Always and for all times

This blog post was inspired by my reading of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 this morning. These three short verses have a lot of instruction for us as Christians.  They’re short but packed with power.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ESV):  Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Rejoice always.  Paul didn’t say rejoice when you feel like it, or only when everything’s going well.  “Always” means all the time. The thesaurus in the Microsoft Word software I’m typing this with (Word 2010) lists adverbs for “always” as continuously, continually, constantly, at all times, or for all time.  It means rejoice when things aren’t going well, or when a loved one is sick or has died.  It means rejoice when you’re going through a relationship breakup, or when you’re estranged from your children or other family members.  It means rejoice when your financial situation is going south, either from job loss or other circumstances.  I know from personal experience that it’s really hard to rejoice when you’re in physical or emotional pain, but we’re told to do it, so we need to suck it up and rejoice. Rejoicing in the midst of pain takes our minds off of ourselves and our problems and turns them to God, our Father and our Comforter. For a good primer on rejoicing in the midst of pain, listen to the lyrics of the song “Praise You in This Storm” by Casting Crowns.  If you’re really down and can’t think about a single thing to rejoice about, you can always rejoice that God saved you that and Jesus died on the Cross to save you from your sins. That should be enough right there to lift your spirits.

Pray without ceasing.  Again, Paul didn’t say to pray when you feel like it, or when there’s a major crisis in your life and you need to be rescued.  “Without ceasing” means all the time, just like “always” means all the time.  A friend of mine has a keychain with a little tag on it that reads, "Pray."  That's a good reminder. You may ask, “Pray even when I’m in the bathroom?” Sure - what a perfect place to pray!  The bathroom door is shut and you have privacy – I hope. LOL!  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone into the bathroom stall at work, shut the door, and started praying for work situations that are going awry.  Praying without ceasing keeps the line of communication going between you and God.  Sure, God knows what you’re going to say before you say it, and He knows what you need before you ask for it, but He wants to hear it from you anyway.  This ties into the previous verse – when you rejoice when you don’t feel like it, the praise will calm your soul and then you will be calm enough to pray.    

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  Give thanks when my heart is breaking because my spouse is leaving me?  Give thanks when my child is not living according to God’s will?  Give thanks when I’ve lost my job and my financial situation is dire and I don’t know how I’m going to get my next meal?  Yes, in all these and more, we are to give thanks to God.  Is your child giving you fits?  Thank the Lord that you do have a child – there are folks who would love to be parents but can’t.  Didn’t get the raise you were hoping for?  Be thankful you have a job – there are many that don’t.  Again, if you can’t think of what to give thanks for, you can always give thanks that God saved you and that Jesus died on the Cross to save you from your sins.

These instructions are from God Himself through Paul and this is what He wants us to do - He wants us to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances, because it’s His will in Jesus for us.  It’s hard for me to remember these things because after all, I’m human and God made me with feelings and emotions.  That’s the fleshly side of us, which rears its ugly head when we’re faced with difficulties.  But I’m going to keep reminding myself of these instructions, and hopefully, someday I’ll remember to do these things without thinking about it. 

That’s all for now!  Thanks for reading – see you next time!

Diane

8 days a week

There are those Christians who only think about Jesus one hour a week, during worship.  They do whatever they want the other 167 hours of the week.  They seldom read their Bibles, they don't pray, and they don't live the way that Jesus would have us live. Even worse are those who only attend church on Christmas or Easter, and ignore Jesus the rest of the year.

But that's not how Jesus wants us to live.  He wants us to have a relationship with Him.  To have a relationship with someone means that we spend time with them.  We talk to the other person.  We try to learn all we can about the other person so we know them more and love them even more.  We want the other person to be pleased with us.

I'm sure Jesus is grieved when Christians spend only an hour a week in His presence, when they don't read and study His Word, or when they don't spend time in prayer.  He loves them and wants to be their Friend.  He misses them when they don't spend time with Him.

Take a close look at your relationship with Jesus.  Are you as close to Him as you could be?  Do you spend time in His presence - praying to Him, reading His Word?  Do you live your life so that He would approve of it?  He wants us to live by the rules He has written in his Word.  And when we fail, (as we sometimes do), He forgives us and our relationship with Him is restored.

The Beatles once sang:  "Eight days a week is not enough to show I care."  There isn't enough earthly time to tell Jesus how much we love Him, how grateful we are that He died on the Cross for our sins and that we're saved.  However, we will have all eternity in Heaven to praise Him and show our love to Him.  I can't wait - can you?

Diane

Prayer - Part 7

Tonight's post is on James 5:13-14.

James 5:13-14 (NLT)

¹³a Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray.

When we are suffering, the best solution is always to pray to the Lord for comfort and renewal. He will forgive our sins and ease our burdens, if it is within His will.

¹³b Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.

Are you having a great day? Is everything going well in your life? Rejoice and thank the Lord for His goodness and mercy. You can sing hymns or praise songs that you know, or if none come to mind, you can always go to the Psalms for praises. Make up your own tune as you sing a Psalm!

¹⁴ Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.

When our physical body is suffering through illness, what a comfort it is to have fellow Christians pray for you. Our spirits will be healed and made whole, and our bodies may be made whole too, if it is God's will.

That's all for tonight. Thanks for reading! See you again too!

Diane

Prayer - Part 6

Here's another post on prayer. Tonight's verse is James 5:16.

