TOPIC: THANKSGIVING IS GOD’S WILL
Bible Reading: Isaiah 63-64, 2 Thessalonians 1
“Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (KJV)
Prayer is a key essential in your walk with God. Prayer is to the spirit of a man what breathing is to body of a man. When we stop breathing, we start dying and it is the same spiritually when we stop praying. So our text encourages us to pray without ceasing.
According to our text, the way to stay constantly in prayer is by maintaining the attitude of joy and thanksgiving. Someone correctly said that we don’t end prayer. But then it doesn’t mean we are always praying because prayer should be more than an event and should be a life.
Joy is a spiritual force that is deposited in the heart of every believer at new birth. This is known as the joy of salvation (Psalm 51:12). This is the joy that comes from knowing that your sins have been forgiven and you are made right with God. After receiving it at new birth, it is your responsibility to stir it up through faith. When joy is stirred and given motion it is called ‘rejoicing.’
The bible warns us not be like the Israelites who always murmured rather than being thankful. 1 Corinthians 10:10 (KJV) says, “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.” Stay thankful instead of complaining because our text says, “in everything GIVE THANKS; for this is THE WILL OF GOD in Christ Jesus for you.”
The will of God is more than just being in the right community, job or place; it is actually being thankful for where you are. If you are in a situation and you don’t seem to know what the will of God is in that particular situation or season, you can start out with thanksgiving because that is how you locate yourself in the will of God. Once you are in the will of God by giving God thanks; every other detail will start falling into place.
As long as you are thanking God, you are in the will of God so always respond to the goodness of God with thanksgiving, praise and worship in the name of Jesus.
Prayer: Thank You Father for filling my life with Your goodness and grace.
Pastor Alfred Samuel