remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father.
Paul’s prayers are addressed to God. They are constant (always) and inclusive (for you all). Jesus teaches that men "ought always to pray and not to faint" (Luke 18:1). Paul says in this very letter, "Pray without ceasing" (5:17). He does not ask of others what he is unwilling to do himself. As in so many areas of Christian deportment, Paul sets an example in prayer. Before he asks the Thessalonians to "pray without ceasing," he provides a model--"we give thanks to God always." The "you all" includes the wayward and weak as well as the faithful and strong. Nowhere is Paul’s magnanimity more greatly apparent than in these prayers.