Monday, May 7, 2018

Rejoice, Pray, Give Thanks


First of all, I’d like to thank Erin for covering devotions for me in April as I was out.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Normally when I put the scripture in the devotion, I remove the numbers.  Today however, I wanted to leave them as I love how this breaks it out.  We are instructed to do three things here.

  1.  Rejoice always – This is not something that is always easy to do.  Rejoice means to be very happy, be delighted, exult; to feel joy (Wiktionary.org).  There are certainly times that I don’t feel like rejoicing.
  2.  Pray continually – I must admit that there are times I forget to pray over my meal, let along remember to pray continually.  Without ceasing! 
  3.   Give thanks in all circumstances.  – Giving thanks when something bad happens?  This is extremely hard! 


As many of you already know from what I’ve shared in devotions in the past, I had a miscarriage before my son was born.  Recently I was talking with my son, who is 5.  He asked me, “Mommy, is it true that if my sister would have been born, that I wouldn’t be here?”.  I told him that it was true.  His response made me smile.  He told me that he was sorry that I had to lose my baby but that he was really happy that Jesus gave me him.  It was in that moment that I realized that I need to follow the instructions here in 1 Thessalonians and remember to rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances.

Today I’d like to have you think about something that you could improve in your life if you lived by these three instructions.  Have a blessed day!

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