Selah
Lyn
I stumbled upon something recently that has revolutionized my prayer life and I’m <SO
EXCITED> to finally be able to share it with you today!! Of course you know that with God nothing happens by accident; I didn’t simply stubble, but God revealed
something that has changed me forever! Now where do I start …
It all began when I was teaching a women’s Bible class one
morning. I actually planned to talk about I Thessalonians 5:17, but the verse was
so small, that I decided to include 16 and 18 with it, for they were good too. I wrote them
on the board like this:
Rejoice always,
Pray without ceasing
Give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
During my lesson someone made the comment that, “pray without ceasing” was in the middle
of the commands to rejoice and give thanks! (It was a light-bulb moment for me!)
I saw the sandwich!!
While in college, studying for a degree in early childhood education,
I was taught that when it came to parent-teacher conferences, we should always
sandwich what we wanted the parents to know between two positives! For example:
Your child is such a hard worker!
Even though she’s struggling right now in math
I’m confident she’ll eventually master it with some extra help!
Though, our prayers are completely different from a parent-teacher conference, it suddenly occurred to me that God wants our prayers
seasoned with joy and thanksgiving! Do you naturally season all your prayers
with joy and thanksgiving?
I hadn’t been! Not always. I usually tended to get straight
to the point!
BUT, I also discovered recently that ALL three of these
commands here are covered by Paul’s last statement in verse 18, “for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus for YOU.” (emphasis mine). These three verses were meant to be kept together!
And the Lord gave me the longest migraine headache of my life
to drive home this lesson!! I’d been suffering with the same migraine headache
for a week, trying everything I knew to do to try to get rid of it, when
finally one night I went straight to bed after dinner because I just didn’t
want to deal with the pain any longer.
The Lord woke me during the night at 2AM with the headache still there, and I
immediately lay there and began talking to Him, “Well Lord, I’ve tried everything I know to get rid of this headache
and it’s still here.”
“Not everything.” was
His reply and He reminded me of what He had recently revealed to me in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. I had to
agree that I’ve never thought to rejoice and give thanks for a migraine headache, but I
had grumbled and complained and begged for it to be gone A LOT! So, I began
praising Him and giving thanks for everything I could think of! There was a
party going on in my brain, and the next thing I knew it was morning! I'd fallen back to sleep and now daylight
was shining through my windows!
I woke and the headache was still there!! But my whole countenance
had changed!! I was so light and joy-FILLED and I was NOT going to allow that
headache to keep me down any longer. I got up, dressed and went about my day
filled with His Holy Spirit and the headache eventually disappeared, though I
can’t tell you when it happened exactly.
Here in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, Paul is writing to a new church of young believers, and it
seems as though he is quickly trying to write down all these finally
instructions for them to follow before he closes the letter and sends it off.
Most of what I’ve read about these three verses speaks of the impossibility to
keep them! Can we really rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in
every and all circumstance??
YES! I don’t believe The Lord would have Paul include these
commands to this group of young believers, who were facing constant persecution, if they were impossible to follow! I also
believe our first clue for how to follow the commands is found in the final words of verse 18. “for this is the will
of God… for you.” This is God’s will for all of us, but it’s,
“in Christ Jesus” or in other words, through Christ Jesus!! We can't leave Christ Jesus out!
...For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.We must include Christ Jesus for Paul told us in the letter to the Philippian church that we “can do all things through Christ…”(Phil4:13 )
...For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.We must include Christ Jesus for Paul told us in the letter to the Philippian church that we “can do all things through Christ…”(Phil
I have also discovered that by seasoning our constant conversations with God with joy and thanksgiving we are actually speaking truth to our hearts and strengthening our resolve as we pray!! Proving once more that these commands are for OUR BENEFIT, and not God's.But don’t take my word for it, start putting these verses into practice
and see for yourselves!
Welcome to Scripture Saturday!
Today we are memorizing 1 Thessalonians 5:16, 17, and 18…
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Here is this verse in the amplified version…
Rejoice
always and delight in your faith; be unceasing and persistent in
prayer; in every situation [no matter what the circumstances] be
thankful and continually give thanks to God; for this is the will of God
for you in Christ Jesus.
What was Paul asking
of me personally to draw me closer to Him and strengthen my faith in
Him? I asked myself these questions and I pray that they will be of
help to you as well…
How can I always “rejoice and delight” in my faith?
~I will be thankful. I will focus daily on the blessings that God has given me through His Son Jesus.
~I
will yield and rely on Him in every situation I may come across. I will
give all control of my life over to Him…I will be worry free!
~I
will sing! Praising Him in song always brings me joy. I will praise
Him for His goodness, love, and grace. Even if I do make a “joyful
noise!” ;)
How can I “pray without ceasing”?
~I
will first to admit that I need to depend on the Lord for everything. I
read, “Prayer is the language of trusting the Lord.”
~When I
think of a loved one or friend I will pray for them immediately, even
if it’s “short and sweet.” When someone asks me to pray for them, I will
pray right there with the person. I won’t promise to pray later and
then forget to do so. I will pray immediately for them.
~I will read books on prayer.
~Most
importantly I will spend time in God’s word and prayer each morning. I
will continue using His words for my prayers. That’s why I love
memorizing His Word!
How can I “give thanks in all circumstances” to God?
~I
will read His Word and deepen my understanding of who God really is. I
have studied the names He is given in the Bible and recommend every one
to do the same!
~I will truly trust Him above all else.
Thankfulness will be my habit if trusting is my habit. If I am trusting
Him, then it follows that I will be thankful and if I’m thankful, I am
trusting Him.
Remember that this is not
something that we can just do, it is a life-long process, We must
practice daily. Remember practice doesn’t make perfect it just makes
permanent. Realize that “this is the will of God for you in Christ
Jesus.”
Dear Father, thank you for your
goodness, for your love, for your forgiveness, and for your Son! Help me
to live according to Your will. Give me your wisdom and guidance
during my prayer time and all day as I lift others in prayer. Remind me
to continually look to You and trust You for all things.
Have a blessed and precious day everyone!