16(a) Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

If our sins are not confessed, our souls grow sick, which can lead to physical sickness as well. Those who suffer from depression often have physical aches and pains as well. Hiding our misdoings can also make us anxious as to when we will be found out. When we confess our sins to each other and everything is out in the open, forgiveness can happen. Praying for those who have sinned either against us or against others is very freeing and is what our Savior wants from us. If we pray for others, they will pray for us in return.

16(b) The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

In order for your prayers to be heard by the Father, you must be righteous - that is, free from sin. We must confess our sins and have them forgiven before we pray for others. This concept connects to the first part of this verse. Once our sins have been confessed and forgiven, earnest prayer is very powerful and wonderful things can result.

In the next post, we'll go back a couple of verses and focus on James 5:13-15. Thanks for reading! See you next time!

Diane

Prayer - Part 4

I thought it was time to get back to the topic of prayer. Tonight's post is on Romans 8:26-27.

Romans 8:26-27 (NLT)
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
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²⁶ And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

When we need to pray the most, sometimes words fail us. The situation we are in may be so grave that we cannot find the words we need so that we can pray. We may be in shock and grief. But the Holy Spirit knows what we are trying to say and He will intercede for us with the Father, with words that are known only to Him. There are some that say that this verse is talking about speaking in tongues, but I disagree. The verse says that the Holy Spirit prays for us; if we were speaking in tongues, the verse would say that we would be praying in the Spirit. The "groanings that cannot be expressed in words" is the second statement that shows that it is the Holy Spirit that is praying and not us, because when you pray in tongues, there are actual words (even though you may not know what they mean) and not groanings.

²⁷ And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.

God searches our hearts to find out our true motives and feelings. He knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit is part of Him.

The Spirit "pleads our case" to the Father on our behalf (like a good attorney). The pleadings of the Spirit for us will line up with God's will for us.

That's all for tonight. Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Diane

Prayer - Part 3 - The Lord's Prayer

Tonight I'll be posting on the Lord's Prayer. I will be using the New King James Version for this post, since the wording is more traditional. The Scripture reading is Luke 11:1-4:

1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, thatone of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” 2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”

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¹ Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” ² So He said to them, “When you pray, say:

The disciples saw how fervently Jesus prayed, and they wanted to pray that way too, so they asked Jesus to teach them.

Our Father in heaven,

The Father was not just Jesus' Father, but our Father as well and Heaven is where He lives.

Hallowed be Your name.

"Hallowed" is another word for "holy." The Father's name is holy - we should treat it with reverence and awe.

Your kingdom come.

We look forward to the day when God's kingdom comes on earth to reign forever.

Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

Whatever the Father wishes to happen in heaven is done. We pray that whatever the Father wishes to happen on earth is done.

³ Give us day by day our daily bread.

We pray that the Father gives us the sustenance we need for the day, not only the food that enters our mouths, but spiritual food as well.

⁴ And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

Unless we forgive those who sin against us, God will not forgive us our sins.

And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”

We are asking the Lord not to put us in situations that would cause us to sin. We ask to be delivered from Satan's power and all the evil things he causes to happen.

Some translations add the following:

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen.

With this line, we acknowledge that the kingdom of heaven belongs to God alone, and he will reign there eternally in power and glory. "Amen" means "so be it."

Thanks for reading! I look forward to reading your comments. Have a blessed day!

Diane

Prayer - Part 2

I hope that you enjoyed reading Prayer - Part 1. Here is Part 2.

Tonight's Scripture reading is Matthew 6:5-8 (NLT).

⁵ “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. ⁶ But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

⁷ “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. ⁸ Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!

⁵ “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get.

One of the definitions of "hypocrite," per the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is " a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion." The hypocrites in this verse are praying in public to make people think they are righteous and holy. The adulation of the people watching the hypocrites pray is the only reward they will receive. Jesus is warning us here not to pray to show off before others.

⁶ But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Prayer should be a private matter between you and God. When you pray in secret, your reward is the Father' undivided attention. If you make your needs known privately to the Father, He will give you the glory in public. See the difference in reward between this and the reward of the hypocrites in verse 5?

⁷ “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.

The Lord wants us to be direct and to the point when we are petitioning Him with our needs. You do not need to say the same words over and over again.

⁸ Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!

The Lord knows everything you need. He knows your thoughts, feelings and needs before they are even expressed in words. However, the Father wants to hear from you your wants and needs.

For Prayer - Part 3, I will post my comments on the Lord's Prayer. I hope you're enjoying reading my posts. Please feel free to comment. See you next time!

Diane

Prayer - Part 1

A few years ago, I wrote some thoughts on prayer. I thought I'd share them on my blog. I hope you will find them encouraging. For each part, I will post a Scripture and then comment, verse by verse. Tonight's post is on Philippians 4:6-7.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT): ⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

We should pray about everything that concerns us, for God is not only our Father but our Friend. He cares for us. We should not worry about where our sustenance will come from, but depend on the Father to provide for us. He knows what you need before you ask for it, but He just needs confirmation that the thing or situation you are asking for is what you really want.

When you pray, always thank God for what He has already given you and for what He's done for you.

⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

After you turn over your concerns and needs to the Lord through prayer (don't forget to keep them there; that's a subject for another post), you feel such a peace and release. God's peace is much more than we can even imagine. God's peace will guard your heart and mind and keep them pure so you can live each day to the fullest in Christ Jesus.

Thanks for reading! Please comment if you feel led. See you soon!

Diane