“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
This week’s verses contain commands that are essential to living for the gospel’s sake: 1. Rejoice, 2. Pray, 3. Give thanks.
Along with these commands are these phrases: “evermore”, “without ceasing”, and “In every thing”. Here are these verses if we were to remove these phrases:
“Rejoice. Pray. Give thanks: for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ concerning you.”
Now that seems pretty easy to obey. We rejoice when things go well, pray when things go wrong, and give thanks when we experience obvious blessings.
But that is not how the verse goes. Instead, we are commanded to “Rejoice evermore”, not just in good times; “pray without ceasing”; not just when we are in trouble; and “give thanks in every thing”, not just when we appear to have been blessed. This sounds harder to do.
However, we can find these truths in the Bible to help us:
1. When God is our source of joy, we can rejoice in any circumstance.
“And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”
Romans 5:11
2. The Holy Spirit helps us pray when we do not know how to proceed.
“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
Romans 8:26
3. God is working His purpose through any and all circumstances in the believer’s life, giving us a reason to always be thankful.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28
This week, choose to rejoice, pray, and give thanks everyday, no matter the circumstances.
God bless,
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