The Threefold Will of God
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Its The holidays season!
Some of us have mixed emotions about the Thanksgiving/ Christmas season .Growing up I wasn’t a fan of Christmas and Thanksgiving get togethers, I would try to avoid those like the plague. They would the line the kids up and ask them about the previous year accomplishments, and they would speak about graduations and future schools they got accepted in etc. And they would come to me and literally I was just happy to be alive.
I just found out every-time someone spoke about my childhood they would say I was a bad kid. But everyone that said I was a bad kid never came and invested and helped me out.
Let us not put such a label on people without extending Gods love towards them.
1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 (NKJV)
16 Rejoice always,
17 pray without ceasing,
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
These verses address the inner life of each believer.
You can’t fake the Christian life, because you will get exposed.
The first two verses speak about time- Rejoice always, pray without ceasing or pray continually , but verse 18 speak about circumstances, in every circumstance give thanks.
But it starts off with rejoice.
Paul mentioned how the Thessalonians had experienced joy even in much affliction.
1 Thess 1:6 “6 And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,” -
This kind of joy is only sourced in the Holy Spirit.
Phil 4:4 “4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!”
Phil 3:1 “1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.”
Have you ever recieved a message and you thought it was the same old message. If you havn’t walked in these things it should be repeated.
Hear me ! We are not denying that adversity brings sadness and grief.
1 Peter 1:6 “6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,”
Matt. 5:11-12 “11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
romans 12:15 “15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”
But we recognized though your situation is agonizing the presence of God through His Spirit can infuse the soul with hope and the heart of joy. This joy is rooted deeply in the gospel.
Luke 2:10-11 “10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—
10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.
Hard- pressed on every-side means physical affliction
Perplexed means psychological affliction.
We are carrying around the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be revealed.
Perhaps one reason it is God’s will for us to be thankful is that it is good for us.
A 2009 study again showed that being thankful can improve your life. At the University of California, professor Robert Emmons said, “Those who offer gratitude are less envious and resentful. They sleep longer, exercise more and report a drop in blood pressure.”
Emmons is the author of the book Thanks! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier, and an earlier book that describes gratitude as a “new science.”
Brenda Shoshanna is a New York psychologist who agrees. “You can’t be depressed and grateful at the same time,”“It makes a person physically, mentally, in every way healthier.” said Shoshanna, the author of 365 Ways to Give Thanks: One for Every Day of the Year.
The basis on why we are thankful is found in Romans 8:28
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
WE know
Paul saying “we know” should be common knowledge amongst believers.
Because we know this is why we give thanks.
1 John 5:19 “19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”
1 john 3:14 “14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.”
1 John 4:16 “16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”
1 John 3:19 “19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.”
This should be common knowledge for us.
We should be Christians who Know.
Us as believers should be overjoyed for what we know.
We walk in what we know. Sometimes we can become discouraged by what we don’t know.
Be thankful for what you know.
But 1 Thess 5:18 doesn’t say give thanks for every moment. But its referring to every circumstance.
Where ever God has placed you give thanks.
Giving thanks to God is an key element in Christian worship.
Apart of the Christian life we ought to always give thanks.
Jesus gave thanks at the Last Supper
27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
When Jesus fed the 4,000 He gave thanks
6 So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude.
In vs 18 the central focus is to Daily give thanks.
But the call to give thanks doesn’t mean that we are to give thanks in every moment.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.