Pray always (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

God commands us to pray. The verb pray is written in the imperative. If you are a Christian, you pray. Not just some days. But always. Constantly. Continually. Without ceasing. You are spending the day constantly praying to God, constantly aware of God’s presence.

Why does God command us to pray? Because God loves answering prayer.

Wait a minute, preacher man! I have been praying for the Mariners to win the World Series every year.
Wait a minute, preacher man! I prayed for God to cure my sister of cancer.
Wait a minute, preacher man! I prayed for God to save my marriage.

God commands us to pray always because God always loves answering prayer.

Notice, God never promised that he would answer prayers the way we want them answered. And for good reason. Because we are not God. And because we are not God, we do not know what God knows.

But what we can be sure of is that God knows, and God wants what is best for us.

So, every time we pray, we can be sure our prayers are answered exactly the way we would want them to be answered if we knew everything that God knew.

Pray always. Constantly. Continually. Without ceasing.

He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities (Psalm 103:10).

I have a sin problem. My sin problem is that not only that I am a sinner, but that I am a regular repeat sinner. Not only am I a repeat sinner, but I am pretty sure I am going to struggle with sin until the day I die!!!

Gee!

It’s a good thing I am not God. I don’t think I could put up with a repeat sinner like myself. I mean, how many times do I expect to be forgiven for the same sin over and over and over and over and over and over. I can go on…

Thank God God is God.

God tells us, “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.” Thank God! Because without God being this God, I have no hope.

You and me…we’re going to struggle with sin until the day we die. AND because God is a God who knows that and still loves us, our job is to keep struggling with sin. Keep repenting of sin. Keep striving after God’s righteousness.

The worst thing that we can do as repeat sinners is to quit struggling with sin, and accept sin. That would be tragic!!!

Keep at it. Keep struggling. Keep repenting. Keep striving. AND remember to thank God God is God.

“Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears and they have closed their eyes.'” (Matthew 13:13-15).

My heart is sick. As the cardiologist recently declared I have a seriously diseased heart. The problem with my heart is that it keeps producing plaque, leading to blockages. It shouldn’t. My numbers are pretty good. But my body keeps producing plaque in the arteries leading to blockages. That’s what seriously diseased hearts do.

The only way I am still alive is to stay ahead of the blockages through meds, exercise, diet, and stents.

But there is a heart disease that is far more serious and deadly than my physical heart. It’s when people develop hard hearts. Hard hearts – hearts that reject God and his truth – are deadly. They can stare the truth right in their face and they will never see it. They can hear the God-honest truth and never understand.

When a person’s heart becomes hardened to God and his truths, when a person places themselves as the ultimate authority in their lives, this has deadly eternal consequences. When God is rejected, you can no longer hear God’s truth about our sinful condition. When we reject we are sinners, we no longer seek out a Savior. The result is eternal damnation.

Just as I have to stay ahead of blockages, there is a remedy for hard hearts. Humble yourself. Bow your knee and surrender to God. Accept God’s truth revealed in the scriptures and submit to him.

The healing for hard hearts starts with admitting that you are a sinner in need of a Savior.

Don’t let heart disease kill you. The cure for heart disease is already available.

Surrender and submit to Jesus.