In Everything Give Thanks

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

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 ofPhilippi, “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 your head and clothes on your back… I remind myself daily that things could always be worseand that only rejuvenates my joy. 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 throw 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… 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 there will be no more weeping, crying, or sin!!!! So be thankful and press on!

ALL FOR HIS GLORY!