In the parting words of Paul’s first letter to the church at Thessalonica, he admonished them with several imperatives, including “pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:17).

Many Christians have struggled to make sense of Paul’s admonition because it’s evident that we cannot literally pray without ceasing. At the very least, we would have to stop praying when we go to sleep at night. Even if Paul was only talking about our conscious hours, one cannot pray while they are talking to other people, concentrating on their work, etc. Many Christians, wanting to affirm the sense of “continual prayer,” have taken this verse to mean that we should continually be in “a spirit of prayer.” This is often construed along the lines of always having a prayerful attitude even when we are not praying to God (which should be a frequent affair throughout one’s day). What exactly a prayerful attitude is, is not entirely clear. Others take it to mean that we should pray about everything.

While I agree that we should pray often and about everything, I think Paul’s point is being over-interpreted. His point is simple: Keep praying! He was not admonishing the Thessalonians to pray every second of the day or to pray about everything, but rather to keep up the practice of prayer. Prayer is not something we do when we start our faith journey, but then stop as we “mature” in Christ. Prayer needs to be a regular discipline in the life of a Christian. In other words, Paul is encouraging us to make a habit of praying.

 

This same point is made in a number of other passages:

  • Acts 6:4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
    • If you are dedicating yourself to both prayer and Bible study, you can’t be praying all the time. At least some time would be spent studying Scripture.
  • Acts 10:2 [Cornelius,] a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.
    • Cornelius was in the Roman army. His military duties would have prevented him from praying constantly, so “continually” must be understood to mean consistently.
  • Rom 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
  • Colossians 4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
    • Paul is clearly admonishing consistency in prayer.
  • 1 Timothy 5:5 She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
    • No one would suppose that these widows did nothing more than pray all day every day. Continuing in prayer night and day is simply a way of conveying the quantity and consistency of her prayers.

This force is brought out in a number of translations of 1 Thessalonians 5:17:

  • “Pray regularly” (CJB)
  • “And never stop praying” (CEV)
  • “Never stop praying” (ERV, GW, ICB, Phillips, NOG, NIrV, NLV, NLT, NTE)
  • “Always keep on praying” (TLB)

I particularly like The Living Bible’s characterization as “always keep on praying.” Paul’s concern is not so much the amount of time we are spending in prayer each day as it is the longevity of our prayer life. Prayer is a spiritual discipline that we should be in the habit of doing day-after-day. Like Dory in Finding Nemo, we need to “just keep praying, just keep praying, just keep praying praying praying.”