Prayer as Rejoicing, Thanksgiving, Petition
Prayer as Rejoicing, Thanksgiving, Petition
In a series of concluding exhortations in his earliest letter, Paul urges the Thessalonians to “be joyful always, pray continuously, give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess 5:16); for, he adds, this is what God himself wills for them as they live out the life of Christ in Thessalonica. Most likely Paul is not talking about joy or thanksgiving in general; rather he is urging upon them life in the Spirit as a life of prayer. And prayer for him will naturally take the form of joy, praise, and thanksgiving, as well as petition.
Paul himself was as good as his imperative. Not too many months before this letter Paul and Silas were doing this very thing in the local jail in Philippi (“praying and singing hymns to God” [Acts 16:25] — in this case loudly enough for the rest of the jail to hear). So also earlier in this same letter (1 Thessalonians), Paul spoke thus of the return of Timothy: “How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again ...” (3:9-10). Some twelve years or so later, one finds this same collocation in his letter to Philippi (1:3-4, “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel”).
Continual prayer marked the apostle’s life; but prayer was not simply petition for his congregations. First of all, prayer for them meant to be in remembrance of them; and remembrance of them was for him a cause of joy and thanksgiving. Thus he begins nearly every letter, frequently expressed in terms of “thanking God for [all of] you” — including the Corinthians, so many of whom stood over against him, as well as the Philippians and Thessalonians, his joy and crown. Thanksgiving had to do with people, not things or events; and the reason he could thank God for them all was precisely that they were all God’s people, not his.
Two things about such continual thanksgiving and Paul’s life in the Spirit need further theological reflection:
First, a life of continual thanksgiving — primarily in prayer, but to others for their generosity as well — is one of the certain signs of spiritual health (= a healthy life in the Spirit). It reflects a life that evidences the only proper posture before God — humility18 — a life that is constantly aware of God’s mercies, of living on the beneficiary side of life. Genuine thanksgiving stems from a grateful heart that has experienced truly what Paul asked the Corinthians rhetorically, “What have you that you have not received?” One can count on it as axiomatic — the diminution of thanksgiving in one’s life is invariably accompanied by a concomitant increase of self-reliance and self-confidence. Gratitude is evidence of living under grace. Thus triumphalism is out, because life in the Spirit presupposes a life of prayer, which assumes a posture of humility before God and overflows with thanksgiving.
Second, that Paul’s thanksgivings are most often expressed for people, not for things or events, is also evidence of spiritual health. Here is the key to genuinely sound relationships within the community of faith — to recognize others as gifts, as belonging first of all to God, no matter how nettlesome some of his gifts might seem to be to us. Thanking God for his people does not eliminate correcting or challenging them; Paul will still do that. But thanking God for them offers the possibility of reducing one’s own self-importance in relationship to others. Here again, Paul models a kind of spirituality that we could well emulate. Whereas he came out fighting for the truth of the gospel — and his apostleship as it related to the gospel — Paul had the wonderful capacity to take himself as a person with hardly any seriousness at all (as Phil 1:12- 26 offers marvelous evidence). When one lives as a truly free per-son before God, others have little or no control over one’s life. And it is exactly that freedom that allows Paul always to give thanks to God for others who are his fellow-heirs in Christ (whether his converts or not, as in Colossians).
Because prayer begins as remembrance, evoking joy and thanksgiving in the Spirit, Paul therefore cannot help but petition God on their behalf as well. What is striking is the content of these petitions, which tend to take two expressions: a concern for their growth in the Lord, and a concern for the growth of the gospel. The latter concern, which sometimes includes a concern for deliverance from peril, is always front and center when he requests prayer from them in his behalf.19 But in prayer for them, it is always that they might become Spirit people more and more, in terms of their own growth in grace. Thus in Col 1:9-11 he prays that they may know more of the Spirit’s insight and wisdom, so that they might live worthy of Christ and be pleasing to him. To which he appends four participles that further define such a life: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in their knowledge of God (that is, coming to know his character the more), being strengthened by the power of the Spirit for endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified them for their ultimate inheritance. One wonders whether it is possible to pray more significantly than this!
Thus prayer as rejoicing, thanksgiving, and petition marked Paul’s own spirituality (life in the Spirit in terms of personal devotion), and was what he urged, and prayed, for his congregations. Paul was a pray-er before he was a doer or a thinker.