<p>1:16 <i>Do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers</i>- If all the wonderful things of :11-15 are true, then we can only constantly give thanks that those we have preached to shall really be eternally saved. Only if the wonder of that slips, will we find ourselves demotivated in our prayer life.</p><p>One practical caveat needs to be mentioned in the context of praying for others. It is all too easy to slip into the habit (and slipping into bad prayer habits surely dogs every prayerful man) of reeling off a list of names each night, something like &quot;Dear Father, be with David, and please be with the children, and with Sister Smith, and with Karen, and with...&quot;. There's nothing in itself wrong with this. But over time, it can become a kind of incantation, with us fearful that this evening we let one of those names slip. Paul writes often that he &quot;makes mention&quot; or 'remembers' his brethren in regular prayer (Rom. 1:9; Eph. 1:16; 1 Thess. 1:2; Philemon 4). The Greek <i>mneia</i> is the word used in the LXX for the &quot;memorial&quot; of the incense or the meal offering (Lev. 2:2,16; 6:15; 24:7), or the constant fire on the altar (Lev. 6:12,13). That fire, that flour, that incense, had to be carefully and consciously prepared; it had to be the result of man's labour. And likewise, Paul seems to be saying, he first of all thought through the cases which he then presented to the Father. This is a high standard to keep up. It is through this constant prayer that we are in God's tabernacle presence and in sacrificial relationship with Him.</p><p>Compare the following passages:<br />&ldquo;I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,&nbsp; And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth&rdquo; (Is. 62:6,7)<br />with<br />&ldquo;Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him&rdquo; (Eph. 1:15-17).</p><p>The ideas of praying without ceasing and making mention occur in both passages. Surely Paul had the Isaiah passage in mind. It seems that he saw the ecclesia as the spiritual Zion. In the same way as Zion&rsquo;s watchmen were exhorted to pray for her without ceasing until the Kingdom is established there, so Paul prayed for the spiritual growth of his brethren. The implication is surely that once a certain level of spirituality had been achieved, then the Lord will return to establish His Kingdom. When the harvest is ripe, then the sickle is put in. Jn. 17:23 speaks of how the church will &ldquo;be perfected into one&rdquo; (RV), as if this process is ongoing and comes to a finality at the Lord&rsquo;s return. This is an urgent imperative to unity amongst us- and yet as these apparently &ldquo;last days&rdquo; wear on, we become increasingly <i>dis</i>united. This ought to be a true worry to us.</p>