Rejoice ever more. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Thoughts on Today’s Verse…
From this verse, we can see God hopes we can rejoice always, pray to God in all thing, and give thanks in everything arranged by God. However, whenever we faced setbacks or failure in real life, we couldn’t help but be sad and depressed and were unable to rejoice. For example, in order to be looked up to by others, a sister often worked overtime to make money. She put her money into the business in the hope of making more money. However, she failed and even lost the seed money. She was often distressed about that: “Why do I work so hard but get nothing? How should I get rid of this life?” Later, one of her friends, a Christian, shared God’s words with her: “There is a simplest way to free oneself from this state: to bid farewell to one’s former way of living, to say goodbye to one’s previous goals in life, to summarize and analyze one’s previous lifestyle, philosophy, pursuits, desires, and ideals, and then to compare them with God’s will and demands for man, and see whether any of them is consistent with God’s will and demands, whether any of them delivers the right values of life, leads one to a greater understanding of the truth, and allows one to live with humanity and human likeness. … After you recognize this, your task is to lay aside your old view of life, stay far from various traps, let God take charge of your life and make arrangements for you, try only to submit to God’s orchestrations and guidance, to have no choice, and to become a person who worships God.”
After reading God’s words, she came to understand that the reason why she was living in pain was that she had a wrong viewpoint toward pursuit—which was instilled by Satan—seeking to tower above others and be looked up to by others. Think of Adam and Eve who originally dwelt in the beautiful Garden of Eden. They hadn’t been corrupted by Satan and did not pursue to be looked up to by others, so they did not have grief or troubles. God took very good care of them. However, since man was corrupted by Satan, man has been living by various life views instilled by Satan and thus lost God’s leading and blessings, living in Satan’s affliction. If we want to set aside those wrong intentions and viewpoints of pursuit and no longer be bound and controlled by Satan, we need to bid farewell to our former way of living, live by God’s words, learn to obey His sovereignty and arrangements, often come before God to get close to Him and worship Him. Then we will have true peace and joy and can feel God’s love for man. Later, she reversed her own mistaken perspectives and practiced according to God’s words and allowed His words to lead her daily life. Meanwhile, she would often entrust all her difficulties to God, and read His words and have gatherings with brothers and sisters in her spare time. In this way, she had more time to draw near to God. When encountering difficulty, she would pray unceasingly in her heart and learn to rely on God to do things. Gradually she felt free and released at work, and had true peace and joy in her heart. She was really grateful for God’s love and salvation.
You are welcome to use our Bible Verse of the Day to enrich your spiritual life.
Today’s Verse Illustrated