap for joy. Even when your good name shall be tarnished by the malice of the wicked, then you are to leap. When are you to be wretched? Surely despondency is excluded. If slander is to make us dance, when are we to fret? Suppose some other kind of trial should come upon you, you are still to rejoice in the Lord always. The dearest friend is dead: “rejoice evermore.” The sweet babe is sickening, the darling of your household will be taken away: “rejoice evermore.” Trade is ebbing out, prosperity is disappearing from you, you may even be brought to poverty; but, “rejoice evermore.” Your health is affected, your lungs are weak, your heart does not beat with regularity, very soon you may be sick unto death; but, “rejoice evermore.” Shortly you must put off this tabernacle altogether! Tokens warn you that you must soon close your eyes in death; but, “rejoice evermore.” There is no limit to the exhortation. It is ever in season. Through fire and through water, through life and through death, “rejoice evermore.” Now and then a commentator says that the command of our text must mean that we are to be in the habit of rejoicing, for there must necessarily be intervals in which we do not rejoice. It is to be “constant but intermittent”: so one good man says. I do not know how that can be, though I know what he means. He means that it ought to be the general tenor of our life that we rejoice: yet he evidently feels that there must be black clouds now and then to vary the abiding sunshine. He warns us that there will be broken bits of road where as yet the steam roller has not forced in the granite. But that will not do as an interpretation of the text; for the apostle expressly says, “Rejoice evermore”: that is, rejoice straight on, and never leave off rejoicing. Whatever happens, rejoice. Come what may, rejoice. If the worst darkens to the worst — if the night lowers into a sevenfold midnight, yet “rejoice evermore.” This carillon of celestial bells is to keep on ringing through the night as well as through the day. “Rejoice, rejoice, ye saints of God at every time, in every place, and under every circumstance. Joy, joy, for ever. Rejoice evermore. In the midst of a thousand duties, amid the surges of ten thousand trials, still rejoice.” There is to be about the Christian a constancy of joy. (Read the full message Rejoice Evermore) Keener notes that... Greek ethics often listed succinct statements one after another as Paul does here. Many biblical psalms associate rejoicing with celebration and worship (e.g., Ps 9:14; 33:1; 47:1; 95:2; 149:1, 2, 3, 4, 5); here it is thus naturally linked with prayer and thanksgiving. (Keener, Craig: The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. 1994. IVP) In verse 17, Paul commands us to "Pray without ceasing." And then he follows up in verse 18, by commanding us to give thanks not for some things but for all things! So how can we continually rejoice? At least part of the answer seems to be that continual prayer and thanksgiving provides the soil in which rejoicing can grow and flourish. We observe a similar sequence of joy rooted in prayer in Philippians. (Php 4:3, 4, 5, 6-See notes Php 4:3; 4:4; 4:5; 4:6) In his prayer for the Colossians, Paul gives us a clue how saints today can rejoice and give thanks in all things as he prays that they might be strengthened (passive voice = literally being strengthened = the effect comes from an outside source, ie, the grace God supplies) with all power (dunamis), according to His glorious might (kratos), for the attaining of all steadfastness (hupomone) and patience (makrothumia); joyously (charas) giving thanks to the Father (see notes on Colossians 1:11, 12) (Note the "all's") In his comments on Habakkuk
1 Tessalonicenses 5:17
Spurgeon comments "Evening and morning, and at noon, will I pray. Often but none too often. Seasons of great need call for frequent seasons of devotion. The three periods chosen are most fitting; to begin, continue, and end the day with God is supreme wisdom. Where time has naturally set up a boundary, there let us set up an altar stone. The psalmist means that he will always pray; he will run a line of prayer right along the day, and track the sun with his petitions. Day and night he saw his enemies busy (Psalms 55:10), and therefore he would meet their activity by continuous prayer. And cry aloud. He would give a tongue to his complaint; he would be very earnest in his pleas with heaven. Some cry aloud who never say a word. It is the bell of the heart that rings loudest in heaven. Some read it, "I will nurse and murmur;" deep heart thoughts should be attended with inarticulate but vehement utterances of grief. Blessed be God, moaning is translatable in heaven. A father's heart reads a child's heart. And he shall hear my voice. He is confident that he will prevail; he makes no question that he would be heard, he speaks as if already he were answered. When our window is opened towards heaven, the windows of heaven are open to us. Have but a pleading heart and God will have a plenteous hand. (Ref) In the book of First Chronicles, in the genealogical list of the tribes of Israel we see a striking example of praying without ceasing... They (the tribes of Israel just mentioned) waged war against the Hagrites, the Jeturites, the Naphishites, and the Nodabites. They cried out to God during the battle, and he answered their prayer because they trusted in him. So the Hagrites and all their allies were defeated. (1Chronicles 5:19,20, NLT) (Comment: Somehow, in the midst of the battle, these men managed to pray, to call upon the Lord and He answered them on the spot. This should encourage us for He can do the same for us today.) W A Criswell quoted the following prayer from a source unknown... When you are weary in body and soul Cumbered with many a care When work is claiming its strength-taking toll Make it a matter of prayer. And when you're discouraged, distraught or dismayed Sinking almost in despair Remember there's One who will come to your aid, If you'll make it a matter of prayer. And when you are lost in this world's tangled maze When life seems a hopeless affair Direction will come for all of your ways If you'll make it a matter of prayer. Regular, daily prayer takes discipline and concerted effort. It is sadly possible for a believer to go through the whole day and not speak to God even once. This should not be. Prayer is a vital aspect of man’s role as one who is beloved of God the Father. How many times have you told someone you would pray for them and then you did not? We've all done that haven't we? But here's a little exercise that dovetails nicely with Paul's command to pray without ceasing... Stop saying you will pray about a thing. Instead stop right there and pray about it. The greatly used preacher Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) put great emphasis on prayer in preparation for preaching. He felt that ministers ought to pray without ceasing and in fact once wrote that... All our libraries and studies are mere emptiness compared with our closets (Ed note: our "prayer closets" - Mt 6:6-note). We grow, we wax mighty, we prevail in private prayer When Spurgeon prepared to preach, he would pray at all times -- before choosing his topic, as he was getting into the spirit of the text, as he sought God’s help for deep truths and the lifting out of those truths, as he sought to receive fresh streams of thought regarding the application of the text, and of course for his delivery of the message thus prepared. Spurgeon declared that... nothing can so gloriously fit you to preach as descending fresh from the mount of communion with God to speak with men. None are so able to plead with men as those who have been wrestling with God on their behalf. Tony Evans speaking of abiding in the Vine, Christ Jesus, asks... How do you stay connected to Jesus every moment? One way is through prayer. Remember the command, “Pray without ceasing” (1Th 5:17)? You don’t have to be on your knees moving your lips to pray. Prayer can be the atmosphere in which you exist. You can bring the Lord to bear on every aspect of your day by staying in touch with Him, communing with Him in your spirit. Prayer is an expression of your dependence on Christ. And because He is also your Great High Priest as well as the vine, He can do something about your situation. The Lord who is sitting at the right hand of God in the place of authority wants to work in your life to bear spiritual fruit. The key to fruit bearing is abiding in Him, and the key to abiding is obedience. (Evans, A. T. Who is This King of Glory? Experiencing the Fullness of Christ's Work in Our Lives. Chicago: Moody Press) The call to prayer at all times is frequent in the NT... Now He (Jesus) was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought (dei = this verb means it is necessary binding or needful. It speaks of an obligation out of intrinsic necessity or inevitability) to pray and not to lose heart (don't give up, grow weary or become discouraged because answers do not come immediately). 2 saying, "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God, and did not respect man. 3 "And there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, 'Give me legal protection from my opponent.' 4 "And for a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, 'Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, lest by continually coming she wear me out.'" 6 And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge said 7 now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? (Luke 18:1-7-see commentary) Comment: This does not refer to interminable prayer, but to a lifestyle saturated with prayer, not giving up when an answer is not immediate. Jesus told His disciples to... (He also said) "Ask (present imperative = command to keep on asking), and it shall be given to you; seek (present imperative = command to keep on seeking), and you shall find; knock (present imperative = command to keep on knocking), and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks (present tense = as their habitual practice) receives, and he who seeks (present tense = as their habitual practice) finds, and to him who knocks (present tense = as their habitual practice) it shall be opened. (See notes Matthew 7:7; 7:8) Paul exhorted the saints at Rome after calling on them to present themselves to God as living and holy sacrifices (see note Romans 12:1) to be... rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted (proskartereo - present tense = as our lifestyle or habitual practice) to prayer (see note Romans 12:12) Writing to the Ephesians Paul exhorted them... With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints (See notes Ephesians 6:18) Paul sounds a similar call to the Colossian saints... Devote (proskartereo - present imperative) yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving (Col 4:2-note) Comment: This reads like an order from a general to his troops engaged in a fierce struggle and emphasizes the critical need for prayer in the continual spiritual war we find ourselves in as soldiers of the Cross. Paul is not saying pray if you feel like it but pray all the time, i.e., even when you don't feel like it [ESPECIALLY when you don't feel like it]!) (See other Scriptural examples of Paul "always" praying below.) Paul instructed Timothy regarding widows writing that... Now she who is a widow indeed and who has been left alone, has fixed her hope on God and continues in entreaties (deesis = requests, including pleas for personal needs which demonstrates the widow's total dependence on God to supply her needs) and prayers night and day. (1Ti 5:5) Comment: Night and day is a Jewish idiomatic expression that means "constantly," or "all the time". Anna the prophetess "prayed without ceasing" - see Luke 2:36, 37-note) Spurgeon once quipped... As you are tempted without ceasing, so pray without ceasing (Ed note: !!!) (Cp note Hebrews 2:18 where tempting is in the present tense indicating we are continually being tempted). Observe what the above verse follows. It comes immediately after “rejoice always” (1 Thess. 5:16). Has that command ever staggered you and made you ask, “How can I rejoice always?” The apostle gives the answer, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). The more praying, the more rejoicing. Prayer gives a channel to pent up sorrow, and it flows away in a steady stream of scared delight. The more rejoicing, the more praying. When the heart is quiet and full of joy, it will draw near to the Lord in worship. A holy joy and prayer act and react on each other. Now look at the verse that follows, “In everything give thanks” (1 Thess. 5:18). When joy and prayer are married, the firstborn child is gratitude. When we joy in God for what we have and in faith pray for more, then our souls thank Him for the enjoyment of what we have and for the prospect of what is to come. These three verses are companion–pictures representing the life of a true Christian. The middle verse is the link. These three precepts are an ornament of grace to every believer. Wear them for glory and beauty. “Rejoice always.” “Pray without ceasing.” “In everything give thanks.” (Beside Still Waters) Never give up praying, even when Satan suggests that prayer is in vain. Pray in his teeth. “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). If the heavens are brass and your prayer only echoes above your head, pray on! If month after month your prayer appears to have miscarried, if you have had no answer, continue to draw close to the Lord. Do not abandon the mercy seat for any reason. If it is a good thing that you have been asking for, and if you are sure that it is according to the divine will, wait, tarry, pray, weep, plead, wrestle, and agonize until you get what you are praying for. If your heart is cold, do not wait until your heart warms. Pray your soul into heat with the help of the ever–blessed Holy Spirit, who helps in our weakness, who makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered (Rom. 8:26). Never cease prayer for any reason. If the philosopher tells you that every event is fixed and that prayer cannot possibly change anything, go on praying. If you cannot reply to every difficulty that man suggests, resolve to be obedient to the divine will. “Pray without ceasing.” Never, never, never renounce the habit of prayer or your confidence in its power. (Beside Still Waters) Not only in this place or that place, but in every place, we are to praise (and pray to) the Lord our God. Not only when we are in a happy frame of mind, but when we are downcast and troubled. The perfumed smoke from the altar of incense is to rise toward heaven both day and night, from the beginning of the year to the year’s end. Not only when we are in the assembly of the saints are we to praise God, but when we are called to pass through Vanity Fair, where sinners congregate. (The Practice of Praise) O beloved, it is well for us that we are commanded to pray, or else in times of heaviness we might not. If God command me, unfit as I may be, I will creep to the footstool of grace. Since He says, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), though my words fail me and my heart itself wanders, yet I will stammer out the wishes of my hungering soul and say, “O God, at least teach me to pray and help me to prevail with You.” (Prayers of Spurgeon) Prayer must not be our random work but our daily business, our habit, and our vocation. As artists give themselves to their models, and poets to their classical pursuits, so must we surrender ourselves to prayer. We must be immersed in prayer as in our element and so “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). Lord, teach us to pray that we may be more prevalent in supplication.The common fault with the most of us is our readiness to yield to distractions. Our thoughts go roving hither and thither, and we make little progress towards our desired end. Like quicksilver, our minds will not hold together but roll off this way and that. How great an evil this is! It injures us, and, what is worse, it insults our God. (Daily Help) One thing implied in the text (1 Thes 5:17) is that a Christian has no right to go into any place where he could not continue to pray. Pray without ceasing? Then I am never to be in a place where I could not pray without ceasing. Hence many worldly amusements without being particularised may be judged and condemned at once. Certain people believe in ready-made prayers, cut and dried for all occasions and, at the same time, they believe persons to be regenerated in baptism though their lives are anything but Christian; ought they not to provide prayers for all circumstances in which these, the dear regenerated but graceless sons and daughters of the church, are found? As, for instance, a pious collect for a young prince or nobleman who is about to go to a shooting-match, that he may be forgiven for his cruelty towards those poor pigeons who are only badly wounded and made to linger in misery, as also a prayer for a religious and regenerated gentleman who is going to a horse-race, and a collect for young people, who have received the grace of confirmation, upon their going to the theatre to attend a very questionable play. Could not such special collects be made to order? You revolt at the idea. Well then, have nothing to do with that upon which you cannot ask God’s blessing; have nothing to do with it, for if God cannot bless it, you may depend upon it the devil has cursed it. Anything that is right for you to do you may consecrate with prayer, and let this be a sure gauge and test to you; if you feel that it would be an insult to the majesty of heaven for you to ask the Lord’s blessing upon what is proposed to you, then stand clear of the unholy thing. If God does not approve, neither must you have fellowship with it. (365 Days with Spurgeon) “Pray without ceasing.” Observe what it follows. It comes immediately after the precept “Rejoice evermore,” as if that command had somewhat staggered the reader and made him ask, “How can I always rejoice?” and therefore the apostle appended as answer, “Always pray.” The more praying, the more rejoicing. Prayer gives a channel to the pent-up sorrows of the soul; they flow away, and in their stead streams of sacred delight pour into the heart. At the same time the more rejoicing, the more praying; when the heart is in a quiet condition and full of joy in the Lord, then also will it be sure to draw near to the Lord in worship. Holy joy and prayer act and react upon each other. Observe, however, what immediately follows the text: “In every thing give thanks.” When joy and prayer are married, their firstborn child is gratitude. When we joy in God for what we have and believingly pray to Him for more, then our souls thank Him both in the enjoyment of what we have and in the prospect of what is yet to come. Those three texts are three companion pictures, representing the life of a true Christian. These three precepts are an ornament of grace to every believer’s neck; wear them, every one of you, for glory and for beauty: “Rejoice evermore”; “Pray without ceasing”; “In every thing give thanks.” (Strengthen My Spirit) Pray (4336)(proseúchomai related to the noun proseuche from pros = toward or immediately before + euchomai = to pray or vow) is the more general or comprehensive covering all form of reverent approach to God, especially the offering of prayer. It is used only of praying to God. The prefix pros conveys the sense of being immediately before Him and hence the ideas of adoration, devotion, and worship. The basic idea is to bring something, and in prayer this pertains to bringing up prayer requests. In early Greek culture an offering was brought with a prayer that it be accepted. Later the idea was changed slightly, so that the thing brought to God was a prayer. In later Greek, prayers appealed to God for His presence. There are 87 uses of proseuchomai in the NT - Mt 5:44; 6:5, 6, 7, 9; 14:23; 19:13; 23:14; 24:20; 26:36, 39, 41, 42, 44; Mk. 1:35; 6:46; 11:24, 25; 12:40; 13:18, 33; 14:32, 35, 38, 39; Lk. 1:10; 3:21; 5:16; 6:12, 28; 9:18, 28, 29; 11:1, 2; 18:1, 10, 11, 12; 20:47; 22:40, 41, 44, 46; Acts 1:24; 6:6; 8:15; 9:11, 40; 10:9, 30; 11:5; 12:12; 13:3; 14:23; 16:25; 20:36; 21:5; 22:17; 28:8; Ro 8:26; 1 Co. 11:4, 5, 13; 14:13, 14,15; Ep 6:18; Php 1:9; Col. 1:3, 9; 4:3; 1Th 5:17, 25; 2Th 1:11; 3:1; 1Ti 2:8; Heb. 13:18; Jas 5:13,14, 17,18; Jude 1:20 In short, proseuchomai was a religious technical term for talking to a deity in order to ask for help, usually in the form of a request, vow, or wish. In the NT, as noted above, proseuchomai never refers to praying to men, but only to God. Hiebert adds that proseuchomai "suggests the reverential attitude of the one praying rather than the length of the prayers being offered. The readers are being called to maintain such a reverential approach to God as a continuing practice." (Ibid) Pray in this passage is a present imperative which is a command to make this our habitual practice, our lifestyle and not just we feel like it! Furthermore, Paul is not giving us a suggestion but a command and this calls for a conscious choice on each believer's part to obey, which in turn means we have to work at it, learn it, cultivate the habit, all the while keeping in mind that we can only obey in the power of the Spirit. The Spirit must teach us and lead us even as we seek to obey this command. And given that unceasing praying involves the sovereign work of the Spirit in us and our necessary cooperation (Php 2:12, 13-see notes Php 2:12; 13), it follows that it can only grow and develop in an atmosphere of obedience. Conversely, unceasing prayer withers and ceases when we sin! The moment we become conscious of sin, we must repent, confess, and go on. Communication with the Lord resumes the moment we turn back to Him. As an aside the Psalmist instructs us that our delight is in the law of the LORD and in His law (we) meditate day and night. (Psalm 1:2-note) And so the believer's life should be permeated by meditation and prayer throughout the day. The benefits are inestimable and eternal. Lawrence Richards writes that proseuchomai "In classical Greek was the technical term for calling on a deity. The NT transforms the classical stiffness into the warmth of genuine conversation. Such entreaty in the NT is addressed to God or Jesus and typically is both personal and specific. (Richards, L O: Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Regency) Unceasing prayer refers more to prayer as an attitude and not just an activity, and thus serves as a good reflection of our level of communion ("high, medium, low") with our Father. Unceasing prayer speaks more of a reverential attitude of the one praying than of the length of the prayers. Unceasing prayer is not restricted to a set time, place or position of one's body. The believer is not in a right place with God's Spirit if he cannot pray anytime, anywhere. In short, Paul's injunction means that we are to be constantly conscious of our dependence upon the Spirit. It refers, however, to the attitude of prayer, or reverence before God. The Christian's life of righteousness and his approach to relationships and responsibilities should be such that he maintains a constant attitude of being in God's presence. Such a person will pray often and about many things, including requests, praise, and thanksgiving. The regal gate - "Pray without ceasing." 1 Thessalonians 5:17 A man may always pray habitually; he may have his heart in a praying disposition in all estates and conditions, in prosperity and adversity, in health and sickness, in strength and weakness, in wealth and wants, in life and death. The Christian needs . . . mercy to pardon him, grace to purify him, balm to heal him, divine favor to comfort him, power to support him, wisdom to counsel him, goodness to satisfy him. Our daily weaknesses, our daily wants, our daily fears, our daily dangers, our daily temptations, etc., call for our daily prayers. Prayer is the regal gate by which the Lord enters into the heart, comforting, quieting, strengthening, quickening, and raising of it. By it, faith is increased, hope strengthened, the spirit exhilarated, the heart pacified, the conscience purified, temptations vanquished, corruptions weakened, the affections inflamed, the will more renewed, and the whole man more advantaged. Fausset writes that... The Greek is, "Pray without intermission"; without allowing prayerless gaps to intervene between the times of prayer. (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary) Matthew
1 Tessalonicenses 5:17
Spurgeon asked... What Do These Words Imply? Pray without ceasing. Do they not imply that the use of the voice is not an essential element in prayer? It would be most unseemly even if it were possible for us to continue unceasingly to pray aloud. There would of course be no opportunity for preaching and hearing, for the exchange of friendly intercourse, for business, or for any other of the duties of life; while the din of so many voices would remind our neighbors rather of the worship of Baal than that of Zion. It was never the design of the Lord Jesus that our throats, lungs, and tongues should be for ever at work. Since we are to pray without ceasing, and yet could not pray with the voice without ceasing, it is clear that audible language is not essential to prayer. We may speak a thousand words which seem to be prayer, and yet never pray; on the other hand, we may cry into God’s ear most effectually, and yet never say a word. In the book of Exodus God is represented as saying to Moses, “Why criest thou unto me?” And yet it is not recorded that Moses had uttered so much as a single syllable at that time. It is true that the use of the voice often helps prayer. I find, personally, that I can pray best when alone if I can hear my own voice; at the same time it is not essential, it does not enter at all into the acceptability, reality, or prevalence of prayer. Silence is as fit a garment for devotion as any that language can fashion. Robert Morgan records an incredible example of praying without ceasing. If you're not convicted by this example of a 92 year old saint, you didn't read it! Click here for the description of Dr Guido - you will be amazed. Mark Littleton writes that... Walking illustrates prayer without ceasing. Think of yourself as on a hike with Jesus. You're walking down the road together. Sometimes you're engrossed in deep theological discussions. Other times, you're just commenting on the landscape. Suddenly, a rattlesnake slithers into your path and you're nearly screaming to Him. Then there is the moment when you just stand together admiring the sunset. No words. No comments. But real communication. (Discipleship Journal)
1 Tessalonicenses 5:17
Spurgeon commenting on Psalm 109:4 "But I give myself unto prayer." writes... Continuance and perseverance are intended in the expression of our text. David did not cry once, and then relapse into silence; his holy clamour was continued till it brought down the blessing. Prayer must not be our chance work, but our daily business, our habit and vocation. As artists give themselves to their models, and poets to their classical pursuits, so must we addict ourselves to prayer. We must be immersed in prayer as in our element, and so pray without ceasing. Lord, teach us so to pray that we may be more and more prevalent in supplication. (Morning and Evening) John Piper (this quote is similar but not identical to the Piper quote posted above) explains that... Praying without ceasing means at least three things. First, it means that there is a spirit of dependence that should permeate all we do. This is the very spirit and essence of prayer. So, even when we are not speaking consciously to God, there is a deep, abiding dependence on Him that is woven into the heart of faith. In that sense, we "pray" or have the spirit of prayer continuously. Second—and I think this is what Paul has in mind most immediately—praying without ceasing means praying repeatedly and often. I base this on the use of the word "without ceasing" (adialeiptos) in Romans 1:9, where Paul says, "For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing [adialeiptos] I mention you." Now we can be sure that Paul did not mention the Romans every minute of his waking life, or even every minute of his prayers. He prayed about many other things. But he mentioned them over and over, and often. So "without ceasing" doesn't mean that, verbally or mentally, we have to be speaking prayers every minute of the day in the fight for joy. It means we should pray over and over, and often. Our default mental state should be: "O God, help..." Third, praying without ceasing means not giving up on prayer. Don't ever come to a point in your life where you cease to pray at all. Don't abandon the God of hope and say, "There's no use praying." Jesus is very jealous for us to learn this lesson. One of his parables is introduced by the words, "And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1). He knew our experience in prayer would tempt us to quit altogether. So He, along with the apostle Paul, says, Never lose heart. Go on praying. Don't cease. So from the context of 1 Thessalonians 5, I say that the key to "rejoice always" is to "pray without ceasing." Lean on God all the time for the miracle of joy in your life. Never give up looking to him for help. Come to him repeatedly during the day and often. Make your default mental state a Godward longing for all that you need, especially for spiritual desires. (When I Don't Desire God) Martin Luther source declares... How glibly we talk of praying without ceasing! Yet we are quite apt to quit, if our prayer remained unanswered but one week or month! We assume that by a stroke of His arm or an action of His will, God will give us what we ask. It never seems to dawn on us, that He is the Master of nature, as of grace, and that, sometimes He chooses one way, and sometimes another in which to do His work. It takes years, sometimes, to answer a prayer and when it is answered, and we look backward we can see that it did. But God knows all the time, and it is His will that we pray, and pray, and still pray, and so come to know, indeed and of a truth, what it is to pray without ceasing. E. M. Bounds had several quotes regarding unceasing prayer... The best, the greatest offering is an offering of prayer. If the preachers of the twentieth century will learn well the lesson of prayer, and use fully the power of prayer, the millennium will come to its noon ere the century closes. “Pray without ceasing” is the trumpet call to the preachers of the twentieth century. If the twentieth century will get their texts, their thoughts, their words, their sermons in their closets, the next century will find a new heaven and a new earth. The old sin-stained and sin-eclipsed heaven and earth will pass away under the power of a praying ministry.... To “pray without ceasing,” to pray in everything, and to pray everywhere—these commands of continuity are expressive of the sleepless energy of prayer, of the exhaustless possibilities of prayer, and of its exacting necessity. Prayer can do all things. Prayer must do all things.... “Prayer is the simplest form of speech That infant lips can try; Prayer the sublimest strains that reach The majesty on high.” This joyous, care-free, peaceful experience bringing the believer into a joyousness, living simply by faith day by day, is the will of God. Writing to the Thessalonians, Paul tells them: “Rejoice evermore; pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” So that not only is it God’s will that we should find full deliverance from all care and undue anxiety, but He has ordained prayer as the means by which we can reach that happy state of heart.... How enthroned, magnificent and royal the intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ at His Father’s right hand in heaven! The benefits of His intercession flow to us through our intercessions. Our intercession ought to catch by contagion, and by necessity the inspiration and largeness of Christ’s great work at His Father’s right hand. His business and His life are to pray. Our business and our lives ought to be to pray, and to pray without ceasing.... Here are some of the comprehensive, and exhaustive statements of the Word of God about prayer, the things to be taken in by prayer, the strong promise made in answer to prayer: “Pray without ceasing;” “continue in prayer;” “continuing instant in prayer;” “in everything by prayer, let your request be made known unto God;” “pray always, pray and not faint;” “men should pray everywhere;” “praying always, with all prayer and supplication.” A Biographical note on E M Bounds - As breathing is a physical reality to us so prayer was a reality for Bounds. He took the command, “Pray without ceasing” almost as literally as animate nature takes the law of the reflex nervous system, which controls our breathing. Prayer-books—real text-books, not forms of prayer—were the fruit of this daily spiritual exercise. Not brief articles for the religious press came from his pen—though he had been experienced in that field for years—not pamphlets, but books were the product and result. He was hindered by poverty, obscurity, loss of prestige, yet his victory was not wholly reserved until his death. Pray as God Would Have Us Pray- British writer Samuel Chadwick had this to say: “To pray as God would have us pray is the greatest achievement on earth. Such a prayer life costs. It takes time. All praying saints have spent hours every day in prayer. In these days, there is no time to pray; but without time, and a lot of it, we shall never learn to pray.” - H. G. Bosch One of the great paradoxes of the Christian faith is that God wants us to talk to Him about everything that is going on in our lives, even though He already knows everything. So why pray? If you’ve ever wrestled with that question, perhaps the thoughts of the 19th-century preacher R. A. Torrey can help. Among the reasons he gave for prayer are these: • Because there is a devil, and prayer is a God-appointed way to resist Him (Ep 6:12, 13, 18 -see notes Ep 6:12; 13; 18). • Because prayer is God’s way for us to obtain what we need from Him (Luke 11:3-13-note; Jas 4:2). • Because prayer is the means God has appointed for us to find “grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16-note). • Because prayer with thanksgiving is God’s way for us to obtain freedom from anxiety and to receive “the peace of God” (Php 6:6,7-see notes Php 4:6; 4:7). Spurgeon wrote... Never give up praying, even when Satan suggests that prayer is in vain. Pray in his teeth. “Pray without ceasing” (1Th 5:17). If the heavens are brass and your prayer only echoes above your head, pray on! If month after month your prayer appears to have miscarried, if you have had no answer, continue to draw close to the Lord. Do not abandon the mercy seat for any reason. If it is a good thing that you have been asking for, and if you are sure that it is according to the divine will, wait, tarry, pray, weep, plead, wrestle, and agonize until you get what you are praying for. If your heart is cold, do not wait until your heart warms. Pray your soul into heat with the help of the ever-blessed Holy Spirit, who helps in our weakness, who makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered (Ro 8:26-note). Never cease prayer for any reason. If the philosopher tells you that every event is fixed and that prayer cannot possibly change anything, go on praying. If you cannot reply to every difficulty that man suggests, resolve to be obedient to the divine will. “Pray without ceasing.” Never, never, never renounce the habit of prayer or your confidence in its power. A number of ministers were assembled for the discussion of difficult questions; and, among others, it was asked, how the command to “Pray without ceasing” (1Thes 5:17) could be complied with. Various suppositions were stated; and at length one of the number was appointed to write an essay upon it to be read at the next meeting; which being overheard by a female servant, she exclaimed, “What! a whole month waiting to tell the meaning of that text? It is one of the easiest and best texts in the Bible.” “Well, well,” said an old minister. “Mary, what can you say about it? Let us know how you understand it. Can you pray all the time?” “Oh, yes, sir!” “What, when you have so much to do?” “Why, sir, the more I have to do the more I can pray.” “Indeed! Well, Mary, do let us know how it is; for most think otherwise.” “Well, sir,” said the girl, “when I first open my eyes in the morning, I pray, ‘Lord, open the eyes of my understanding,’ and, while I am dressing, I pray that I may be clothed with the robe of righteousness, and when I have washed me, I ask for the washing of regeneration, and as I begin to work I pray that I may have strength equal to my day; when I begin to kindle up the fire, I pray that my heart may be cleansed from all its impurities. And while preparing and partaking of breakfast, I desire to be fed with the hidden manna and the sincere milk of the Word; and, as I am busy with the little children I look up to God as my Father, and pray for the spirit of adoption, that I may be His child: and so on all day. Everything I do furnishes me with a thought for prayer,” “Enough, enough!” cried the old divine: “These things are revealed to babes, and often hid from the wise and prudent. Go on, Mary,” said he, “Pray without ceasing; and as for us, my brethren, let us bless the Lord for this exposition, and remember that He has said, “The meek will He guide in judgment” (Ps 25:9). After this little event, the essay was not considered necessary. If we pray for the Lord to fill our cups, may it be for the purpose of letting someone else share the blessing with us. A selfish prayer is lost in the air.