Daily Devotional

-May 7, 2021-

Good morning, happy Friday,

-The Will Of God Is Obey The Word Of God-

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Christianity is not complicated, but that does not make it easy. It takes effort on our part, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Today’s text shows us that doing God’s will involves obedience to His Word. There are three simple admonitions for us to follow daily that lead to successful and victorious living: rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks. They are simple and clear truths to live by.

• Rejoice always – Being joyful all the time makes no sense to the world. How can we do this even when we experience sorrow, pain, trouble, and loss? The reason is our relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. He never changes and neither does our relationship with Him. Our joy is internal and not affected by the external. Rejoicing is what we choose to do. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:4, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice.” He wrote these words while in prison for his faith in Christ! We must chose to rejoice in the Lord. Someone once said, “Pain is inevitable, misery is optional.”

• Pray without ceasing – This does not mean we go around praying every moment; otherwise we couldn’t do anything else like work, go to school, or do other things. What it does mean is to be in a spirit of prayer always. We need to have a definite prayer time daily, but we also need to call upon the Lord for His help as we go through our day. In other words, prayer is more a circle without beginning or end, rather than a straight line, with a beginning and an end. We would pray a lot more if we kept this in mind!

• In everything give thanks – We should thank the Lord in and for everything each and every day. The Lord delights when we thank Him for things both big and small. Ephesians 5:20 says, “Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This doesn’t mean we should ignore adverse circumstances but rather thank Him in all circumstances. Things could always be worse, we can always seek His help with them, and we can thank Him for what He is doing in our lives to grow our faith.

These three simple things are God’s will for us: rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks. One of my dear friends, who is an elder in our church, calls these three things our spiritual vitamins. When we do them, we are doing God’s will. They never go out of style! Are you doing them consistently? Why not start today?

Have a blessed day of rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean