When do you stop praying for someone? Some might respond to that question – “never!”, and even quote 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” While that is true, there comes a time in most people’s lives when we naturally stop praying for something or someone: a sick person recovers, a person dies, problem resolved, etc. Typically, when the conflict is truly behind them is a natural time to stop praying.
Perhaps it’s more in our attitude that determines a stopping point rather than simply overcoming the conflict. The pattern in Scripture shows us a lot about the purpose and policy of prayer.
In Joshua 7, the Israelites face their first real disaster on their Canaanite conquest at the city of Ai. In the end, it’s discovered that Achan violated a command, which resulted in their loss in battle. Joshua tore his clothes and mourned for Israel, but God said to him, “Get up!” He goes on to describe why they’ve suffered a loss; then He tells them to take action. The point we can take from this is that there is a point when “just praying” may be an act of cowardice instead of a noble or godly thing.
David modeled something similar when he prayed for his sick son born of Bathsheba to survive in 2 Samuel 12:16-23. Once his son died, he got up and resumed his duties as king – the prayer for his son was over. However, after Nathan rebuked David, and during this trial in David’s life, he wrote Psalms 51, a prayer of repentance to God. We can read of many Psalms afterwards that reflected on God’s mercy and blessings.
The point is prayer is our appeal to God for guidance and wisdom, but at some point we must act on the wisdom and guidance we receive from God. At that point our prayer may change from a prayer for wisdom to handle a situation correctly, to a prayer of thanksgiving that He is a God who listens and cares about us.
At Samuel’s farewell address in 1 Samuel 12, he recounts all the challenges Israel faced in becoming a kingdom. The people, realizing their rebellious actions throughout their history, pleaded with Samuel to pray for them. His response in 12:23 was, “far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you…”
Paul demonstrates that he continually prays for the church in Thessalonica, as he does for many of the congregations he was part of. In the Thessalonian letter, he starts with a prayer of Thanksgiving for their obedience to the Gospel. Then he offers a prayer of Endurance, for their continued faithfulness. Finally, he concludes his letter with a prayer of Hope.
We too can share in those prayers for our congregation and our families. Let’s be in constant prayer, but realize when our prayer may need to come from a different angle.
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