Rejoice, Pray, and Give Thanks!

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

by Alexandra Copeland

1Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NKJV) tells us, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” There are many Christians who believe that a person can never know God’s Will, but God’s Word IS His Will, and 1Thessalonians 5:16-18 very plainly lays it out for us. This verse is very simple and easy to understand, but we cannot make the mistake of dismissing the huge punch it packs on a spiritual level. God created us, and He designed all aspects of our beings to work in conjunction with His Word to produce for us a life that pleases Him and fulfills us on the deepest level as well. If we break this verse down, we’ll see this very simply.

First, God tells us to rejoice always. When you look at all the things that are happening in our world today, rejoicing may seem a bit out of place, but this is the commandment of the Lord. To rejoice is to delight in something. It is a total game changer in terms of temperament and attitude. God isn’t telling us to put on a happy face 24/7; He’s not telling us to laugh when people are hurting and when tragedy has taken place. He’s letting us know that we can change our internal workings in such a way that joy becomes the habit pattern rather than always gravitating towards negative emotions. Sure, we can easily choose to be bummed out by what we see taking place around us, but there’s a price to pay for this. Buying into the negative perpetuates it, and it keeps us from being our best for God.

God also tells us in 1Thessalonians 5:17 to pray without ceasing. Again, the discipline here isn’t to pray all day, every day, because none of us would get very much done if that were the case. God is instructing us to shift our focus so that our go-to response in all seasons, in every instance, is prayer. If you see someone on the side of the highway with car trouble, pray for them. If you hear about someone in emotional distress, pray for them. If you personally encounter a problematic situation in your life, your first inclination should be to pray. 

These are things that do not come automatically. For many of us rejoicing and praying often isn’t something we do nearly as much as we ought. If our desire is to be in the Will of God, this has to change. We don’t have to be fake and pretend to be happy when we’re not. Some of us may feel that in order to put a good face forward for the Kingdom, we have to smile on the outside even though we feel sad on the inside. This violates our integrity and others can tell when our joy isn’t real. 

Way down deep is where our spirit and soul reside. This is the place where our destinies are formed. We live from the inside out, not the outside in. It’s in that deep place of our cores that a transformation from sadness to joy must take place. It’s in that deep place that our hearts are changed as we desire more of God in our lives. 

Proverbs 4:23 (KJV) tells us, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” To keep is to guard and keep watch over. God would not tell us to do this if it were not possible to accomplish. He’s given us the responsibility to be diligent about what goes into our hearts and what comes out of them. So we do not have to be emotionally all over the place. We can be stable. We can pull our feelings and emotions from an internal reservoir that is well nourished and running over with God’s good stuff. 

To get to this place in our walks in Christ, a place where we are genuinely expressing and experiencing the joy of the Lord, He must be our focus 24/7. This is absolutely available for us to do. We can spend our every waking moment with the intention of pleasing God as our goal. It doesn’t happen all of a sudden. We’ve spent years concentrating our efforts on pleasing ourselves and pleasing others. We have developed ways of thinking, speaking, and behaving that are contrary to the purposes of God. Our new birth reality presents us with a commitment and privilege to relinquish the lordship of our lives over to Jesus Christ. He becomes the head. We then follow his direction and change course. 

We should do this because this is God’s heart. Heavenly Father knows what is best for us. He has a purpose and a destiny for us all, and we should make it a priority to attune our every effort to seeking Him first. This is how we begin to find out what He has in store. This is how His love becomes deeply embedded in our hearts; by putting Him first in all that we do. Our way and the world’s way will not cut it. We are spiritual beings made in the image of our Heavenly Father. It is impossible to tap into spiritual treasures using the accoutrement of the flesh. In other words, we can’t get to where God desires us to be by using the same old habits we used before the Lord came into our lives.

The Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 5:16(NLT), “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” The Spirit is deep within. He knows who we are and he receives instructions from Jesus Christ on how to guide us into the very best situations and circumstances. Jesus Christ knows our weaknesses. He knows those things that keep us from focusing on God. He knows the fear and doubt that keeps our blessings at bay; and he knows what it will take for us to transform into the people we need to be. 

God warned us in Romans 12:2 that we should not be conformed to this world. He tells us to put off those old dead ways and to be transformed by renewing our minds to the example of Christ! You and I have a responsibility to stop reacting to what the world is doing. We need to resist all the distractions that the enemy concocts in order to steal our focus away from God. Instead of reacting to this or that in ways that communicate fear and doubt, God has commanded us to build habit patterns that respond to His goodness with the praise, glory, and honor that He deserves. This is part of what 1Thessalonians 5:16-18 is communicating to us. 

The final clause in God’s command is to give thanks always. This is more than the icing on the cake or the cherry on top. I would argue that it is probably the most impactful in terms of our spiritual elevations and promotions in Christ. Ingratitude is not only a blessing blocker, it is such an offense to the goodness of God. It is a mindset that refuses to acknowledge what He has done in us, and for us, through our blessed and powerful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Thankfulness is spun from a deep well of gratitude. A heart that is filled with thankfulness anchors our prayer lives and helps us to draw near to Heavenly Father. It keeps us plugged into the reality of all that God has done and is doing to keep us alive and thriving in this earthly realm. All it would take is one small unraveling thread, and the fabric that represents all the different aspects of our existences would come apart so easily. God is the glue. He holds our todays, tomorrows, and our futures. We owe everything to Him. There must be an awareness of this continually; so much so that everything we do should be engulfed in thankfulness to Heavenly Father. 

1Thessalonians 5:16-18 teaches us that there must be an attitude switch, frequent spiritual communication, and a response of unending gratitude in order to move ourselves into the Will of God for our lives. Committing to these produce a change in us at the very core of our beings. It also positions us for wonderful opportunities to not only receive a blessing, but to be a blessing to others. This is God’s Will for our lives, and it is the greatest privilege to walk it out each and every day. ■

 

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.