Philippians 4:6
"Be careful for nothing:
but in every thing by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known unto God."
Recently my Pastor spoke from Philippians about having joy. His first point was the need of having "right prayer." This verse very plainly speaks of how we are to pray. But the one thing that always stands out to me is "with thanksgiving." Perhaps this is because giving thanks is one of the things that is universally God's will - for all Christians. (I Thessalonians 5:18 - "In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.")
One thing that often is difficult for me is thanking God for the things I don't understand or like. I hear the sweet voice of my baby saying... "Thank you that you can make Nana feel better." and my heart is smitten. I must thank God IN EVERYTHING. Perhaps some of you do not struggle with this, but at times - I do; and this is why God has been dealing with me (and maybe others, too) about thankfulness and having joy.
My Pastor went on to say that we must have "right thinking" (Philippians 4:8) and "right living" (4:9) in order to have the Joy of the Lord in our lives. We must ponder on things that are true and honest and lovely and pure... and we must DO the things we have learned, received, heard and seen - in the lives of those who have served God (here it is Paul) with their whole being.
The book of Philippians has been called the Book of Joy - though it was written from prison... surely I can be thankful and have joy, too! And I thank Him for these lessons... God is only good, no matter what!
2 comments:
Good post! Aaron just preached something similar on rejoicing always.
Have a good day!
We would love for you to come visit. I wish that we had room in our house for you to stay or that our church had a place. We are working on getting a place for people to stay set up in the church. The room is there; it is just not completed. We understand the 3 under 5 thing. We were that way with 3 under 5 and then 4 under 6. I don't know anybody in the church well enough yet to ask them, but maybe by summer time I will.
Post a Comment