Pray

Midweek Meditation with Pastor Edith
November 19, 2025
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Good morning! It is still dark outside as I begin this little meditation. It is just after 7:00 a.m. on this fine November morning and I am so thankful to have this quiet time to share with you. Please forgive my absence these past months as our life at home took a detour when my husband had emergency open heart surgery on September 9th. I have a new and profound appreciation for all of you who find yourselves caregivers, so, on behalf of all who are in your care, I say Thank You!

A theme popped up during one of our worship services as we were sharing our praises and concerns; What do you do when you don’t know what to do. What would you say? What we came up with in church was one word; Pray. That begged the question; What do you pray when you don’t know what to pray? Again, pause and consider what you would say.

This time the answer was three words; Thank You Lord.

Here comes the difficult discipline of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. He set the example by taking a lot of time to pray and even taught his disciples a beautiful pattern in what we call The Lord’s Prayer; you might want to pause and pray that right now. When we look at the Apostle Paul’s admonition in our verses for today we see clearly where the difficulty and discipline of praying sets in; “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”.

In the original context, Paul wrote this letter to the church he himself had founded in A.D. 51 on his second missionary journey. The problem was, he couldn’t stay very long to instruct the new believers in Christ because he was driven out by the governing authorities. He felt as if he had abandoned this young church and knew they were undergoing severe persecution with many dying for their faith.

When we read our verses for today with that setting in mind, it feels all the more impossible to do what Paul instructs believers to do. Yet, that is the confidence that God has in us, that in the power of the Holy Spirit we can Rejoice always, we can pray continually, and we can give thanks in all circumstances because no matter what, Jesus Christ gave himself for us on the cross, that we would never have to fear being abandoned by the Lord and he rose again on the third day to prove we can and will have everlasting life when we trust in Him.

During this week of Thanksgiving, may you be reminded daily to pray; “Thank you Lord”!

AMEN and Pray on!