— (W. S. Bowden) Spurgeon commenting on praying without ceasing wrote... Observe what 1Thessalonians 5:17 follows. It comes immediately after “rejoice always” (1Thes 5:16). Has that command ever staggered you and made you ask, “How can I rejoice always?” The apostle gives the answer, “Pray without ceasing” (1Thes 5:17). The more praying, the more rejoicing. Prayer gives a channel to pent up sorrow, and it flows away in a steady stream of scared delight. The more rejoicing, the more praying. When the heart is quiet and full of joy, it will draw near to the Lord in worship. A holy joy and prayer act and react on each other. Now look at the verse that follows, “In everything give thanks” (1Thes 5:18). When joy and prayer are married, the firstborn child is gratitude. When we joy in God for what we have and in faith pray for more, then our souls thank Him for the enjoyment of what we have and for the prospect of what is to come. These three verses are companion-pictures representing the life of a true Christian. The middle verse is the link. These three precepts are an ornament of grace to every believer. Wear them for glory and beauty. “Rejoice always.” “Pray without ceasing.” “In everything give thanks.” He's Waiting -READ: Ephesians 3:8-21 - Telephone answering machines can be helpful, but it's often frustrating to call someone and hear a recorded voice say, "I'm sorry I can't take your call just now, but please leave your name and phone number and I'll get back to you." Disappointed, we speak into the machine, hoping the other person won't be forgetful or too busy to call back. In our high-tech world, it's encouraging to know that when we call out to God we get straight through to Him. In Ephesians 3, the apostle Paul said that "in Christ Jesus our Lord . . . we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him" (1T 5:11,12). In 1Thessalonians 5:17, Paul encouraged believers to "pray without ceasing," which assumes, of course, that God is always listening and wants to hear from us. Yet, for some reason we often keep God waiting. Our prayerlessness gives God the repeated message that we won't answer His call to pray now, but we'll get back to Him later. What are the things that keep you from praying? Begin by talking to God about whatever is hindering your prayer-life. Such praying will cultivate the two-way closeness that your heavenly Father is longing to enjoy with you. We can know that God is watching, Always present, everywhere, And with hope and joy and patience He is waiting for our prayer. —Roworth If you're too busy to pray, you're too busy. Don't Forget Monday - Read 1Th 4:1-12- God is quite popular on Sunday. Millions of people around the world stop what they're doing to visit a building where the sole purpose is to meet with others to worship, sing, and learn about God. But then Monday rolls around. What place does God have in their lives then? When the emphasis is on a thousand other things, they can easily go all week without considering Him. Even among many believers who go to church on Sunday, God's name isn't spoken in reverence. Often His plans are not considered, and His guidelines for living aren't given a thought. Where did we get the idea that God wants our attention only on Sunday? Certainly not from the apostle Paul, who said we are to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17)—a sure sign that God is listening on Monday through Saturday too. Paul also wrote, "Rejoice always" (v.16), which indicates that we shouldn't stop singing just because the organ stops playing. And what about the command, "In everything give thanks"? (v.18). That would surely suggest that the rest of the week is just as full of opportunities to say, "Thank You, God." The Christian life is not confined To church one day a week; God wants us to obey His Word— Each day His will to seek. —Sper Worship God on Sunday, then walk with Him on Monday. Chambers writes that "We think rightly or wrongly about prayer according to the conception we have in our minds of prayer. If we think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts, we think rightly. The blood flows ceaselessly, and breathing continues ceaselessly; we are not conscious of it, but it is always going on. We are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect joint with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life. Beware of anything that stops ejaculatory prayer. “Pray without ceasing,” keep the childlike habit of ejaculatory prayer in your heart to God all the time. Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer; He had the boundless certainty that prayer is always answered. Have we by the Spirit the unspeakable certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of the times when God does not seem to have answered prayer? “Every one that asks receives.” We say—‘But...but...’ God answers prayer in the best way, not sometimes, but every time, although the immediate manifestation of the answer in the domain in which we want it may not always follow. Do we expect God to answer prayer?" James Denney in his commentary notes on 1Thessalonians has the following Prayer, we know, when we take it in the widest sense, is the primary mark of the Christian. “Behold, he prayeth,” the Lord said of Saul, when He wished to convince Ananias that there was no mistake about his conversion (see Acts 9:11). He who does not pray at all — and is it too much to suppose that some come to churches who never do? — is no Christian. Prayer is the converse of the soul with God; it is that exercise in which we hold up our hearts to Him, that they may be filled with His fulness, and changed into His likeness. The more we pray, and the more we are in contact with Him, the greater is our assurance of His love, the firmer our confidence that He is with us to help and save. If we once think of it, we shall see that our very life as Christians depends on our being in perpetual contact and perpetual fellowship with God. If He does not breathe into us the breath of life, we have no life. If He does not hour by hour send our help from above, we face our spiritual foes without resources. It is with such thoughts present to the mind that some would interpret the command, Pray without ceasing. “Cherish a spirit of prayer,” they would render it, “and make devotion the true business of life. Cultivate the sense of dependence on God; let it be part of the very structure of your thoughts that without Him you can do nothing, but through His strength all things.” But this is, in truth, to put the effect where the cause should be. This spirit of devotion is itself the fruit of ceaseless prayers; this strong consciousness of dependence on God becomes an ever present and abiding thing only when in all our necessities we betake ourselves to Him. Occasions, we must rather say, if we would follow the Apostle’s thought, are never wanting, and will never be wanting, which call for the help of God; therefore, pray without ceasing. It is useless to say that the thing cannot be done before the experiment has been made. There are few works that cannot be accompanied with prayer; there are few indeed that cannot be preceded by prayer; there is none at all that would not profit by prayer. Take the very first work to which you must set your mind and your hand, and you know it will be better done if, as you turn to it, you look up to God and ask His help to do it well and faithfully, as a Christian ought to do it for the Master above. It is not in any vague, indefinite fashion, but by taking prayer with us wherever we go, by consciously, deliberately, and persistently lifting our hearts to God as each emergency in life, great or small, makes its new demand upon us, that the apostolic exhortation is to be obeyed. If prayer is thus combined with all our works, we shall find that it wastes no time, though it fills all. (Ed note: See an example of this type of praying -- click here and scroll down to the middle of the page to the description of Dr Guido - you will be amazed) Certainly it is not an easy practice to begin, that of praying without ceasing. It is so natural for us not to pray, that we perpetually forget, and undertake this or that without God. But surely we get reminders enough that this omission of prayer is a mistake. Failure, loss of temper, absence of joy, weariness, and discouragement are its fruits; while prayer brings us without fail the joy and strength of God. The Apostle himself knew that to pray without ceasing requires an extraordinary effort: and in the only passages in which he urges it, he combines with it the duties of watchfulness and persistence (Ephesians 6:15; Colossians 4:2; Romans 12:12). We must be on our guard that the occasion for prayer does not escape us, and we must take care not to be wearied with this incessant reference of everything to God. Andrew Murray in his book With Christ in the School of Prayer has the following chapter entitled Pray without ceasing 1 Thess. 5:16, 17, 18. Or, A Life of Prayer Andrew Murray OUR Lord spake the parable of the widow and the unjust judge to teach us that men ought to pray always and not faint. As the widow persevered in seeking one definite thing, the parable appears to have reference to persevering prayer for some one blessing, when God delays or appears to refuse. The words in the Epistles, which speak of continuing instant in prayer, continuing in prayer and watching in the same, of praying always in the Spirit, appear more to refer to the whole life being one of prayer. As the soul is filling with the longing for the manifestation of God’s glory to us and in us, through us and around us, and with the confidence that He hears the prayers of His children; the inmost life of the soul is continually rising upward in dependence and faith, in longing desire and trustful expectation. At the close of our meditations it will not be difficult to say what is needed to live such a life of prayer. The first thing is undoubtedly the entire sacrifice of the life to God’s kingdom and glory. He who seeks to pray without ceasing because he wants to be very pious and good, will never attain to it. It is the forgetting of self and yielding ourselves to live for God and His honour that enlarges the heart, that teaches us to regard everything in the light of God and His will, and that instinctively recognises in everything around us the need of God’s help and blessing, an opportunity for His being glorified. Because everything is weighed and tested by the one thing that fills the heart-the glory of God, and because the soul has learnt that only what is of God can really be to Him and His glory, the whole life becomes a looking up, a crying from the inmost heart, for God to prove His power and love and so show forth His glory. The believer awakes to the consciousness that he is one of the watchmen on Zion’s walls, one of the Lord’s remembrancers, whose call does really touch and move the King in heaven to do what would otherwise not be done. He understands how real Paul’s exhortation was, ‘praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit for all the saints and for me,’ and ‘continue in prayer, withal praying also for us.’ To forget oneself, to live for God and His kingdom among men, is the way to learn to pray without ceasing. This life devoted to God must be accompanied by the deep confidence that our prayer is effectual. We have seen how our Blessed Lord insisted upon nothing so much in His prayer-lessons as faith in the Father as a God who most certainly does what we ask. ‘Ask and ye shall receive;’ count confidently on an answer, is with Him the beginning and the end of His teaching (compare Matt. 7:8 and John 16:24). In proportion as this assurance masters us, and it becomes a settled thing that our prayers do tell and that God does what we ask, we dare not neglect the use of this wonderful power: the soul turns wholly to God, and our life becomes prayer. We see that the Lord needs and takes time, because we and all around us are the creatures of time, under the law of growth; but knowing that not one single prayer of faith can possibly be lost that there is sometimes a needs-be for the storing up and accumulating of prayer, that persevering pray is irresistible, prayer becomes the quiet, persistent living of our life of desire and faith in the presence of our God. O do not let us any longer by our reasonings limit and enfeeble such free and sure promises of the living God, robbing them of their power, and ourselves of the wonderful confidence they are meant to inspire. Not in God, not in His secret will, not in the limitations of His promises, but in us, in ourselves is the hindrance; we are not what we should be to obtain the promise. Let us open our whole heart to God’s words of promise in all their simplicity and truth: they will search us and humble us; they will lift us up and make us glad and strong. And to the faith that knows it gets what it asks, prayer is not a work or a burden, but a joy and a triumph; it becomes a necessity and a second nature. This union of strong desire and firm confidence again is nothing but the life of the Holy Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, hides Himself in the depths of our being, and stirs the desire after the Unseen and the Divine, after God Himself. Now in groanings that cannot be uttered, then in clear and conscious assurance; now in special distinct petitions for the deeper revelation of Christ to ourselves, then in pleadings for a soul, a work, the Church or the world, it is always and alone the Holy Spirit who draws out the heart to thirst for God, to long for His being made known and glorified. Where the child of God really lives and walks in the Spirit, where he is not content to remain carnal, but seeks to be spiritual, in everything a fit organ for the Divine Spirit to reveal the life of Christ and Christ Himself, there the never-ceasing intercession-life of the Blessed Son cannot but reveal and repeat itself in our experience. Because it is the Spirit of Christ who prays in us, our prayer must be heard; because it is we who pray in the Spirit, there is need of time, and patience, and continual renewing of the prayer, until every obstacle be conquered, and the harmony between God’s Spirit and ours is perfect. But the chief thing we need for such a life of unceasing prayer is, to know that Jesus teaches us to pray. We have begun to understand a little what His teaching is. Not the communication of new thoughts or views, not the discovery of failure or error, not the stirring up of desire and faith, of however much importance all this be, but the taking us up into the fellowship of His own prayer-life before the Father-this it is by which Jesus really teaches. It was the sight of the praying Jesus that made the disciples long and ask to be taught to pray. It is the faith of the ever-praying Jesus, whose alone is the power to pray, that teaches us truly to pray. We know why: He who prays is our Head and our Life. All He has is ours and is given to us when we give ourselves all to Him. By His blood He leads us into the immediate presence of God. The inner sanctuary is our home, we dwell there. And He that lives so near God, and knows that He has been brought near to bless those who are far, cannot but pray. Christ makes us partakers with Himself of His prayer-power and prayer-life. We understand then that our true aim must not be to work much and have prayer enough to keep the work right, but to pray much and then to work enough for the power and blessing obtained in prayer to find its way through us to men. It is Christ who ever lives to pray, who saves and reigns. He communicates His prayer-life to us: He maintains it in us if we trust Him. He is surety for our praying without ceasing. Yes, Christ teaches to pray by showing how He does it, by doing it in us, by leading us to do it in Him and like Him. Christ is all, the life and the strength too for a never-ceasing prayer-life. It is the sight of this, the sight of the ever-praying Christ as our life, that enables us to pray without ceasing. Because His priesthood is the power of an endless life, that resurrection-life that never fades and never fails, and because His life is our life, praying without ceasing can become to us nothing less than the life-joy of heaven. So the Apostle says: ‘Rejoice evermore; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks.’ Borne up between the never-ceasing joy and the never-ceasing praise, never-ceasing prayer is the manifestation of the power of the eternal life, where Jesus always prays. The union between the Vine and the branch is in very deed a prayer-union. The highest conformity to Christ, the most blessed participation in the glory of His heavenly life, is that we take part in His work of intercession: He and we live ever to pray. In the experience of our union with Him, praying without ceasing becomes a possibility, a reality, the holiest and most blessed part of our holy and blessed fellowship with God. We have our abode within the veil, in the presence of the Father. What the Father says, we do; what the Son says, the Father does. Praying without ceasing is the earthly manifestation of heaven come down to us, the foretaste of the life where they rest not day or night in the song of worship and adoration. (Andrew Murray. With Christ In The School of Prayer) Thompson Chain Reference Prayer Select Readings Genesis 18:23-32, 32:24-30 2Sa 7:18-29 1Ki 8:22-61 Lk 11:1-13, 18:1-8, Jn 17:1-26 General References to Universal Need of Psalms 65:2 Isaiah 56:7 Luke 11:2 The Holy Spirit Aids in -Romans 8:26, 8:27 Prayers of the Saints Precious - Revelation 5:8 Ascends as Incense before God - Re 8:3, 8:4 Enjoined 1Chr 16:11 Ho 14:2 Mt 7:7, 26:41 Lk 18:1, 21:36 Jn 16:24 Ep 6:18 Php 4:6 Col 4:2 1Th 5:17 1Ti 2:8 Jas 5:13 Prayers Answered, examples of Moses -Exodus 15:24, 25 Gideon -Jdg 6:39, 40 Jdg 13:9 Hannah -1 Samuel 1:27 Samuel -1 Samuel 7:9, 7:10 Solomon -1 Kings 3:12, 9:3 Elijah -1 Kings 18:37, 38 2Ki 6:18, 13:4 Hezekiah -2 Kings 19:19, 20 1 Chronicles 5:20 Jehoshaphat 2Chr 18:31, 32:21, 33:13 Ezra Ezra 8:23 Nehemiah 9:27 Daniel 2:19, 9:22, 10:12 Answer Promised Ps 91:15 Is 41:17, 58:9, 65:24 Je 33:3 Zech 13:9 Lk 11:9 John 14:14, 15:7 1Jn 3:22 Causes of Failure in Disobedience -Deuteronomy 1:45 Indifference -Proverbs 1:28 Neglect of mercy -Proverbs 21:13 Despising the law -Proverbs 28:9 Blood-guiltiness -Isaiah 1:15 Iniquity -Isaiah 59:2 Stubbornness -Zechariah 7:13 Instability -James 1:6 Self-indulgence -James 4:3 True Prayer Heard -Job 34:28 Ps 4:3, 18:6, 34:17 Pr 15:29 Mic 7:7 Zech 10:6 Sometimes Refused because not in accord with the Divine Will -Ex 33:20 Deuteronomy 3:26 2Samuel 12:16 Ezekiel 20:3 2Corinthians 12:8 Social and Family -Mt 18:19 Lk 1:10 Acts 1:14, 4:24,12:12, 21:5 Conditions for Successful Contrition -2 Chronicles 7:14 Isaiah 58:9 Whole-heartedness -Jeremiah 29:13 Faith -Mark 11:24 Righteousness -James 5:16 Obedience -1 John 3:22, 5:14 Notable Prayers Abraham, for Sodom Genesis 18:23 Jacob, at Peniel Genesis 32:24 David, when denied the privilege of building the temple 2 Samuel 7:18 Solomon, at Gibeon 1 Kings 3:6 Solomon, at the dedication of the Temple 1 Kings 8:22 Hezekiah, at the invasion of Sennacherib 2 Kings 19:15 1 Chronicles 17:16 Ezra, for the sins of the people Ezra 9:6 Daniel, for the captive Jews Daniel 9:4 Habakkuk's Prayer Habakkuk 3:1 The Lord's Prayer Matthew 6:9 Christ's Intercessory prayer John 17:1 Paul, for the Ephesians Ephesians 3:14 Brevity in Prayer Examples of Brief Prayers Elijah at Carmel 1 Kings 18:36 1 Kings 18:37 Jabez 1 Chronicles 4:10 Hezekiah, when sick Isaiah 38:2 Isaiah 38:3 Brevity Enjoined Ecclesiastes 5:2 Matthew 6:7, 23:14 Special Pleas Offered in - Ge 18:32, 32:9 Nu 14:13 2Ki 20:3 Ps 71:18 Je 14:20 Da 9:18 Postures in prayer Bowing Genesis 24:26 Exodus 4:31, 12:27, 34:8 Kneeling- 1Kings 8:54 2Chr 6:13 Ezra 9:5 Ps 95:6 Is 45:23 Da 6:10 Lk 22:41 Ac 7:60, 9:40, 20:36, 21:5 Ep 3:14 On the Face Before God- Nu 20:6 Jos 5:14 1Ki 18:42 2Chr 20:18 Mt 26:39 Standing 1 Kings 8:22 Mark 11:25 Luke 18:11 Examples of Secret Prayer Samuel 1 Samuel 15:11 Elijah 1 Kings 17:19 1 Kings 17:20 Christ's Command Matthew 6:6 Private, of Christ Evening Prayer Mark 6:46, 6:47 Solitary Communion Luke 5:15, 5:16 All-night Prayer Luke 6:12 In the Garden of Gethsemane Luke 22:41, 22:42 Public, of Christ Matthew 11:25 Luke 3:21 John 11:41, 17:1 Requests for Prayer 1Sa 7:8,12:19 1Ki 13:6 Ac 8:24 Ro 15:30 Ep 6:19 1Th 5:25 2Th 3:1 He 13:18 Unwise Prayers, examples of Numbers 11:15 1 Kings 19:4 Jn 4:3 Matthew 20:21 Access in Psalms 24:3 Psalms 24:4 Isaiah 26:2 John 10:9 John 14:6 Romans 5:2 Ephesians 2:18, 3:12 Hebrews 10:19 1Pe 3:12 Revelation 3:8 All-night Prayers Samuel 1 Samuel 15:11 Psalms 55:17, 119:62 Christ Luke 6:12 Acts 16:25 Answer Delayed - Ps 13:1, 40:17, 69:3, 119:82 Jn 11:6, 11:21 Jas 5:7 2Pe 3:9 Prayers Answered, examples of Moses Exodus 15:24, 15:25 Gideon Judges 6:39, 6:40, 13:9 Hannah 1 Samuel 1:27 Samuel 1 Samuel 7:9,10 Solomon 1 Kings 3:12 1 Kings 9:3 Elijah 1 Kings 18:37 1 Kings 18:38 2 Kings 6:18, 13:4 Hezekiah 2 Kings 19:19,20 1 Chronicles 5:20 Jehoshaphat 2 Chronicles 18:31, 32:21, 33:13 Ezra Ezra 8:23 Nehemiah 9:27 Da 2:19, 9:22, 10:12 Bowing in Genesis 24:26 Ex 4:31, 12:27, 34:8 Earnestness in CRYING TO GOD Examples of Ex 2:23, 14:10, 17:4 Jdg 3:9, 4:3, 6:7 1Sa 7:9 1Ki 17:20 1Chr 5:20 2Chr 13:14, 14:11 Ps 34:6, 61:2 Lamentations 2:18 SEVEN EARNEST SUPPLIANTS The cry for Help (Jacob) Genesis 32:26 The cry for Intercession (Moses) Exodus 32:31, 32:32 The cry for Wisdom (Solomon) 1 Kings 3:7, 8, 9 The cry for Cleansing (David) Psalms 51:1,2 The cry of the Dying Soul (Penitent Thief) Luke 23:42 The cry for Salvation (Philippian Jailer) Acts 16:30 The cry for Deliverance (Paul) 2 Corinthians 12:8, 12:9 Encouragements to 1Ki 3:5 Zec 10:1 Mt 7:8,21:22 Lk 11:9 Jn 14:13, 15:7, 16:24 Jas 1:5 1Jn 5:14 For Enemies -Matthew 5:44 Luke 23:34 Acts 7:60 For Food- Genesis 28:20 Proverbs 30:8 Matthew 6:11 For the Church- Jn 17:20 Ro 1:9 Ep 1:16, 3:14 Php 1:4 Col 1:3, 4:12 1Th 1:2 For Wisdom- 2Chr 1:10 Ps 90:12 Pr 2:3 Ep 1:17 Col 1:9 Jas 1:5 Heard True Prayer Heard Job 34:28 Ps 4:3, 18:6, 34:17 Pr 15:29 Mic 7:7 Zech 10:6 Importunity, examples of Syrophenician Woman Matthew 15:27 Luke 11:8, 18:5 The Early Church Acts 12:5 James 5:16 In Affliction CRYING TO GOD Examples of Exodus 2:23, 14:10, 17:4 Jdg 3:9, 4:3, 6:7 1Sa 7:9 1Ki 17:20 1Chr 5:20 2Chr 13:14, 14:11 Ps 34:6, 61:2 Lam 2:18 In Christ's Name Luke 24:47 John 14:13, 15:16, 16:26, 20:31 Acts 3:6,16m 4:10 Acts 16:18 Ep 5:20 Intercessory Christ's Intercession with the Father for Mankind Examples of Man's with his Fellow-men - Ge 37:21, 37:26, 44:33 1Sa 19:4, 25:24 Je 38:9 Philemon 1:10 Intercessory Prayer, examples of Moses for Israel -Exodus 32:32 for Miriam- Numbers 12:13 for Israel- Numbers 14:17 Deuteronomy 9:26 Samuel for Israel- 1 Samuel 7:5 A Man of God for Jeroboam -1 Kings 13:6 David for Israel -1 Chronicles 21:17 Hezekiah for the People -2 Chronicles 30:18 Other instances of- Job 42:10 Psalms 106:23 Ephesians 1:16 Kneeling in -1Ki 8:54 2Chr 6:13 Ezra 9:5 Ps 95:6 Is 45:23 Da 6:10 Lk 22:41 Ac 7:60, 9:40, 20:36, 21:5 Ep 3:14 Lord's The - Matthew 6:9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Luke 11:2, 3, 4 Morning Devotions -Genesis 22:3 Of Jacob- Ge 28:16, 28:17, 28:18 Ex 24:4 Of Samuel's Parents- 1 Samuel 1:19 Of Hezekiah- 2 Chronicles 29:20 Of Job- Job 1:5 Of David- Psalms 57:8, 119:147 Of Jesus-Mark 1:35 Neglect of - Ps 53:4 Is 43:22, 64:7 Je 10:21 Da 9:13 Ho 7:7 Zeph 1:6 Jas 4:2 Examples of Abraham, for Sodom -Genesis 18:23 Jacob, at Peniel -Genesis 32:24 David, when denied the privilege of building the temple -2 Samuel 7:18 Solomon, at Gibeon- 1 Kings 3:6 Solomon, at the dedication of the Temple -1 Kings 8:22 Hezekiah, at the invasion of Sennacherib- 2 Kings 19:15 1 Chronicles 17:16 Ezra, for the sins of the people -Ezra 9:6 Daniel, for the captive Jews- Daniel 9:4 Habakkuk's Prayer -Habakkuk 3:1 The Lord's Prayer -Matthew 6:9 Christ's Intercessory prayer John 17:1 Paul, for the Ephesians -Ephesians 3:14 Power of Increased by Self-denial -Matthew 17:21 Dependent upon Faith -Matthew 21:22 John 14:13 Unlimited to those who Abide in Christ -John 15:7 To be most Effective, should be accompanied by Praise -Acts 16:25,26 Manifest in the life of Elijah -James 5:18 Examples of Jacob -Genesis 32:26, 27, 28 Elijah -1 Kings 17:21,22 The dying thief- Luke 23:42 Early disciples- Acts 4:31 Promises of Answers to- Ps 91:15 Is 41:17, 58:9, 65:24 Je 33:3 Zec 13:9 Lk 11:9 John 14:14, 15:7 1Jn 3:22 Successful Conditions for Successful Contrition- 2 Chronicles 7:14 Isaiah 58:9 Whole-heartedness- Jeremiah 29:13 Faith -Mark 11:24 Righteousness- James 5:16 Obedience -1Jn 3:22, 5:14 Standing in -1 Kings 8:22 Mark 11:25 Luke 18:11 Three Times a Day -Psalms 55:17 Daniel 6:10 United Social and Family- Mt 18:19 Lk 1:10 Ac 1:14, 4:24, 12:12, 21:5
1 Tessalonicenses 5:18
Spurgeon comments: I will bless the Lord at all times. He is resolved and fixed, I will (Ed: God won't force us to choose thankfulness. It comes down to a choice, but even that choice is motivated by His indwelling Spirit as in Php 2:13-note); he is personally and for himself determined, let others so as they may; he is intelligent in head and inflamed in heart -- he knows to Whom the praise is due, and what is due, and for what and when. To Jehovah, and not to second causes our gratitude is to be rendered. The Lord hath by right a monopoly in His creatures praise. Even when a mercy may remind us of our sin with regard to it, as in this case David's deliverance from the Philistine monarch was sure to do, we are not to rob God of His meed (a fitting return or recompense) of honour because our conscience justly awards a censure to our share in the transaction. Though the hook was rusty, yet God sent the fish, and we thank Him for it. At all times, in every situation, under every circumstance, before, in and after trials, in bright days of glee, and dark nights of fear. He would never have done praising, because never satisfied that he had done enough; always feeling that he fell short of the Lord's deservings. Happy is he whose fingers are wedded to his harp. He who praises God for mercies shall never want a mercy for which to praise. To bless the Lord is never unseasonable. His praise shall continually be in my mouth, not in my heart merely, but in my mouth too. Our thankfulness is not to be a dumb thing; it should be one of the daughters of music. Our tongue is our glory, and it ought to reveal the glory of God. What a blessed mouthful is God's praise! How sweet, how purifying, how perfuming! If men's mouths were always thus filled, there would be no repining against God, or slander of neighbours. If we continually rolled this dainty morsel under our tongue, the bitterness of daily affliction would be swallowed up in joy. God deserves blessing with the heart, and extolling with the mouth -- good thoughts in the closet and good words in the world. So how does one emulate and exercise this Davidic attitude of gratitude?... Through Him (through Christ, our Great High Priest - see study of through Him = through Christ) then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips (What does this imply? As physical fruit is borne by abiding, so spiritual fruit is borne by us abiding in Christ and His Spirit in us - Gal 5:22-note, Gal 5:23-note, Jn 15:5) that give thanks to His Name. (Hebrews 13:15-note) Chrysostom "gave a practical illustration of this heroic temper by repeating (this attitude of gratitude), as he died in the extreme hardships of an enforced and painful exile. (Quoted by James Moffatt in 1Thessalonians 5 Commentary) See Related Resources: Exposition of Ephesians 5:20 (Eph 5:20) Exposition of Philippians 4:6 (Php 4:6) A great many Christians although familiar with this command, have looked on it as a sort of counsel of perfection which is out of reach of most of us mere mortals. We offer our own practical paraphrase of Paul's command saying something like "in most things give thanks" or "in some things give thanks" or "give thanks when you feel like it"! Let's be honest, there are times when the thought of giving thanks is the farthest thought from our mind. We would rather grumble and/or complain. And often we have a "legitimate" (in the world's way of looking at things) reason to gripe. And so we arrive at a "spiritual stalemate" because we really don't want to do what Paul is commanding. It is at times like this what we need to remember the basic spiritual "law" that God never asks us to do something that He doesn't enable us to accomplish. Thanksgiving is often an act of sheer faith. Our intellect says "get upset and complain." But the Spirit says, "give thanks in all things and at all times." If we respond to the Spirit in faith (God allowed it and He will cause it to work out for good) and genuinely give thanks (not legalistically but enabled by amazing grace), we are blessed. We will cease fretting and a beautiful joy and confidence in God sets in. Admittedly this describes the ideal response, and yet one that is within the reach of every believer because we all possess the Spirit and access to just the necessary amount of grace. The opposite of giving thanks in all things is grumbling or murmuring, an attitude and response Paul addressed in his letter to the Philippians... Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15 (Paul explains why this response is so important) that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may have cause to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. (See notes Philippians 2:14; 15; 16) Comment: Notice that "non-grumbling" is not optional and is not just a suggestion. Paul is commanding "non-grumbling" to be the believer's continual response [present imperative]! Remember that when you murmur about your circumstances, in the final analysis, you are murmuring against the One Who has designed every circumstance of your life. So when the urge to murmur comes over you [the old flesh will always urge you in that direction - see Gal 5:17-note], remember that you need to view the adverse circumstances with eyes of faith and an eternal perspective [cf 2Cor 4:16, 17, 18], asking the question "Is God still on the throne?" Then make the volitional choice to "Give thanks in everything!" Thanksgiving is also an excellent antidote for anxiety or worry as we deduce from Paul's famous command in Philippians... Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (see note Philippians 4:6) Thanksgiving is also an excellent antidote for the ugly vice list in Eph 5:3-4+ But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, BUT RATHER giving of thanks (literally "but rather thanks").. THOUGHT - Are you temped by, "wrestling with," and/or being frequently defeated by any of these 6 vices. While you may choose to go to for professional counseling, let me also encourage you to be sure to go to THE COUNSELOR, the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:26NIV, Jn 15:26NIV, Jn 16:7NIV), beseeching Him to energize you (giving you the desire and power - Php 2:13NLT+) to work out your salvation in fear and trembling (Php 2:12+), this work being manifest by the righteous fruit of an attitude of gratitude. As your attitude to gratitude to God ascends, these "bottom feeder" sins will be expelled back into the darkness from which they came. However, do not be deceived but instead stay vigilant and thankful, for sin is never more surreptitious and sinister than when it is seemingly "hibernating!". It follows that we need to cultivate thanksgiving as a daily discipline and lifestyle under grace. Robert
1 Tessalonicenses 5:19
Spurgeon - Do not despise His operations, either in yourselves or in your brethren. Do not quench Him by neglect, much less by open opposition. (Ed: That is by sin! - cp Ps 19:12-14) Paul's command to not put out the fire of the Spirit reminds us of God's instructions to the Levitical priest (remember we are now priests to God! 1Pe 2:9-note) - "The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. It shall not go out (Hebrew = kabah = to be quenched, extinguished; Lxx = sbennumi), but the priest shall burn wood on it every morning; and he shall lay out the burnt offering on it, and offer up in smoke the fat portions of the peace offerings on it." (Leviticus 6:12-note) Matthew
1 Tessalonicenses 5:19
