On Prayer

Sometimes, you just get something stuck in your head. Usually, it's a song. And, usually, it's a fairly annoying one. I've never managed to get a song I really like stuck in my head; it always seems to be something really dreadful, something completely pop.

But, lately, I've had a couple of Bible verses stuck in my head. Weird, right? But, the thing is, as with most things you get stuck in your head, I couldn't remember all of it. I was trying to remember the whole of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, but I could only remember verse 17. The whole of it is as follows:

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

All I could remember was to "pray without ceasing," but that isn't it. We aren't told just to pray; we must also "rejoice always" and "give thanks in all circumstances." Rejoice and give thanks always? Really? Even when we pray?

Apparently so.

Last night as I was reading from Streams in the Desert, a book I highly recommend, the advice was the same. When we pray, we are to give thanks, even when we are asking God for things. It's a difficult thing to really put into practice, to always give thanks. How often are we praying because we feel like we've come to the end of our rope and have nowhere to go but God? How easy is it to ask for help with a thankful heart? Not very. But, prayer is one of those spiritual arts, one of those things that takes practice to understand and to learn about.

C.S. Lewis remarked in Surprised by Joy that the first time he approached prayer it was because his mother was very ill. He prayed for her to be healed, but she died. His explanation of this is really interesting and, honestly, a bit convicting. He writes,

"I had approached God, or my idea of God, without love, without awe, even without fear. He was, in my mental picture of this miracle, to appear neither as Savior nor as Judge, but merely as a magician; and when He had done what was required of Him I suposed He would simply--well, go away. It never crossed my mind that the tremendous contact which I solicited should have any consequences beyond restoring the status quo" (21).

And, isn't that so often how it happens? There is no real desire for anything more than for a wish to be granted, certainly no desire to continue any sort of relationship. I have to admit, I've prayed many prayers in just this way, prayers for me to get what I want without having to commit to anything more than reaping the benefits of answered prayer. It should probably come as no surprise that most of those prayers were not prayed in a spirit of thanksgiving or that there was no rejoicing or that those prayers were not part of a ceaseless prayer that should have been my life.

So, while verse 17 is important because it reminds us that we must "pray without ceasing," it's the two other verses that instruct us in just how we should say those prayers. With rejoicing and thanksgiving. And, those are some ideas that aren't so bad to get stuck in your head.