1 Thess 5:16-18
16 Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Amplified version – Be happy in your faith and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually always. Be unceasing in prayer. Praying perseveringly. Thank God in everything no matter what the circumstance may be. Be thankful and give thanks for this is the will of God for you who are in Christ Jesus the revealer mediator of that will.
Thankfulness is a feeling of appreciation felt by someone for the kindness, gifts, help, favor, or generosity given to them by someone. It is a consciousness of a benefit received. It is being glad or having gratitude.
God through the Apostle Paul is telling us that in everything we are to give thanks for this is the will of God concerning us.
How do I give thanks in everything that I go through? It’s easy to thank God for the good things and when things in our life are going good, but how do I thank God in the midst of tests & trials? You can because He said that it is His will for those who are I Christ who is the revealer and mediator of that will.
Do you know how you’re going to give thanks in that situation? Because Christ is the revealer. He’s the one who is going to show you how to get through by revealing the will of God for your life through the Holy Spirit. Duet 29:29 – The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law
Christ is going to reveal and make known to you through divine inspiration the will of God for your life. Once you know the will of God for your life you will be able to give Him thanks in everything
Psalm 25:14 – The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant. The amplified version – The secret [of the wise counsel] of the LORD is for those who fear Him, And He will let them know His covenant and reveal to them [through His word] its [deep, inner] meaning.
And then you’re going to be able to give thanks in the midst of your situation because Christ is the mediator. 1 Tim 2:5-6: For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. In this scripture, we see the humanity of Christ as a reminder that Jesus shares in our humanity so that we can be joined to Him and thus stand before God. In other words, there is nothing that we have been through, going through, or will go through that Christ does not understand. He’s been through pain, he’s been through tests, he’s been through rejection. He’s been lied on. He’s been falsely accused. He’s been misunderstood and judged. And He’s born all of our sins. So He understands everything that we’ve been through and because we know that He knows we can give thanks in everything!!!
Going back to the scripture text. Before we can get to the place of thanksgiving we must first rejoice. We must first be happy in our faith. We must be happy in what we believe in. Don’t nobody like no mean sour Christian. We’re supposed to be living epistles written of God for men to see. How are non-believers going to know that God is good if all we do is complain? How are they going to know that God is a healer if all we talk about is how sick we are and how we don’t feel well. “I’ve got a headache, and my back hurt.” “Child, I’m going through.” How is the non-believer going to know that God is a deliverer if we always complain about the fiery furnace and not rejoice because God brought us out of the fiery furnace? Rejoice and be glad-hearted. We must rejoice in the God of our salvation.
Phil 4:4 – rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.
Now Paul didn’t just say to rejoice one time but he said twice. Emphasizing the importance of the believer to rejoice. How important it is for us to have joy. Rejoice means to feel or show joy or delight always.
In other words, even if you don’t feel the joy you still have to show joy always. But you might ask isn’t that being fake? No, it’s not. Why, because you know the God of your salvation. You know the one who is the revealer and the mediator of your life. I may not have much to rejoice about now, but I know that God is not going to leave me nor forsake me and that He’s with me always even until the end of the earth. I know that He is the one that holds my future and that the joy of the Lord is my salvation. The joy of the Lord is my strength!!
Even in everything that we may go through we are to still have joy.
Rejoicing is a conscious attitude of contentment, hope, and happiness that comes from deliberately focusing on Christ and the eternal treasures that we have received freely from Him. In other rejoicing is a deliberate, intentional purposeful effort to show joy in spite of the circumstance. You must do it on purpose. I know that I can be angry. I can complain. I can be said. That’s easy to do, but it takes effort to rejoice. It takes work. You have to do it on purpose. When you do that it confuses the devil. It confuses your enemies.
James 1:2-4 – count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations. Various trials.
Why? Because it is the testing of our faith and our experiences that produces endurance and it leads us to spiritual maturity and inner peace and patience.
Phil 4:6 – Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving continue to make your request known to God.
We’re not supposed to fret or have any anxiety about anything that we go through, but we’re supposed to pray about everything and give thanks for it. Why? Because we say this verse all the time tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope makes us not ashamed because of the love of God.
Romans 5:1-5 (amplified version) Therefore, since we are justified ([a]acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us [grasp the fact that we] have [the peace of reconciliation to hold and to [b]enjoy] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). 2 Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God’s favor) in which we [firmly and safely] stand. And let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God. 3 Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. 4 And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of [c]character (approved faith and [d]tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] [e]joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. 5 Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.
It’s dangerous to be unthankful. Being unthankful leads one to constantly murmur and complain. When you’re unthankful you’re never satisfied with what you have. You’re always wanting more. Now there’s nothing with wanting more in life or wanting better in life, but in the pursuit of getting more or getting better always have an attitude of thankfulness for what you have. Paul said in Phil 4:11 – Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Not that he was implying that he was in any personal want because he learned to be content and satisfied to the point where he was not disturbed or disquieted whatever state he was in. In other words, we have to learn to be happy, content, and thankful in whatever our situations or status in life may be. We must learn to be just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. Because happiness is not found in what you have or don’t have. It’s found in the One who has you and makes you who you are.
Look at the children of Israel. God delivered them out of 400 years of slavery and oppression under the hands of the Egyptians with the promise to bring them into Canaan, but yet they still found room to murmur and complain and be unthankful. God sent 10 plagues on the land of Egypt, but Israel was protected in Goshen.
- water turning to blood,
- frogs,
- lice,
- flies,
- livestock pestilence,
- boils,
- hail,
- locusts,
- darkness and
- the killing of firstborn children
All of this was happening but right down the block in Goshen God was protecting His children. You would think that seeing that they would be forever grateful, but no. God conquered their enemy in the red sea and led them through the wilderness as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, but yet they were not thankful. We’re tired of this manna from heaven we want meat. We want to go back to Egypt where we had leeks, garlic, and onions. Look at what it says in Numbers 11. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2011&version=NIV
When the people complained, it displeased the Lord and the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burnt among them….
Yet still, the people complained remembering how they were able to freely get fish and cucumber and garlic leeks and onions in Egypt. The same Egypt where they were oppressed and enslaved….where they were crying give us free…..now they remember if fondly….they want to go back….unthankful
Look at how God deals with them…in verses 18-20….we know the story of how God sent quail. So much that they had to eat it…it was so much that it was coming out of their ears…until they were vomiting it up…..because they had rejected the Lord and were complaining why did we ever leave Egypt. You be careful what you ask for because you just might get it and it may turn out to be a hindrance to you. Be content be thankful for what you have knowing that the Lord gave it to you. Be thankful
Women of Purpose & Destiny 