Spurgeon - If you are filled with the Spirit of God, and wish to retain his gracious presence, speak about him. Note this, “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is riot; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking.” That is a curious word to follow so soon. The Holy Ghost is not a dumb Spirit; he sets us speaking. “Speaking to yourselves”; it is a poor audience; but still it is a choice audience if you speak to your brethren. “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Beloved, when the Spirit of God fills you, you will not only speak, but sing. Let the holy power have free course: do not quench the Spirit. If you feel like singing all the while, sing all the while, and let others know that there is a joy in the possession of the Spirit of God which the world does not understand, but which you are feeling, and to which you wish to bear witness. Oh, that the Spirit of God would come upon this entire church, and fill you all to overflowing! May the members of other churches that are here to-night take home fire with them, and set their churches on flame! The Lord bless you, for Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen. (From his sermon FILLING WITH THE SPIRIT AND DRUNKENNESS WITH WINE) Quenching the Spirit Dr. John Walvoord (1) Definition. The expression found in 1 Thessalonians 5:19 is nowhere formally explained in Scripture. Quenching is often used in the Bible in its proper physical sense, as illustrated in Matthew 12:20, where Christ spoke of not quenching flax, and in Hebrews 11:34, the heroes of the faith are revealed to have “quenched the violence of fire.” In Ephesians 6:16, the shield of faith is said to “be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” In 1 Thessalonians, however, it is used in a metaphysical sense, meaning according to Thayer, ”to suppress, stifle.”1 It is patently impossible to extinguish the Holy Spirit in the absolute sense, or to put Him out. His abiding presence is assured for all Christians. His Person is indestructible. It is, therefore, quenching in the sense of resisting or opposing His will. Quenching the Spirit may be simply defined as being unyielded to Him, or, saying, “No.” The issue is, therefore, the question of willingness to do His will. In the introduction of sin in God’s creation by the original rebellion of Satan, Lucifer is revealed to have opposed the will of God by five “I will’s” which are summarized in the fifth, “I will be like the most High” (Isa 14:14). All rebellion against God was identified with Satan and the wicked angels who fell with him. With the introduction of sin into the human race in Adam, the field of rebellion was extended to man. The Christian who has been reclaimed from spiritual death and condemnation in Adam faces the crucial issue of yieldedness to the will of God in spite of the weakness of the flesh, the natural tendencies of the sin nature, the power of the world, and the power of Satan. There can be no compromise on the issue if the fullness of the Holy Spirit is to be realized. It is necessary to be yielded to the will of God to have the full blessings of His ministry. The life of yieldedness has several aspects as will be seen. (2) The Initial Act of Surrender. Every Christian faces the obvious fact that no man can serve two masters or lords (Matt 6:24). It is impossible to enter into the present joys of salvation without accepting the Savior as Lord, but this is a truth to be apprehended in experience as well as in doctrine. Accordingly Christians are constantly exhorted to yield themselves to God. In Romans 6:13, the exhortation is found, “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” The Greek word for yield is found in two tenses in this verse which illustrates clearly that the appeal is to a yielding to God which is accomplished once for all. In the first instance, yield is found in the present tense, παριστάνετε, meaning, “Stop yielding your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin.” There was a constant and abiding experience of sinfulness. In contrast to this, the exhortation is to yield unto God, παραστήσατε, in the aorist tense, meaning, “Yield yourself to God once and for all.” A Christian is called upon to make a definite yielding of his life to God to make possible its full blessing and usefulness just as he was called upon to believe in order to be saved. The familiar exhortation found in Romans 12:1, to “present” ourselves to God is the same word in the aorist tense, again a definite act of yielding to God. To be filled with the Spirit a surrender of life and will to His guidance and direction is prerequisite. The original act of surrender is a surrender of our wills to God’s will. It is not a question of any particular area of conflict of will. Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer has summed the issue concisely: “A yieldedness to the will of God is not demonstrated by some one particular issue: it is rather a matter of having taken the will of God as the rule of one’s life. To be in the will of God is simply to be willing to do His will without reference to any particular thing He may choose. It is electing His will to be final, even before we know what He may wish us to do. It is, therefore, not a question of being willing to do some one thing: it is a question of being willing to do anything, when, where and how, it may seem best in His heart of love. It is taking the normal and natural position of childlike trust which has already consented to the wish of the Father even before anything of the outworking of His wish is revealed.”2 (3) The Continued Life of Yieldedness. It is a matter of experience as well as revelation that the issues of yieldedness are not settled by the initial act. The initial act accepts by faith the will of God before it is known. In facing the actual leading of the Spirit, the plain teaching of His Word, and the providential dealings of God, there is many a struggle with the inner man. It is in this realm that the precise command, “Quench not the Spirit” applies. The word quench (σβέννυτε) is found in the present imperative. The thought may be either do not quench, or it may presume that the reader has already been quenching the Spirit, in which case the appeal is to stop quenching the Spirit. It is an exhortation to maintain the same attitude as was adopted in the original surrender to the will of God. It is not a reconsecration, but a call to recognize that the Spirit has the right to rule. We must not resist the one to whom we have given our lives and surrendered our wills. (a) SUBMISSION TO THE PLAIN TEACHINGS OF THE WORD OF GOD - The continued life of yieldedness to God involves a relationship to the will of God in several respects. The yielded Christian has an unusual relationship to the Word of God. As its revelation becomes known and its application becomes evident, the issue of being yielded to the truth as made known by the Holy Spirit becomes very real. It is evident that refusal to submit to the Word of God is quenching the Spirit, making the fullness of the Spirit impossible. (b) OBEDIENCE TO THE GUIDANCE OF THE SPIRIT - Quenching the Spirit is closely related to His guidance. There are many spiritual decisions for which the Word of God does not give specific instruction. The general truths of Scripture must be applied to a given life and circumstance. In this aspect of the truth, the Word of God gives the principles, but the Spirit of God gives the instructions. This is a very precious portion of the believer’s heritage and a mark of his sonship (Rom 8:14). Refusal to follow this evident leading is a quenching of the Spirit. Guidance may take various forms and does not follow a regular pattern. The Spirit may lead one into a field of service and exclude another. Guidance usually relates to service and is essential to it. Man was not created with a self-guiding faculty, but is dependent upon God for direction. The Spirit may prohibit a course of action as in forbidding Paul to preach the Gospel in Asia and in Bithynia, only later to direct his steps to these very fields and bless in the ministry of the word (cf. Acts 16:6, 7; 19:10). It is essential to effective service and wise action to follow implicitly and trustingly the ordered steps indicated by divine guidance. The fullness of blessing awaits only in the divinely appointed path. (c) ACCEPTANCE IN FAITH OF THE PROVIDENTIAL ACTS OF GOD - An important field of yieldedness is in relation to providential acts of God, which often are contrary to natural desires of our hearts, and may seem outwardly from the human viewpoint to be a triumph of evil rather than of good. The “thorn in the flesh” whatever its character must be accepted in faith in the love and wisdom of God. The child of God who desires to live without quenching the Spirit must know the sweetness of submission to the will of God. It may often be observed that the suffering saint evinces a sweetness of testimony and a fullness of the Spirit which is unknown in others. Yieldedness to the Spirit includes, then, submission to the plain teachings of the Word of God, obedience to the guidance of the Spirit, and acceptance in faith of the providential acts of God. All of these are a part of the moment-by-moment experience of living in the will of God with an indwelling Spirit who is unquenched. (4) The Supreme Illustration of Christ.As many writers have pointed out, Christ Himself is the supreme illustration not only of one in Whom the fullness of the Spirit was manifested at all times, but one Who was submissive to the whole will of God. The classic passage of Philippians 2:5-11 reveals not only the glory and victory which belongs to our Lord, but His submission to the humiliation of the Cross. Christ was willing to be what God chose: “a servant...made in the likeness of men.” He was willing to go where God chose, into a sinful world which would reject Him and crucify Him. He was willing to do what God chose: “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” The garden of Gethsemane with its struggle epitomized by the epical words, “Not my will, but thine be done” (Luke 22:42), has had its lesser counterpart in the lives of all great Christians. The child of God who has “the mind of Christ” is one who is fully yielded to the will of God for his life in every particular as Christ was for the will of God in His life. For the fullness of the Spirit, it is absolutely necessary to be yielded to Him. (Read Dr Walvoord's full edifying article on The Person of the Holy Spirit Part 10- The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Believer) A B Simpson has some interesting thoughts (be a Berean - see note Acts 17:11) about what it means to quench the Spirit writing that it has reference, perhaps, mainly to the hindrance we offer to His work in others, rather than to our resistance of His personal dealings with our own souls. Among the various hindrances which we may offer to the Holy Spirit may be mentioned such as these: 1. We may refuse to obey His impulses in us when He bids us speak or act for Him. We may be conscious of a distinct impression of the Spirit of God bidding us to testify for Christ, and by disobedience, or timidity, or procrastination, we may quench His working, both in our own soul and in the heart of another. 2. We may suppress His voice in others, either by using our authority to restrain His messages, when He speaks through His servants or refusing to allow the liberty of testimony. Many hold the reins of ecclesiastical authority unduly, and thus lose the free and effectual working of the Holy Ghost in their churches and in their work. There is a less direct way, however, of politely silencing Him by forcing Him out, and so filling the atmosphere with the spirit of stiffness, criticism, and a certain air of respectability and rigidness that He gently withdraws from the uncongenial scene, and refuses to thrust His messages upon unwilling hearts. 3. The Spirit may be grieved by the method of public worship in a congregation. It may be either so stiff and formal that there is no room for His spontaneous working, or so full of worldly and unscriptural elements as to repel and offend Him from taking any part in a pompous ritual. An operatic choir and a ritualistic service will effectually quench all the fire of God's altar, and send the gentle dove to seek a simpler nest. 4. The Spirit may be quenched by the preacher, and his spirit and method. His own manner may be so intellectual and self-conscious, and his own spirit so thoroughly cold and vain that the Holy Ghost is neither recognized nor known in his work. His sermons may be on themes in which the Spirit has no interest, for He only witnesses to the Holy Scriptures and the person of Christ, and wearily turns away from the discussion of philosophy, and the stale show of critical brilliancy over the questions of the day or the speculations of man's own vain reason. Perhaps his address is so rigidly written down that the Holy Spirit could not find an opportunity for even a suggestion, if He so desired, and His promptings and leading so coolly set aside by a course of elaborate preparation which leaves no room for God. 5. The spirit of error in the teachings of the pulpit will always quench the Holy Spirit. He is jealous for His own inspired Word and when vain man attempts to set it aside He looks on with indignation, and exposes such teachers to humiliation and failure. The spirit of self-assertion and self -consciousness is always fatal to the free working of the Holy Ghost. When a man stands up in the sacred desk to air his eloquence and call attention to his intellectual brilliancy, or to preach himself in any sense, he will always be deserted by the Holy Spirit. He uses the things "that are not to bring to naught the things that are." And before we can expect to become the instruments of His power, we must wholly cease from self and be lost in the person and glory of Jesus. 6. The spirit of pride, fashion and worldly display in the pews, is just as fatal as ambition in the pulpit. Such an atmosphere seems to freeze out the spirit of devotion, and erect on the throne of the lowly Nazarene a goddess of carnal pride and pleasure, like the foul Venus that the Parisian mob set up in the Madeleine at Paris in the days of the revolution, as an object of worship. From such an atmosphere the Holy Ghost turns away grieved and disgusted. 7. The quickening and reviving influences of the Holy Ghost are often quenched in the very hour of promise by wrong methods in the work of Christ's church. How often, on the eve of a real revival, the minds of the people have been led away by some public entertainment in connection with the house of God, or its after-fruits withered by a series of unholy fairs and secular bids for money, and the introduction of the broker and the cattle-vender into the cleansed temple of Jehovah, as in the days of Christ. 8. The spirit of criticism and controversy is fatal to the working of the Holy Ghost. The gentle dove will not remain in an atmosphere of strife. If we would cherish His power we must possess His love, and frown down all wrangling gossip, evil speaking, malice, envy, and public controversy in the preaching of the Word. Sometimes a single word of criticism after an impressive service will dispel all its blessed influence upon the heart of some interested hearer, and counteract the gracious work that would have resulted in the salvation of the soul. A frivolous Christian woman returning one night from church with her unsaved husband, was laughing lightly at some of the mistakes and eccentricities of the speaker. Suddenly she felt his arm trembling; she looked in his face and his tears were falling. He gently turned to her, and said: "Pray for me; I have seen myself tonight as I never did before." She suddenly awoke with an awful shudder to realize that she had been frivolously wrecking his soul's salvation, and quenching the Holy Ghost. And so, public controversy is as fatal to the Spirit's working as personal criticism. It is when the children of God unite at the feet of Jesus, and together seek His blessing, that He comes in all the fullness of His life-power. The Spirit may be quenched in the hearts of our friends by unwise counsel, or ungodly influence. The little child may be discouraged from seeking Christ by a worldly parent, or the ignorant assumption that it is too young to be a Christian, or too busy with its studies, or its social enjoyments, for such things. The attractions of the world and claims and pressures of business, may be interposed in the way of some seeking heart, and we find in eternity that we put a stumbling-block in our friend's way, from which he fell into perdition. Let us be very careful lest, in our willfulness and pride, we not only miss ourselves the inner chambers of the kingdom of heaven, but hinder those that would enter from going in. Oh! if we would cherish the faintest breath of life in the rescued waif that has been snatched from a watery grave, if we could fan the expiring flame of life in a friend's bosom, let us be careful lest we quench the spark of everlasting life in a human soul, and stand at the last, responsible for the murder of immortal beings, and crimson with the blood of souls. "Quench not the Spirit." (A. B. Simpson. Walking in the Spirit) ><>><>><> Be Safe--Not Sorry! - Two young women lost their lives in a fire that swept through their apartment as they slept. Their home was equipped with a smoke detector that was in good working order, but it hadn't gone off. Why? Fire inspectors concluded that the device had been deactivated for a party the night before. The unit had been disconnected to keep it from sounding off because of the smoke from cooking and candles. In Acts 5 we have another example of two people who apparently deactivated an alarm system that could have saved their lives. Ananias and Sapphira must have quenched the Holy Spirit by turning a deaf ear to their consciences, believing they had plenty of good reasons for doing what they did. But their action cost them their lives. We need to realize that the Holy Spirit was not given to annoy us like a sensitive smoke detector. He doesn't sound false alarms. When He activates our conscience by bringing to mind a principle or warning from God's Word, it is really His love and wisdom in action. Our conscience is a gift from God, It is a guiding light; And when aligned with God's true Word, It shows us what is right. —Sper To ignore your conscience is to invite trouble. Do Not Quench the Spirit Ray Pritchard 6/12/2005 Our text has been translated in various ways: “Do not quench the Spirit” (ESV). “Don’t suppress the Spirit” (The Message) “Do not try to stop the work of the Holy Spirit” (New Life Version). “Don’t stifle the Spirit” (HCSB). “Don’t turn away God’s Spirit” (CEV). “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire” (NIV). I prefer the NIV translation because it is so picturesque. Fire is one of the most frequent biblical images for God’s presence with his people. The connection is made in such passages as Exodus 3:1-5 (Moses and the burning bush), Exodus 13:21 (the pillar of fire), Leviticus 9:24 (fire from the Lord consuming the burnt offering), I Kings 18:24 ("The god who answers by fire—he is God."), Isaiah 6:1-8 (coals of fire from the altar in heaven), Matthew 3:11 ("He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."), Acts 2:3 ("They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire.") and Hebrews 12:29 ("Our God is a consuming fire."). Fire represents several things with reference to the Holy Spirit. First, it represents God’s presence with His people. Second, it represents God’s protection of His people. Third, it represents God’s cleansing of His people. Fourth, it represents God’s judgment of His people. Fifth, it represents God’s divine enablement of His people. Sixth, it represents God’s gracious activity in the assembly of His people. Consider Isaiah 4:4. “He will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.” The prophet Isaiah, though speaking 2700 years ago, prophesies concerning events yet future to us. Chapter 4 describes the terrible events that will engulf Israel during the tribulation period before the return to Christ to the earth. Those seven awful years will climax with the Battle of Armageddon and the return of Christ to the earth (Revelation 19). So great will be the human slaughter that most men will be killed (Isaiah 4:1). But those who survive will see the Lord as he returns to set up his kingdom. His reign will bring great bounty to the Holy Land and great blessing to Jerusalem (Isa 4:2-3). But the people of Israel still must be cleansed from their sin of unbelief and rebellion against God. And the land itself must be consecrated again because it will be polluted from the final battle. Isa 4:4 speaks of the fire of coming judgment that will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem and purify it in preparation for the coming kingdom of Christ. That “spirit of fire” will be the Holy Spirit cleansing the land from its sin. Once that purification is complete, the glory of the Lord will once again dwell in the land (Isa 4:5-6). The same “Spirit of Fire” works to purify the people of God today. Before revival must come repentance. Before repentance must come confession. Before confession must come conviction. But conviction of sin is the unique ministry of the Holy Spirit. He must “burn” within us until we are willing to face up to our sin. No one likes to do that. Hiding and denying seem much more comfortable. But a red face and a few hot tears will go a long way to bring us back to God. How long has it been since you felt the “burning” of the Spirit in your heart? If you can’t remember, perhaps it’s time for you to get alone with God and let the “Spirit of Fire” do His work in your life. Quenching the Spirit In light of this, what does it does mean to “quench” the Spirit’s fire? It helps to know that the word translated “quench” or “put out” generally refers to putting out a literal fire. You might douse a flame with water or you might extinguish it by covering a fire with a mound of dirt. You normally don’t quench a fire by accident. The fire goes out because someone either lets it burn out or takes steps to put it out. This suggests that the Holy Spirit naturally “burns” within us unless we do something to put out the Spirit’s fire. How would you put out the Spirit’s fire in your life or in someone else’s life? Disobedience would do it. Harboring sin would do it. Criticizing someone else’s love for the Lord would do it. Harboring bitterness in your heart would do it. But the preeminent way to put out the Spirit’s fire is by saying “No” to the Lord. There is a sense, of course, in which every sin and every wrong attitude is a way of saying “No” to God. But I’m thinking especially of personal obedience to the will of God. When we resist God’s call, we put out the Holy Spirit’s fire. This might apply to something huge, such as answering God’s call to be a missionary or answering God’s call to a new job or to make move to a different city or into a different neighborhood. But it applies just as much to answering God’s call to reconcile with a friend. It’s not exactly right to say that unconfessed sin quenches the Holy Spirit (though it does). The real quenching comes with the repeated refusal to do anything about it. When God calls, we must answer and then we must obey. A few days ago, I spoke with a man who told me that for many years he had a prosperous law practice in southern California. Besides making a very large salary, he had a nice house, two expensive cars plus an SUV, and he had just purchased a lake home in a ritzy vacation area. Life was good. Then one day God came knocking at the door of his heart. He felt the Lord asking him to lay aside the trappings of wealth, move across the country, leave the legal profession, and begin a ministry aimed at moral and spiritual reformation in America. Not an easy thing to do, especially for a man on top of his game. As he prayed about it, the conviction increased that this was the step he must take even though from a career point of view, it made no sense whatsoever. “Did you face skepticism when you announced your plans?” I asked him. Everyone except his wife doubted him. She joined him in believing this was God’s call. His professional colleagues thought he was nuts. Even his father, a godly pastor for fifty years, wondered if this was the right thing to do. That was fifteen years ago. He gave up his practice, sold his homes and his cars, packed his bags, moved across country, and started the ministry God laid on his heart. The intervening years have been both good and bad. Losing financial security has put him in a difficult place on more than one occasion. Friends he thought he could count on turned against him. It took a long time to get the new ministry going. “Did you ever doubt God’s call?” I expected him to say yes, but he said no, neither he nor his wife ever doubted what God wanted them to do. That confidence kept them going in the hard times. I could tell from the joy in his voice that he would not go back to his previous life, not for any amount of money. God called, he answered, and then he obeyed. That’s why the Spirit’s fire still burns in his heart. Death in the Desert What happens when we disobey a clear call from the Lord? Deuteronomy 1 offers a clear answer to that question. Beginning in verse 19, Moses recounts the story of the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness. When they came to Kadesh-Barnea, Moses chose 12 men to spy out the Promised Land. They came back with this report: “"It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us” (v. 25). The next verse should read, “So the people rose up, marched in, and took the good land the Lord had promised to give them.” But it doesn’t say that. Here is the next paragraph of the story: But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You grumbled in your tents and said, “The LORD hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They say, “The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there” (vv. 26-28). I pause here to comment that this is not a false report. Everything the spies said was true. It was a good land flowing with milk and honey. And there were many walled cities filled with powerful people. Though God had promised the land to the Jews, they would still have to fight for every inch of it. To make it even clearer, they would have to fight, and some of them would have to die in the process. God’s promises never cancel the need for nitty-gritty obedience in the details of life. The Jews could have the Promised Land, but if they were unwilling to fight for it, it would never belong to them. God wasn’t going to drop the keys from the sky and say, “Here. I’ve wiped out the bad guys. Go in and make yourselves at home.” No, if they wanted the milk and honey, they could have it, but they would have to believe God enough to fight the bad guys and drive them out of the land. You know the rest of the story. The people grumbled against the Lord. They made every excuse in the book why they shouldn’t have to go and fight. The desert started looking pretty good to them compared to those “Anakites” who lived in the Promised Land. What are a little sun and dust and a few sand dunes compared to the “Anakites"? Moses appealed to them to remember all God had done for them in the past: The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place (vv. 30-31). Kadesh-Barnea was the turning point for an entire generation. Despite seeing the mighty miracles of God in Egypt, and despite having walked across the Red Sea on dry ground, the people chose not to obey God. Notice how Moses puts it: In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go (vv. 32-33). Did you get that? God appeared to them “in fire by night.” Every night when they went to bed, they had only to look at the fiery pillar to be reminded of God’s special care for them. How could they possibly lose with Almighty God on their side? But they chose to disobey anyway. As a result, an entire generation wandered in the wilderness for forty long years. Think of what that meant … Lost time. Lost opportunity. Lost life. They chose the desert with its scorching heat, the burning sand beneath their feet, endless days and weeks trudging through the Sinai, with flies buzzing around them and scorpions hiding under the rocks. Meanwhile their trail was easy to spot because they left graves wherever they went. Because they would not obey God, they kept burying people left and right. A whole generation died because of unbelief. They took the long way and the long road. Many people can look back over the course of life and see the same thing. Foolish choices in the past cost your dearly. For some, your sin cost you your marriage and your family. It may have sidetracked you for years. In some cases, rebellion may have landed you in prison. That’s what happens when we disobey the Lord. Life goes on, but everything now becomes difficult. Riding With the Wind Yesterday I took a long bike ride from Oak Park to the North Branch Trail. By the time I came home, I had ridden about 37 miles. It was extremely hot yesterday and I didn’t have any water with me so the last few miles were very difficult. Here’s what I have discovered about long bike rides. You need to check the wind before you leave because you want to ride into the wind on the way out and you want the wind at your back when you are on your way home. The two experiences are entirely different. When you ride into a stiff wind, everything becomes more difficult. Hills that should be easy become a challenge. When the wind is howling, you have to pedal with all your strength just to go seven or eight miles per hour. And here’s the most unusual factor: When you ride into a strong wind, the noise can be almost overwhelming. You can hear the wind as it rushes past you. Everything changes when you turn around and begin to ride with the wind at your back. For one thing, pedaling becomes easy. Hills require minimal effort because the wind carries you along. The strangest thing I’ve noticed is that after riding into the wind, once you turn around, the wind itself seems to disappear. The roaring sound is gone. Often you’re not even aware that the wind is blowing at your back. But when you look at your odometer, suddenly you’re flying along at 15-20 mph. How did that happen? Having the wind at your back makes all the difference. What once was difficult now becomes easy because the wind helps carry you along. “I Feel God’s Pleasure” So it is with the spiritual life. When we walk in the Spirit, we are “carried along” and things that once were difficult now become easy. And when we disobey the Lord, suddenly we are riding into the wind and everything in life becomes difficult. Do you remember the story of Eric Liddell from the movie Chariots of Fire? The fleet Scotsman won a gold medal in the 400-meter race at the 1924 Paris Olympics Games. When he was a young lad, his sister asked him why he loved to run so much. His reply became the motto of his whole life, “When I run, I feel God’s pleasure.” This week I spent a day in Dallas teaching at the Global Proclamation Academy. Ramesh Richard, a professor at Dallas Seminary, brought together 23 young Christian leaders from 23 different developing countries for three weeks of intensive training. I flew in on Wednesday, taught them on Thursday, and flew back to Chicago that night. Nearly all of the men are under 35. I met a young man from Zambia who has started 42 churches. I met another young leader from Sri Lanka who oversees 450 churches. I met young pastors from Egypt, Mongolia, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Every day a different Christian leader comes in to do the teaching and mentoring. Ramesh told me it cost $6000 per man to bring them to the US, house and feed them for three weeks, and then send them back to their home countries. Since this was the first year, the amount of work was staggering. Why do it? “Because when I help train these young men, I feel God’s pleasure,” Ramesh said. After I preached this sermon, a man came up to me and said, “Pastor Ray, I know exactly what you’re talking about. I used to be Mr. America. I won the title in 1990. For years, Gary Olson and I lifted weights at the high school. Even though we were covered with sweat when we were finished, we loved it because when we lifted weights, we felt God’s pleasure.” Those who obey God feel his pleasure. Those who quench the Spirit don’t. A few days ago I picked up a book by Lloyd Ogilvie in which he asks this question: “If you could pick one word to summarize what you want the Holy Spirit to do in your life, what word would you choose?” I think I would choose a word like open or willing or ready. I want to be open to what God intends to do in my life. I want to be willing to go where he wants me to go. I want to be ready at a moment’s notice to drop what I’m doing and answer his call. I want to be ready for anything, anytime, anywhere. I want the Spirit’s fire to burn in my life without any hindrance from me. Let the Fire Fall! talk a lot about being “on fire” for Christ. You don’t hear that phrase much nowadays but it’s a perfectly biblical image. The supreme need of the church today is for men and women on fire for Christ. For many years Yosemite National Park in California was the scene of a spectacular evening show. Near sundown the crowds gathered at Camp Currie, located by a lake below a large cliff called Glacier Point. Once the sun had gone down, the rangers built an enormous bonfire on Glacier Point. Once darkness had completely enveloped the valley, the call came piercing the night: “Are you ready?” The crowds shouted together, “Let the fire fall.” The rangers pushed the burning embers over the cliff, creating a spectacular “fire fall” into the lake below. One writer described it this way: High up at Glacier Point, the living embers slowly begin to fall and continue until they become a blazing stream of red and gold swaying in the wind while sparks fly off like stars. The stream grows smaller and smaller until it becomes a mere thread of gold drawing the curtain of night, and darkness descends. I believe God calls to America today, “Are you ready?” And he calls to Chicago, “Are you ready?” And he calls to Oak Park, “Are you ready?” And he calls to Calvary Memorial Church, “Are you ready?” And he calls to me, “Pastor Ray, are you ready?” And he calls to each of us, “Are you ready?” Let the answer ring out to heaven: “Lord, we are ready. Let the fire fall!” Amen.
1 Tessalonicenses 5:21
Spurgeon adds a note of caution on the command to examine everything carefully - "Oh," says a man "but you must prove all things." Yes, so I will; but if one should set a joint of meat on his table, and it smell rather high, I would cut a slice, and if I put one bit of it in my mouth, and found it far gone, I should not feel it necessary to eat the whole round of beef to test its sweetness. Some people seem to think that they must read a bad book through; and they must go and hear a bad preacher often before they can be sure of his quality. Why, you can judge many teachings in five minutes. You say to yourself, "No, sir, no, no, no, this is good meat—for dogs. Let them have it, but it is not good meat for me, and I do not intend to poison myself with it." (Barbed Arrows from the Quiver of C. H. Spurgeon) Dokimazo means to put to the test for the purpose of approving, and finding that the person tested meets the specifications prescribed, to put one’s approval upon him. For example Paul writes that unregenerate mankind "did not approve (dokimazo) of having God in knowledge, God gave them up to a disapproved mind, to do the things not seemly." (Young's literal translation see Ro 1:28-note) In this incredible verse fallen men presumptuously put God to the test for the purpose of approving Him to see He if He would meet the specifications which they laid down for a God who would be to their liking! But sinful man did not stop there, for finding that He did not meet their specifications, they refused to approve (dokimazo) Him as the God to be worshipped or have Him in its knowledge! They tested the infinitely precious God as they would a mere coin, and chose to turn aside from Him! Dokimazo means to make a critical examination of something to determine its genuineness. Dokimazo was used in a manuscript of 140AD which contains a plea for the exemption of physicians, and especially of those who have passed the examination (dokimazo). Dokimazo was thus used as a technical expression referring to the action of an examining board putting its approval upon those who had successfully passed the examinations for the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Dokimazo was also used to describe the passing of a candidate as fit for election to public office. On the basis of the truth in Romans 1-11, in Romans 12:2 Paul charges believers to "not be conformed (assuming an outward expression not reflective of Christ Who is really inside you) to this world (the beliefs, values, moral atmosphere, etc of this present evil age which is ruled by Satan), but be transformed (daily, continually be undergoing a metamorphosis or change in your outward appearance which manifests your new, inner redeemed nature) by the renewing (re-programming your mind, as the Spirit changes your thinking as you saturate your mind with Scripture allowing it to control and guide your steps) of your mind, that you may prove (dokimazo) what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Ro 12:2-note) In a similar exhortation to the Ephesians who were formerly in spiritual darkness but now were light in the Lord, because of who they were in Christ, they should walk as children of light continually "trying to learn (dokimazo - continually putting every thought, word and deed to the test in order to prove) what is pleasing to the Lord (The one point of all moral investigation is, does it please God?). (Eph 5:10-note) Walking in the light, in the Spirit (Gal 5:16-note), according to the Word and the revealed will of God is a sure way to test and approve what pleases our Lord. To be sure Paul says that certain individuals in the body did have the special Spirit giftedness to allow them to discern the spirits (cf, 1Cor 12:10 "the distinguishing of spirits" - i.e., ability to distinguish between what came from the Holy Spirit, what was a satanic counterfeit, and/or what was simply of the flesh - not physical flesh but our sin nature). Nevertheless, it is clear that every saint has the responsibility and the ability (the indwelling Holy Spirit) to be discerning in all matters that affect their spiritual life.
