“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all
circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1.
Be joyful always.
That doesn’t mean that we should only be
joyful when everything is going right in our lives, or when we have a good hair
day, or when our favorite sports team wins a game. That means that even when
everything seems to be falling apart and nothing is going our way we should
still be joyful. Being joyful isn’t always easy. Sometimes it’s down right
hard. Especially if you have had a bad day and you just want to go home and curl
up in your bed under the covers. I have found though that when you keep a
joyful attitude, even when you don’t want to, you can brighten someone else’s
day. The joy that you have will spread to others around you and others that
come in contact with you.
2.
Pray Continually (Other versions say without
ceasing)
I think that praying continually is a
little easier than being joyful always. We have been taught that if you have a
problem, pray about it no matter what it is. It could be for someone’s
salvation, or healing, or something as simple as help me remember the answers
to the questions on this test. There are
sometimes though, we get so caught up in our problems, that we either forget or
choose not to pray. Maybe its not that we forget or choose not to pray, maybe
it’s that we don’t think our problem is good enough for God. But that is so not
true. God cares about every aspect of your life. Psalm 55:22 says to “Cast your cares on the
Lord” Everything that is troubling you or worrying you, God wants you to give
to Him so he can take care of it. There is nothing too big or too small for you
to pray about. Even if you think no one else cares, God does.
3.
Give Thanks in ALL Circumstances
This is a tough one. Giving thanks in all
circumstances means giving thanks even in the bad times, not just the good
ones. I recently experienced this in my own life. You see, my friend was
diagnosed last October with a form of cancer. I remember thinking, “How am I
supposed to give thanks for this when my friend could die?” Now that she has
gotten the news that she is in remission, which I am very thankful for, I can
look back and see all of the things that I can be thankful for through this. I
am thankful that God healed my friend. I am thankful that my friends and I have
grown closer to Christ, even though the way it happened wasn’t ideal. I could
go on, but I won’t. Sometimes we can’t be immediately thankful, but God is
always giving us something to be thankful for even when we least expect it.
Now,
let me tell you. I’m no saint. There are days when I am not joyful. Some days I
am downright bitter and mean. And even though I try really hard to remember to
pray, sometimes I forget or just don’t. And there are a lot of times that I
don’t give thanks and I just complain all day long. I’m sure a lot of you guys
have these problems too. But, here’s the great thing. We have a God in heaven
who loves us! He knows that sometimes things aren’t easy. He knows that sometimes we are going to mess
up. All we have to do is ask for forgiveness and we can start again with a
clean slate!
