Pray Without Ceasing

L. It all begins with this one. Pray continually; pray without ceasing. Cannot do the other two without this one

2. Joyfulness.

A. I have to tell you of my grandfather, Ralph Hose. He died about 3 years ago. I miss him very much. From the time I was 6 months old until the age of 13, I saw him about every day.

B. Grandpa loved children. He loved me. He was a retired logger, he was a farmer, and he was an outdoorsman. He taught me how to fish. He helped to teach me to read.

C. I have never met and I do not believe that I will ever meet again, a man with so much joy in his life, so much fun. He really was a kid at heart himself.

D. He would take an ordinary circumstance and make it into the funniest situation you have ever imagined. He was a joy to be around because he was full of so much joy. I have never laughed so hard as when I was around grandpa.

E. We could say that his fun and joy came from genetics, from something special inside that he was born with. I don’t think so. I do remember going with my Uncle Harold and Grandpa one time fishing and I laughed so hard that I didn’t catch any fish but I almost fell out of the boat from laughing.

F. However, Grandpa had joy because He had Jesus Christ. I remember that every morning Grandpa would sit in his chair and read the Bible for at least 30 minutes and I don’t think that Grandpa was asleep that early in the morning. I believe that he was praying silently. In the afternoon, you knew that he was sleeping because he would snore and rattle the windows, but in the morning it was different.

G. I reflected on this at his funeral. I was asked to do a portion of his funeral and ended up doing most of it. Grandpa had Joy because Grandpa knew what joy was all about. J- Jesus; O- others; Y- yourself.

H. I believe that joy is the ability to laugh at yourself; to laugh with others; and to laugh at difficult situations in our world. Grandpa did all of these.

I. Some people take themselves way too seriously like the lady at the ice cream store with the little boy. A lot of these people I have found in the church. However, what would grandpa do with these people; he would try to make them laugh until they looked ridiculous. This is similar to what Jesus did with the Pharisees.

J. Recall the occasion when Paul and Silas were in a Roman jail. Despite the fact that they had been beaten with rods and their feet placed in stocks, they were joyful, singing hymns of prayer to God until the very foundations of the prison were shaken. These two were outwardly chained, but inwardly free and joyful.

K. For Grandpa- I am sure that all those who are at the wedding supper of the lamb, the ones around grandpa will choke, because that is what he tried to get us to do at the family table.

L. If it wasn’t for the ability to find joy in this world, I know that I would be in the phyc ward.

3. Thankfulness.

A. It is good to give thanks. It is good for the soul. Those who do not give thanks are bitter, negative and unpleasant to be around.

B. It is good to give thanks for good things. The 10 lepers.