1 Tessalonicenses 5:21
Spurgeon added that believers are to... Beware! Error often rides to its deadly work on the back of truth! Lord, grant us wisdom to discern The truth You have made known, And may we not believe one word Beyond what You have shown. --DJD PROVING AND HOLDING FAST Compiled by James Hastings Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.—1Th. 5:21. 1. THESE are very astonishing words to address to a community of new converts. We might have expected that the Apostle would be careful to give them precise and detailed instructions, plain and solemn warnings, encouraging assurances of Divine approval, but hardly that he should bid them take account of their own experiences, and train themselves in the difficult and risky art of self-direction. We might have expected that this earliest Epistle of St. Paul would point out clearly the manner in which controversies might be quickly and finally closed by reference to some authoritative tribunal; that it would have stated the constitution of the Christian Church in plain language, which should leave no loophole for schismatical casuistry; that it would set out in unambiguous language the powers of the Christian clergy, and the manner in which those powers were to be exercised. Of all this, however, we find nothing. The Epistle is addressed to the community or Church of the Thessalonians, and contains no clear reference at all to an official ministry; for the mention of some prominent members of the community, as supervising its business and “admonishing” it, hardly suggests an official ministry, but rather a volunteer executive sustained in office by the general confidence and goodwill. The Thessalonians are “to esteem them exceeding highly in love for their work’s sake.” The Apostle’s appeal is directly to the whole body of members: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” 2. The words of the text stand in close relation to the words which they immediately follow: “Quench not the Spirit; despise not prophesyings; prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” It is manifest from the record of those Apostolic times that the operations of the Holy Spirit were of an exceptional and temporary character. This is specially apparent in those spiritual utterances, those mysterious “tongues,” to which St. Paul refers in his First Epistle to the Corinthians. But, further, there appears to have been on the part of those early Christians a very natural desire to prophesy—to speak out, in the presence of others, their own impressions or experiences of the spiritual life. A new prospect, transcendent in its beauty and glory, had been opened up to them by the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the freshness of their new hopes and new joys, they were eager to make known to one another, with unregulated fervour even in their religious assemblies, their individual experience of the love of God in Christ Jesus their Lord. There would, however, be some among the Christian converts, some of the less enthusiastic and more sober-minded, who would both dislike and distrust such utterances. It is probably such critics as these that the Apostle has in his mind when he addresses to them the words of caution, “Quench not the Spirit; despise not prophesyings.” He could see the possible danger of such utterances; but he recognized in them the workings of the Holy Ghost, and would have them not suppressed, but tested and controlled. There were in them, no doubt, elements of exaggeration, dangers of self-seeking and of unreality, of presumption and pride; and these were not of God, but of the evil one. Yet behind all these there was a spiritual reality, obscured but not obliterated, and therefore they were to prove all things and to hold fast the good. ¶ Many of the fathers of the Church connect these verses with what they consider a saying of Jesus, one of the few which are reasonably attested, though it has failed to find a place in the written gospels. The saying is, “Show yourselves approved money-changers.” The fathers believed that the Apostle uses a metaphor from coinage. To prove is really to assay, to put to the test as a banker tests a piece of money; the word rendered “good” is often the equivalent of our “sterling”; “evil,” of our base or forged; and the word which in our old Bibles is rendered “appearance”—“Abstain from all appearance of evil”—and in the Revised Version “form”—“Abstain from every form of evil”—has, at least in some connexions, the signification of mint or die. If we bring out this faded metaphor in its original freshness, it will run something like this: “Show yourselves skilful money-changers; do not accept in blind trust all the spiritual currency which you find in circulation; put it all to the test; rub it on the touchstone; keep hold of what is genuine and of sterling value, but every spurious coin decline.” I PROVE 1. Why must we prove? Because faculties have been given us for that very purpose. The possession of faculties for thinking and reasoning tells us that we have the duty as well as the right of exerting them, just as truly as to have been born with eyes confers upon the individual the right to see. The eye has to be trained and so to become adjusted to objects about it. In many cases it is defective. We do not, therefore, bandage every man’s eyes or put spectacles upon him, because these are required by certain persons. The maxim, Usum non tollit abusus, obtains here. Persons have grievously abused their right of private judgment; it does not follow that they should be deprived of it. It would be safer to infer that the faculty for forming such judgments imposes upon them the duty of using it. ¶ The question you put is by no means an easy one to answer: whether, namely, it be right and wise for you to read on both sides of the question—or rather, I should say, questions? for on this subject they are endless, and grow up like Hydra’s heads. I could not reply, No: for that is the very advice given by the Romish Church, which we so much blame; and it is very inconsistent in us to condemn their prohibitions of heretical or Protestant books to the laity, if we, tractarian or evangelical clergy, forbid, as is constantly done, the perusal of books which we judge heretical. Now, first of all, the questions of religious truth are interminable, and a lifetime would scarcely suffice to pass even the outworks of them all. Next, very few minds are in possession of the means or of the severe mental training which qualifies a man to set out as an original discoverer of truth; so that if we cannot begin with a large number of truths, which must be considered as first principles and settled, life must be one perpetual state of Pyrrhonism and uncertainty. On the other hand, to refuse to examine when doubts arise is spiritual suicide; and I do not see how, on this principle, any progress in truth could ever have been made. Why should the Pharisees have been blamed for the views so long stereotyped or the Jews for remaining in Judaism? 2. This duty is not dropped when a man accepts the obedience of Christ. The Christian life is necessarily a struggle with intellectual as well as with moral difficulties, with ignorance as well as with sin. Let no one enter upon it with the thought that his days of perplexity are over, that henceforth he is to be within the calm shelter of the haven, where no breath of wind or stormy wave can reach him from the open sea. There may be those who are thus blessed, but most are called to the battle. But the battle is itself a blessing when it graces, strengthens, confirms. The great German thinker may have been guilty of an exaggeration, but it was the exaggeration of a truth, when he said, “Did the Almighty, holding in His right hand ‘Truth,’ and in His left ‘Search after Truth,’ deign to tender me the one I might prefer, in all humility, and without hesitation, I should request ‘Search after Truth.’ ” There are, indeed, some who, wearied of searching after truth, have bowed their reason to some external authority, some infallible Church, admitting all its assertions as equally true; while others have found refuge in a universal scepticism denouncing all as equally false. The one goes against the precept, “Prove all things,” the other against its natural and necessary counterpart, “Hold fast that which is good”; and both evade one of the most potent means of moral training for this ceaseless conflict, this patient endurance, this quiet hope, this earnest longing, this immovable confidence in what is right and good, when they do not use it as one of the ways in which God has chosen to educate us for Himself. ¶ Faith, whatever else it may be or imply, involves definite and strong conviction. Conviction requires evidence. Evidence is the objective truth which compels assent. Subjectively and spiritually, faith in a Fiji islander may be the same as it is in a cultivated and reflecting man, but intellectually it cannot be the same. Whatever the truth may be, or in whatever form it may meet the mind,—whether by an argument, or a person, or a dream, or a fantasy,—it must convince the intellect that something is true. ¶ In the Cathedral Church of Copenhagen, amid Thorwaldsen’s famous group of the Twelve Apostles, stands the figure of a grave and meditative man, with earnestly questioning face, rule and measure in hand, as though prepared to bring all things under strict verification, whose name no one needs to ask, so plainly does the statue stand for the doubting Thomas. Thomas was, according to the traditions of the Early Church, a born sceptic, a constitutional questioner, whose faith followed his understanding, who could not rest on external authority, who brought even Christ’s words to the bar of reason, and, failing to elicit an intelligible answer, withheld his assent—in short, a genuine Rationalist. Yet this Thomas was one of the twelve disciples, a full member of the Apostolic College. II PROVE ALL THINGS 1. “Prove all things” is a favourite text with Protestants, and especially with Protestants of an extreme type. It has been called “a piece of most rationalistic advice”; it has been said to imply that “every man has a verifying faculty, whereby to judge of facts and doctrines, and to decide between right and wrong, truth and falsehood.” But this is a most unconsidered extension to give to the Apostle’s words. He does not say a word about every man; he is speaking expressly to the Thessalonians, who were Christian men. He would not have admitted that any man who came from the street, and constituted himself a judge, was competent to pronounce upon the contents of the prophesyings, and to say which of the burning words were spiritually sound, and which were not. On the contrary, he tells us very plainly that some men have no capacity for this task—“The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit”; and that even in the Christian Church, where all are to some extent spiritual, some have this faculty of discernment in a much higher degree than others. ¶ Again and again it comes home to me that true wisdom lies in the abiding recognition that spiritual things are spiritually discerned. If we labour for the meat which perisheth not, and if we witness to the Kingdom of God in word and deed, our labour and our witness must be in the Spirit, i.e. by and to the Spirit. ¶ Johann was one day on his travels, and came to a wood. In an old tree he found a bird’s nest with seven eggs, which resembled the eggs of the common swift. But the latter bird only lays three eggs, so the nest could not belong to it. Since Johann was a great connoisseur in eggs, he soon perceived that they were the eggs of the hoopoo. Accordingly, he said to himself, “There must be a hoopoo somewhere in the neighbourhood, although the natural history books assert that it does not appear here.” After a time he heard quite distinctly the well-known cry of the hoopoo. Then he knew that the bird was there. He hid himself behind a rock, and he soon saw the speckled bird with its yellow comb. When Johann returned home after three days, he told his teacher that he had seen the hoopoo on the island. His teacher did not believe it, but demanded proof. “Proof!” said Johann. “Do you mean two witnesses?” “Yes!” “Good! I have twice two witnesses, and they all agree: my two ears heard it, and my two eyes saw it.” “Maybe. But I have not seen it,” answered the teacher. Johann was called a liar because he could not prove that he had seen the hoopoo in such and such a spot. However, it was a fact that the hoopoo appeared there, although it was an unusual occurrence in this neighbourhood. 2. The truth is, St. Paul is not concerned so much with the things which we are to prove as with the spirit in which the duty should be performed. What he would say to us is in substance this: “Whatever subjects may engage your attention, or require the formation of your opinion, let this be the course you pursue: be not prejudiced, be not hasty either in approving or in condemning; ‘prove all things’; weigh them in the balance of a sober judgment, and deal with them by the use of that reasoning power with which God has endowed you. Estimate the value of every statement and every argument with what power and ability you may possess, deal with them in a philosophic rather than a polemic spirit. Pray that your intellectual gifts may be guided in their services by the Holy Spirit of Truth, and then, whatever truth, whatever good you may find, lay hold on that and hold it fast.” ¶ A man has as much right to use his own understanding, in judging of truth, as he has a right to use his own eyes, to see his way: therefore it is no offence to another, that any man uses his own right. It is not to be expected that another man should think as I would, to please me, since I cannot think as I would to please myself; it is neither in his nor my power to think as we will, but as we see reason, and find cause. It is better for us that there should be difference of judgment, if we keep charity: but it is most unmanly to quarrel because we differ. Men’s apprehensions are often nearer than their expressions; they may mean the same thing, when they seem not to say the same thing. 3. This shows us the place and the duty of criticism in relation to the Bible. To criticize is, first, to distinguish—to distinguish in a complex reality what is primary, essential, eternal, from what is secondary, accidental, temporary. So we find out what is the essence of the thing itself, making it what it is, as distinct from accessories not necessarily peculiar to it, which have gathered round it, and which can be, and perhaps at times should be, stripped off. To criticize is, next, to test. When this first duty of distinction has been discharged, and the root of the matter made known to us, it has then to go on to the work described in the text—to test or prove it. It must try to discern, first, whether it is a reality—whether (that is) what it declares as truth is a real truth, accordant with the great laws of being; whether the power which it claims to wield is a real power, able to guide, to rule, and to exalt humanity. Historical science has studied and analysed the actual Christianity, the Church of Christ, in all ages. It has bidden us look through the visible developments of law, system, ritual, to the inner spiritual force, which gives them life; it has distinguished in it the obviously human element, with all the imperfection and evil clinging to it, which it shares with other great world-wide powers, from that element which is its peculiar characteristic, clearly unique and claiming to be miraculous and Divine. It makes us see plainly that this inner reality is, in spite of all imperfections, accretions, superstitions, the reproduction in the individual and the community of the life of Christ Himself. So, again, literary and critical science examines the Holy Scripture. It distinguishes in it also the human element of imperfection and progressiveness from that which claims to be Divine—the essential truth itself from the forms in which it has been conveyed. And the result is to make us see clearly that the one key to its right interpretation is the knowledge of the central manifestation of Christ Himself—His Life, His Word, His Person—that in relation to this all other parts stand simply as preparatory or explanatory, and only in that dependence can be rightly understood and reasonably reverenced. ¶ Professor Huxley once said that men of science no longer believed in justification by faith, but in “justification by verification.” Now, St. Paul taught justification by faith, but he also, as we see, taught justification by verification. In his view, the one did not exclude the other. St. Paul calls, not for the surrender, but for the exercise, of the reason. We have his approval if we feel that, in religious as in other matters, we wish to have our intelligence satisfied, before we yield the submission of our hearts. ¶ In order to the discovery of that which is better of two things, it is necessary that both should be equally submitted to the attention, and therefore that we should have so much faith in authority as shall make us repeatedly observe and attend to that which is said to be right, even though at present we may not feel it so. And in the right mingling of this faith with the openness of heart which proves all things, lies the great difficulty of the cultivation of the taste, as far as the spirit of the scholar is concerned; though, even when he has this spirit, he may be long retarded by having evil examples submitted to him by ignorant masters. The temper, therefore, by which right taste is formed is characteristically patient. It dwells upon what is submitted to it. It does not trample upon it, lest it should be pearls, even though it looks like husks. It is a good ground, soft, penetrable, retentive; it does not send up thorns of unkind thoughts, to choke the weak seed; it is hungry and thirsty too, and drinks all the dew that falls on it. It is “an honest and good heart,” that shows no too ready springing before the sun be up, but fails not afterwards; it is distrustful of itself, so as to be ready to believe and to try all things, and yet so trustful of itself, that it will neither quit what it has tried nor take anything without trying. And the pleasure which it has in things that it finds true and good is so great, that it cannot possibly be led aside by any tricks of fashion, or diseases of vanity: it cannot be cramped in its conclusions by partialities and hypocrisies; its visions and its delights are too penetrating, too living, for any whitewashed object or shallow fountain long to endure or supply. It clasps all that it loves so hard that it crushes it if it be hollow. III HOLD FAST THAT WHICH IS GOOD 1. The command addressed by St. Paul to the Thessalonians describes with incisive brevity the only kind of criticism that is right in principle and likely to be fruitful in results. It is the criticism, first, which claims, not to discover, but to “test” all