Dear Brothers and Sisters,<\/p>\n
1 Thess 5:16-18 commands us to \u201cBe joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God\u2019s will for you in Christ Jesus.<\/em>\u00a0(NIV) How many times have you read these verses and thought to yourself, \u201cHow in the world does God expect me to do that?\u201d\u00a0 Always be joyful.\u00a0 Constantly praying.\u00a0 And the last one, give thanks in all circumstances.\u00a0 I mean really, come on.\u00a0 How does He expect us to do that?<\/p>\n Lately this seems to be a bit of a theme in my times with God.\u00a0 God says, \u201cGive thanks in ALL circumstances.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cBe joyful ALWAYS.\u201d\u00a0 How is that possible?\u00a0 The answer I believe is in how well we know God.\u00a0 Not just a theological definition of His character and what He can do, but a practical, personal, intimate knowledge of Him.\u00a0 The kind of knowledge of God that Job spoke of in Job 42 where, at the end of everything that happened to him he declared, \u201cI had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.\u201d (Job 42:5 NLV)<\/p>\n Paul tells us in Romans 5:3-5 that trials teach us patience.\u00a0 Patience produces character in our lives.\u00a0 As we see God work, it gives us hope, the confident expectation that God is going to keep His word.\u00a0 But, from there, Paul says, \u201c<\/em>And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we will know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.\u201d <\/em>Trials will produce an understanding of the love of God that we had not previously known, just like Job said.<\/p>\n Lewis Sperry Chafer in his book titled \u201cSalvation\u201d wrote; \u201cCould it be possible that God would so love an individual as to give His only Son to die for him and still love him to the extent of following him with the pleadings and drawings of His grace until He has won that soul into His own family and created him anew by the impartation of His own divine nature, and then be careless as to what becomes of the one He has thus given His all to procure?\u201d<\/p>\n How well do we really know our savior?\u00a0 I am not talking about your theological knowledge or textbook definitions. \u00a0I am talking about knowing and experiencing His love to the extent that it is something that is constantly part of your thoughts and brings joy to our hearts as we reflect upon it.\u00a0 That, I believe is what Paul\u2019s challenge was in 1 Thess 5.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s more than a challenge, he said, \u201cThis is God\u2019s will for you!\u201d\u00a0 God wants us to come to know God so well that we will be reflecting upon Him throughout the day (pray continually<\/em>), and as we do, it will bring joy to our hearts (be joyful always).<\/em>\u00a0 Then, as we face the circumstances of life, the hope that we have, that confident expectation that has been built through knowing and seeing His faithfulness, will cause us to give Him thanks for each and every circumstance that He brings into our lives!<\/p>\n So, what will help you to reflect upon Him throughout the day?\u00a0 Here\u2019s some practical ideas that I have found helpful in my own life:<\/p>\n Whatever you do, I encourage you to begin making a habit of reflecting on God, his character and his faithfulness throughout the day.\u00a0 As you do, you will find joy in life and you will become more thankful for who God is and what He does!<\/p>\n Thankful to be one of God\u2019s kids<\/p>\n David Watters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Brothers and Sisters, 1 Thess 5:16-18 commands us to \u201cBe joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God\u2019s will for you in Christ Jesus.\u00a0(NIV) How many times have you read these verses and thought to yourself, \u201cHow in the world does God expect me to do that?\u201d\u00a0 Always be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48601],"tags":[48602,448,637,406,812],"class_list":{"0":"post-645","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-dear-brothers-and-sisters","7":"tag-1-thess-517","8":"tag-ethnos360","9":"tag-new-tribes-mission","10":"tag-prayer","11":"tag-thankfulness","12":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n