Always rejoice, constantly pray, in everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. [1 Thessalonians 5:16-18]
If we’re really honest, most of us spend years of our life wrestling with the question, “What’s God’s will for my life?” And while I’m not trying to minimize the importance of us understanding who God has designed us to be and how that aligns with the plans He has for us, too often we miss the places in scripture where God really spells it out.
It is God’s will for your life to rejoice, pray, and give thanks.
It doesn’t get simpler than that.
How many hours, days, weeks, months, or years have you belabored over what major you should study in college, what career path or industry you should pursue, who you should marry, and other major life decisions? Sometimes I think we are so desperate to know God’s will for a specific circumstance, we miss the really big and really simple things He would rather us focus on.
Always rejoice. Constantly pray. In everything give thanks.
That is God’s will for your life! And how many hours, days, weeks, months, or years do you think we’ve belabored over those things? Am I continuously thinking about and being intentional about rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks?
Hardly.
This Thursday, about 300 million people will “give thanks” for food, family, friends, health, and stuff. But what if you and I were different? What if we decided Thursday wasn’t going to be different than any other day of the year?
What would it look like for us to always rejoice, constantly pray, and in all circumstances give thanks– not just on our National Turkey Day?
Now I know a lot of us are hurting. We are in difficult seasons of life: parents divorcing, loved ones dying, broken relationships, unemployment, heart break, feelings of pain, grief, loneliness, and exhaustion all around. But what would happen if we chose to rejoice, chose to pray, chose to give thanks amidst the tragedy? Is it even possible?
We aren’t thanking God for the heart break. We aren’t thanking Him for death, for tragedy, or for loss. We thank Him because His promises never fail. We rejoice because we know He will never leave us. We praise Him because He is our only hope, our only Savior, our only deliverance. We give thanks because we know that in the end He has the last word. We chose joy because He chose us, just as we are, to love us and adopt us as His children.
How desperate are you to know God’s will for your life? How serious are you about walking in obedience in His will?
May I suggest we start with the simple–yet extremely complex–command in Thessalonians 5?
