Rejoice
evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
1
Thessalonians 5:16-18
You are not
called to complain, but rather when you open your mouth to rejoice no matter
what you face or are going through… The
will of God is that we should always be thankful, find a reason to rejoice and
continue to pray… No matter what storms come your way or obstacles that you
face, the challenge of every man and woman of God is to stay the course holding
to the precious promises of God and making the most of every situation! Paul
told the church
of Philippi, “I know
what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned
the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or
hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” The secret of
being content is that you hold to the fact that God has seen you through your
ups and downs, you smile because regardless of your abundance or your lack you
still have a roof over you head and clothes on your back… A child of God is
known by actions, not by what they say… Paul’s letter to the church of Thessalonica
reminds us that we are to praise God and pray to God continuously… When your
time is devoted to praising God and praying you have no room to complain, when
your time is devoted to giving thanks unto the Lord you don’t have time to pout
or through temper tantrums… Paul’s says rejoice evermore! Often times we are
looking for a red sea or Damascus
road experience in order to rejoice, but we are told today that we should
always rejoice… You don’t have to look beyond the fact that God touched you this
morning to rejoice, you don’t’ have to look beyond that fact that you have a
house to go too to rejoice, you don’t have to look beyond that fact that you
have a job to go too to rejoice, God has shown favor in your life despite what
you may be going through, He has opened doors for you despite some that may
have closed; you being able to read this email at your job is proof enough that
you have a reason to rejoice… We are in a (n) economic crisis yet you have been
able to make it thus far (rejoice)… Not only are we to rejoice, but Paul goes
on to say that we are to pray without ceasing… There will be storms in your
life, there will be trials that you encounter and we must learn to stop trying
to face them on our own, but go to the Lord in prayer… So often people face
challenges and try to defeat them by themselves, that’s what the church is for,
that’s what the body of believers is for; God said when two or three are
gathered in His name He will be in the midst… Pray to God, but also surround yourself with people of God to pray with
you and for you…
James said
that when we ask of the Lord we cannot waver, we already know what God has done
for us that’s why we can rejoice, we know that we can take anything too Him
through prayer and if you believe Paul’s next statement says “In everything give thanks…” We as a
child of God can give thanks simple because God promised to never put more on
us than we can bear, we can give thanks because we know that no weapon formed
against us shall prosper, we can give thanks because we know that even when are
closest friends turned there backs on us Christ died on the cross so that we
might have life and have it more abundantly… Paul says that these things that
we are to do are the will of God toward us… Our job on this earth is to
minister, to serve others and to let others know that grace that God has
dispensed on the cross for all mankind… You touch the lives of people in so
many ways and we must let them know that we are a child of God! This isn’t done
by wearing a cross around our necks, this isn’t done by carrying a bible
everywhere we go and it isn’t done by listening to gospel music all day long…
People will know you’re a child of the King when they see you rejoicing in all
things, they will know when they see you praying about situations, they will
know when you are able to give thanks unto the Lord even when people don’t
understand what you’re thankful for… There is an old saying, “when life gives you lemons, make
lemonade”. This simply implies that you should never allow your
circumstances to destroy your goals or focus for you life, in fact you should
take the sour taste and use it to make something good out of a bad situation.
This passage in 1 Thessalonians reminds us to rejoice evermore, meaning that we must keep the joy of Jesus in our
hearts at all times, we must never get down upon the current situations because
we can look to Jesus and know that He went to the cross and now seats at the
right hand of the father. This passage also tells us to always stay in prayer;
it doesn’t matter what the doctor has said, or what you friends have told you
(look at Job), we must stay in communication with God knowing that He has the
final answer, but more importantly that He has what we stand in need of. That’s
why we should be thankful for any and everything that comes our way, because we
know that walking in the will of God will have the dark days and bumpy roads,
but in the end our crown awaits. In the end we will have uncontrollable joy and
we will be caught up to a place where their will be no more weeping, crying, or
sin!!!! So be thankful and press on!
BE BLESSED!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment