Does God really mean for believers to bring Him every need and thanksgiving in prayer?
Yes. God means it when He says to pray without ceasing and to bring Him supplications, the desires of the heart, praise, and thanksgiving in everything. He has not changed. Believers should therefore pray earnestly, especially since the final days are approaching and the world is preparing for the man of sin.
Les explains that when Scripture says “pray without ceasing,” that is exactly what it means. When God says in everything to bring Him supplications, the desires of the heart, praise, and thanksgiving, He still means it; He has not changed. Les also gives another reason believers should pray extra hard: if we know prophecy, we are in the final days and hours of this age. The whole world’s system is getting ready for the man of sin, the man Antichrist. God has left the responsibility to keep the timing aspect on track with born-again believers. In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul tells believers not to be deceived: that day will not come unless there is a falling away first—an apostasy, or a departure of the saints. The Antichrist will not be revealed before the church is gone. Paul then describes him as opposing and exalting himself above all that is called God or worshipped, sitting in the temple of God, showing himself to be God. Paul reminds them he had told them these things.