things—taking the thing criticized as it actually presents itself, and not reconstructing it out of our own discovery or imagination. It is the criticism, next, which, until it is forced to an opposite conclusion, holds (with Richard Hooker) that whatever has spiritual life and power in it cannot be “wholly compacted of untruths,” but must have in it something “which is good,” and which it is therefore worth while “to hold fast.” It is, moreover and above all, the criticism which performs its two functions simultaneously, not waiting in suspense till the whole conceivable work of testing is over, before it proceeds to grasp anything firmly, but at every point laying strong and enthusiastic hold of whatever, so far, it has found by trial to be good, living in it by strong sympathy, and making this experience of its inner meaning a means of advancing towards larger knowledge. ¶ It is interesting to observe the various shades of meaning in which the Apostle uses the word δοχιμάζειν, which he here employs. There are passages, like the present, where the sense is general. But there are others where it clearly implies, not the exercise of the critical faculty, but the appreciative acceptance of what is manifestly good and true, as when he exhorts the Philippians to approve the things that are excellent, and the Romans to prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 2. So we are not only to prove all things; we are bidden to “hold fast that which is good”; to be faithful to whatever has proved itself to us as worthy of love and reverence. The value of every discovery or invention consists largely in its power to satisfy some human want. The great test is experience of its results. May we not apply the same test to religious truth? If we have felt a craving to be delivered from sin, and to be made partakers of light and holiness; to be drawn nearer to God and to be lifted above ourselves; to know something of human destiny, and to obtain more worthy views of the world, and a deeper insight into moral truth, then let us ask, Does Christianity meet any or all of these requirements? If, in our assurance that God is love, and that we, though weak and ignorant and sinful, are His children, we feel convinced that God has spoken to us, and that His Word is in His own Gospel; if we have believed in His promises, and tasted the blessings of forgiven sin, and the peace which the toil and the changes of the world cannot reach; if we have attained higher views of holiness and truth—are not these things good, and shall we not hold them fast? These are sufficient for our life; and as for others, we must maintain towards them an attitude, not indeed of indifference, but of bold and ceaseless endeavour, proving all things, and holding fast that which is good. When the anchors faith has cast are dragging in the gale, I am quietly holding fast to the things that cannot fail. I know that right is right, that it is not good to lie; That love is better than spite, and a neighbour than a spy; In the darkest night of the year, when the stars have all gone out, That courage is better than fear, and faith is better than doubt; And fierce though the fiends may fight, and long though the angels hide, I know that truth and right have the universe on their side, And that somewhere beyond the stars is a love that is better than fate; When the night unlocks her doors I shall see Him, and I can wait. 3. Happily for us, the great truths which should guide our judgment are just those which cannot escape our observation. The distinction between good and evil is written upon our conscience in characters which nothing can altogether efface The love of God beams in the sunshine, is poured forth in the refreshing shower, reveals itself in all the wondrous glory and beauty of the world. History reveals one human life in which Divinity shines out in all the radiance of perfect love, and purity, and Divine self-sacrifice. The condemnation of sin and the way of deliverance for the sinner were manifested in the death upon the cross. Thus, grasping with a perfect faith the great elements of good, we are able to look accurately at the difficulties which beset us, and prepare ourselves boldly for the journey or the fight. ¶ Christianity has abler advocates than its professed defenders, in those quiet and humble men and women who in the light of it and the strength of it live holy, beautiful, and self-denying lives. The God that answers by fire is the God whom mankind will acknowledge; and so long as the fruits of the Spirit continue to be visible in charity, in self-sacrifice, in those graces which raise human creatures above themselves, thoughtful persons will remain convinced that with them in some form or other is the secret of truth. PROVING AND HOLDING FAST LITERATURE Aglionby (F. K.), The Better Choice, 144. Barry (A.), Some Lights of Science on the Faith, 218. Blunt (J. J.), University Sermons, 243. Boyd (A. K. H.), Changed Aspects of Unchanged Truths, 1. Calthrop (G.), Hints to My Younger Friends, 121. Denney (J.), The Epistles to the Thessalonians (Expositor’s Bible), 233. Hardy (E. J.), Doubt and Faith, 1. Henson (H. H.), Christ and the Nation, 102. Henson (H. H.), The Road to Unity, 97. Hutton (A. W.), Ecclesia Discens, 92. Jones (T.), The Social Order, 45. Merson (D.), Words of Life, 91. Porter (N.), Yale College Sermons, 332. Secker (T.), Sermons, i. 25. Christian World Pulpit, xxviii. 378 (R. H. Newton); xlviii. 333 (J. B. Hastings); l. 241 (W. D. Maclagan); liv. 395 (E. J. Hardy); lxv. 308 (C. S. Horne); lxxv. 193 (J. G. Henderson). Church of England Pulpit, xlii. 265 (W. D. Maclagan). Clergyman’s Magazine, 3rd Ser., x. 228 (J. R. Palmer). Guardian, lxvii. (1912) 1409 (H. C. Beeching).
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Spurgeon writes that Paul does not mean "from that which other people choose to think evil, but from all real evil whatever it is — even from the very shadow that it casts and the shape which it assumes. Vincent offers a similar thought writing that "As commonly explained, abstain from everything that even looks like evil. But the word (eidos) signifies form or kind. Cp Luke 3:22; John 5:37...It never has the sense of semblance. Moreover, it is impossible to abstain from everything that looks like evil. (1 Thessalonians 5)
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Spurgeon - Idleness is the mother of all vices. It produces a state of mind which is favourable to every form of evil. Say a fellow is lazy, and nothing worse remains to be said of him. Idleness is the shipwreck of chastity, and the root of all evil. Spurgeon - The old naturalist, Ulysses Androvaldus, tell us that a dove is so afraid of a hawk, that she will be frightened at the sight of one of its feathers. Whether it be so or not, I cannot tell; but this I know, that when a man has had a thorough shaking over the jaws of hell, he will be so afraid of sin, that even one of its feathers — any one sin — will alarm and send a thrill of fear through his soul This is a part of the way by which the Lord turns us when we are turned indeed. (Spurgeon quotes) Manton says: “A man that would keep out the cold in winter shutteth all his doors and windows, yet the wind will creep in, though he doth not leave any open hole for it.” We must leave no inlet for sin, but stop up every hole and cranny by which it can enter. There is need of great care in doing this, for when our very best is done sin will find an entrance. During the bitter cold weather we list the doors, put sandbags on the windows, draw curtains, and arrange screens, and yet we are made to feel that we live in a northern climate: in the same way must we be diligent to shut out sin, and we shall find abundant need to guard every point, for after we have done all, we shall, in one way or another, be made to feel that we live in a sinful world. Well, what must we do? We must follow the measures which common prudence teaches us in earthly matters. We must drive out the cold by keeping up a good fire within. The presence of the Lord Jesus in the soul can so warm the heart that worldliness and sin will be expelled, and we shall be both holy and happy. The Lord grant, it for Jesus’ sake. J R Miller - "Abstain from every form of evil." We are accustomed to think of some violations of God's Word—as only slightly evil; while we imagine that other transgressions are very black in their sinfulness. Some people appear to think that if we keep ourselves from the worst kinds of evil—that we need not be so watchful against the minor forms of misconduct. They will not lie, nor steal, nor swear, nor do other things which would brand them in the eyes of the community as 'wicked'. But meanwhile they are ungentle, unkind, selfish, bad tempered, and loving the world. But Paul's exhortation is, "Abstain from every form of evil." We are not to pick out certain sins and condemn these alone as evil, abstaining from them; meanwhile indulging in pet vices and sinful habits of our own. Whatever is wrong in even the slightest way—is to be abstained from. There really are no little sins, no 'little white lies', no slight deviations from right and purity. Even evil thoughts, our Master says, break His commandments! (1 Thessalonians 5:14-28 Paul's Counsel to the Thessalonians) Devotional by John
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Spurgeon adds that the phrase “‘I have graven thee’ does not say, thy name. Our name is there, but that is not all: I have graven THEE! See the fullness of this! I have graven thy person, thine image, thy case, thy circumstances, thy sins, thy temptations, thy weaknesses, thy wants, thy works; I have graven thee, everything about thee, all that concerns thee; I have put thee altogether there. Wilt thou ever say again that thy God hath forsaken thee when he has graven thee upon His own palms?” Scripture records “Neither shall any man snatch them out of My hand (or) out of My Father’s hand.” (Jn 10:28-29–Mt 10:30-31).” Do you believe the beautiful Scripturally sound words of the hymn Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfect plea A great high Priest Whose Name is Love Who ever lives and pleads for me My name is graven on His hands My name is written on His heart I know that while in Heaven He stands No tongue can bid me thence depart. Hallelujah! (Bancroft) As Kay Arthur says “If you are God’s child by covenant, a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, this is the truth you must cling to when you feel abandoned: You are inscribed on the palms of His hands! For the feelings are just that-feelings. Feelings that are very real, feelings that you must deal with. But remember reality. Reality is the fact that a covenant has been cut on your behalf. Your feelings will betray you-overwhelm you cripple you-if you do not decide, by the gut-level determination of faith, that “feel it or not” you will trust your Covenant God. Put on the music … the hymns of the faith … the choruses of trust. Sing whether you feel like it or not. Sing whether you can sing or not. Sing until your feelings conform to reality.” In fact sing Toplady’s “A Debtor to Mercy Alone” (or a chorale version)… My name from the palms of His hands Eternity will not erase Impressed on His heart it remains In marks of indelible grace Yes, I to the end shall endure As sure as the earnest is given More happy, but not more secure The glorified spirits in heaven. Normally in ancient times a slave would bear the brand mark of his master, but in Isaiah 49:16 we see an act of ineffable divine condescension in which the Master inscribes the servant’s name on His palm! Charles
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Spurgeon has a devotional entitled Perfection and Preservation (Faith's Checkbook) on 1Thessalonians 5:24 (notice how he artfully uses the inductive Bible study technique of interrogating the text with the 5W'S & H)... What will He do? He will sanctify us wholly. See the previous verse. He will carry on the work of purification till we are perfect in every part. He will preserve our "whole spirit, and soul, and body, blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." He will not allow us to fall from grace, nor come under the dominion of sin. What great favors are these! Well may we adore the Giver of such unspeakable gifts. Who will do this? The Lord Who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, out of death in sin into eternal life in Christ Jesus. Only He can do this: such perfection and preservation can only come from the God of all grace. Why will He do it? Because He is "faithful"--faithful to His own promise which is pledged to save the believer; faithful to His Son, whose reward it is that His people shall be presented to Him faultless; faithful to the work which He has commenced in us by our effectual calling (See calling and also "the called"). It is not their own faithfulness but the Lord's Own faithfulness on which the saints rely. Come, my soul, here is a grand feast to begin a dull month with. There may be fogs without, but there should be sunshine within. Faithful (4103) (pistos [word study] from peitho = to persuade) is something or someone who is worthy of faith or keeps promises and is applied to God, humans, His Word. Assurance that this penetrating and far-reaching prayer for the readers is not a cry of despair is found in the faithful nature and activity of God. Hiebert- The construction puts the emphasis upon His faithfulness as caller and doer. It is this fact that assures the consummation of their salvation. God is "faithful," to be trusted, reliable concerning all that He has said. The faithfulness of God is one of the central themes of Scripture. He never lies in making a promise and never begins a work without carrying it through to completion. Here is indeed comforting assurance. "If you enjoy His calling, rejoice in His faithfulness, Who will do it." (Ibid)
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Spurgeon writes - Heaven is a place where we shall never sin; where we shall cease our constant watch against an indefatigable enemy, because there will be no tempter to ensnare our feet. There the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. Heaven is the "undefiled inheritance"; it is the land of perfect holiness, and therefore of complete security. But do not the saints even on earth sometimes taste the joys of blissful security? The doctrine of God's word is, that all who are in union with the Lamb are safe; that all the righteous shall hold on their way; that those who have committed their souls to the keeping of Christ shall find Him a faithful and immutable Preserver. Sustained by such a doctrine we can enjoy security even on earth; not that high and glorious security which renders us free from every slip, but that holy security which arises from the sure promise of Jesus that none who believe in Him shall ever perish, but shall be with Him where He is. Believer, let us often reflect with joy on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, and honor the faithfulness of our God by a holy confidence in Him. May our God bring home to you a sense of your safety in Christ Jesus! May He assure you that your name is graven on His hand; and whisper in your ear the promise, "Fear not, I am with thee. " Look upon Him, the great Surety of the covenant, as faithful and true, and, therefore, bound and engaged to present you, the weakest of the family, with all the chosen race, before the throne of God; and in such a sweet contemplation you will drink the juice of the spiced wine of the Lord's pomegranate, and taste the dainty fruits of Paradise. You will have an antepast of the enjoyments which ravish the souls of the perfect saints above, if you can believe with unstaggering faith that faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. F B
1 Tessalonicenses 5:24
Spurgeon - “May our God bring home to you a sense of your safety in Christ Jesus! May He assure you that your name is graven on His hand and whisper in your ear the promise, “Fear not, I am with thee.” Look upon Him, the great Surety of the covenant, as Faithful and True (Rev 19:11-note), and, therefore, bound and engaged to present you, the weakest of the family, with all the chosen race, before the Throne of God (Col 1:22e, 2Cor 4:14e, Ep 5:27e, cf Jude 24); and in such a sweet contemplation you will drink the juice of the spiced wine of the Lord’s pomegranate, and taste the dainty fruits of Paradise. You will have an antepast of the enjoyments which ravish the souls of the perfect saints above, if you can believe with unstaggering faith that “faithful is He Who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.” Amen (1Thes 5:24) (Spurgeon) Arise, my soul, arise, shake off thy guilty fears The bleeding Sacrifice in my behalf appears Before the Throne my Surety stands My name is written on His hands. Amen! Scriptures on He will bring it to pass... Isaiah 9:7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this. Isaiah 14:24-26 The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand, 25 to break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains. Then his yoke will be removed from them, and his burden removed from their shoulder. 26“This is the plan devised against the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations. Isaiah 37:32 “For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts shall perform this.”’ Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away. Tony Evans has an interesting devotional on 1Thes 5:24 entitled Holding God Accountable = "Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass." One of the most important things we can do as Christians is to pray according to our covenantal rights. But we often don’t do this because we misunderstand what prayer is. Let me define prayer by first saying what prayer is not. Prayer is not simply talking to God. Instead, prayer is asserting earthly permission for heavenly interference. Prayer is earth giving heaven authorization to intervene in the affairs of earth as heaven has previously stated it would. That permission is granted based on your legal position and rights. That’s why it is essential to study the Word of God and to know the rights He has granted you through His Word. If you’re being held in bondage by an illegitimate force in your life, cry out to God. Pray to Him for deliverance by appealing to Him based on your covenantal rights. God has a legal obligation to respond to you because you have a legitimate agreement with Him found in His Word. Go through the Scriptures, read everything that relates to your stronghold, and pray it back to God. When you do that, prayer is no longer just a spiritual exercise or something to check off of your to-do list. Rather, prayer becomes a legal meeting in which you and God get together in agreement on the same covenantal arrangement. Prayer becomes an act of holding God accountable, in the right sense of the word, to what He holds Himself accountable to: His Word. (A Moment for Your Soul: Devotions to Lift You Up) John