1 Thessalonians 5:18. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Oh friends, it’s a glorious Monday morning; a new day of a new week, and we’re all alive and kicking, so please, in gratitude for such blessing, let’s do as the psalmist decreed so long ago nuh! ‘Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.’ (Ps. 150:6) Yes my people, everything and everyone that draws the living breath of the Lord this morning ought to shout ‘Hallelujah! Praise the Lord for His goodness to His creations!’ For there’s none like Him, and will never be any other deity with His LOVE and compassion! That’s the indisputable truth!
And on a lesser level now, you’ll be proud of the ole fella, for remember last Monday I promised to improve my game, to do more of the things I wanted to do? Well, I did! Still not as much as I would have ideally liked to do, because I was somewhat under the weather with allergies and a cough giving me a hard time. But I did do more than I’ve been doing in the last li’l while! Give the Lord some praise for that! (smile)
Oh precious people, we can never go wrong by giving thanks to God. That’s one place where we are always on solid ground. As Bruh Paul said to the Colossians: ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus; giving thanks to God and the Father by him.’ (Col. 3:16-17)
And here are some interesting explanations on those verses from the scholars. ‘3:16. When believers are forbearing, forgiving (vs. 13), and LOVING (vs.14), toward one another, when peace reigns among God’s people (vs. 15), then the church is fertile soil for the blessings produced by the word of Christ.’ Now is that the current state of our church, would we say it’s fertile soil? I would say, certainly not! And per ‘3:17. The beneficial influence produced by the indwelling word of Christ is not only to affect public and private worship (vs. 16), but is also to control ALL areas of a Christian’s life.’
Yeh friends, in giving our ALL to Christ, we allow Him…or are supposed to allow Him to control all aspects of our lives. Unfortunately though, many of us don’t give up total control to Christ, but we still want and expect to get the total blessings that come with His control. We can’t live like that my brethren. All we are doing is shortchanging ourselves when we promise to give all, but then withhold some, for we’ll never get the full benefit of Christ’s goodness under those circumstances.
And I’m chuckling here, because I had not intended to preach, (smile) but just to give us some good tidings re giving thanks. And I see no reason to not continue down that path. Our next section of thanks comes from Bruh Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonians, where he sincerely admonishes them…and us, to ’Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.’ (1 Thess. 5:16-18)
It could not get any plainer than that my fellow saints in Christ. God’s will is for us to rejoice and pray and give thanks through Christ! What an awesome privilege and benefit! And the scholars explain it thus: ‘5:18. In every event or circumstance (thing) the Christian is to give thanks to God for the good He can bring out of the event, even should the event be unpleasant. The constant attitude of prayer, mentioned in verse 17, will help the believer to maintain gratitude in the face of adversity.’
Now that brings us back to the famous verse we all know: ‘And we know that all things work together for good to them that LOVE God; to them who are the called according to his purpose.’ (Rom. 8:28) So, if we are well looked after in every circumstance, on every front, by an omnipotent and generous God, how can we not be thankful and live the way He desires of us eh? But the truth is that we have been ungrateful and disobedient and consequently have gotten ourselves in serious trouble, and since He is the only One who can relieve our discomfort, we need to go back to Him with thanksgiving and prayer as Bruh Paul advised.
And to show our new wisdom and understanding, let’s go to Him right now with our Monday Morning Battle Hymn, sincerely laying all our fears and problems at His feet. As one strong voice: ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, we, Your humble servants, praise Your Holy Name and thank You this Monday morning for life and strong faith in Christ, despite the mass confusion in our world. We desperately need Your divine help, for You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems.
Heavenly Father, we admit that we have all sinned and seriously disobeyed Your Word, but we know that You are a merciful, forgiving and gracious God, who has faithfully promised to hear and answer our prayers when we humble ourselves, pray, and sincerely seek Your face. That’s why we come to You now, with sincere repentance in our hearts, pleading with You to give us wise guidance and direction to alleviate our problems.
And Father, we pray that you will ease the pain of the many who are suffering from negative situations. Please show them Your awesome grace and mercy, and keep Your promise that You’ll hear our prayer, forgive us, and heal our land if we turn from our evil ways. Show this evil world that You are indeed Jehovah Rapha; the God who heals! We pray this in the holy and blessed name of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen! And again, we say: Amen!’
Now, unless the Lord sees sincere repentance in our future behaviour, He will not answer our request positively. So it’s obvious that we need to do much better that we’re currently doing. Much LOVE!
…let him who has ears to hear…hear…
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