Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to appreciate those who diligently work among you [recognize, acknowledge, and respect your leaders], who are in charge over you in the Lord and who give you instruction, and [we ask that you appreciate them and] hold them in the highest esteem in love because of their work [on your behalf]. Live in peace with one another. We [earnestly] urge you, believers, admonish those who are out of line [the undisciplined, the unruly, the disorderly], encourage the timid [who lack spiritual courage], help the [spiritually] weak, be very patient with everyone [always controlling your temper]. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek that which is good for one another and for all people. Rejoice always and delight in your faith; be unceasing and persistent in prayer; in every situation [no matter what the circumstances] be thankful and continually give thanks to God; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench [subdue, or be unresponsive to the working and guidance of] the [Holy] Spirit. Do not scorn or reject gifts of prophecy or prophecies [spoken revelations—words of instruction or exhortation or warning]. But test all things carefully [so you can recognize what is good]. Hold firmly to that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil [withdraw and keep away from it]. I Thessalonians 5:12-22 AMP
I know it’s a big chunk of scripture to kick off this party – really because it’s the Amplified version – but trust me, it’s worth celebrating. I found it and want everyone to know – I found out what the will of God is for your life! I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people state that they were waiting for that answer… Okay, so I was also one of those people. But I Thessalonians 5:12-22 is where it’s at! But I want to zero in on my favorite part for today’s post:
Rejoice always and delight in your faith; be unceasing and persistent in prayer; in every situation [no matter what the circumstances] be thankful and continually give thanks to God; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. I Thessalonians 5:16-18 AMP
That part – in every situation [no matter what the circumstances] – oh boy.
A few weeks ago, I found myself in the church parking lot with a van that wouldn’t start. Ugh! I hate having car problems. It’s that sinking feeling that your bank account won’t be able to handle what’s coming. I knew I wasn’t stranded, but I found that my frustration was almost through the roof. I love my previously owned vehicle. I love that buying it was a God-thing and that it has been a blessing that we couldn’t have even fathomed. It was able to accommodate all 6 of us plus our 2 bonus kiddos when we had them in our care. God knew we would need the van before we knew we would need the van.
But now it wouldn’t start. And according to this passage of scripture, I was supposed to be thankful and continually give thanks to God for it.
In the 2-hour span of time that I sat there in the church parking lot – our daughter was there for youth group – I battled the thoughts of negativity. Everything about the day had been normal and good, but then 1 bad thing happened, and I seemed to only be able to focus on that.
I’m usually a glass-half-full kind of person, and when I’m not feeling that much gratitude, I try to at least focus on the blessing of having a glass, but I was struggling. I was definitely not giving thanks and I was allowing the negative thoughts to seep in.
I Thessalonians 5:16-18 shows me that God is an optimist, and we were made in His image. I often lose sight of that, do you? I wasn’t spending time thinking of how God orchestrated our buying the van at a screaming deal, that we would be the only people to show up to potentially buy it when there had been other people who had arranged to meet with the seller first, that it would have the additional seat to meet the needs of opening our home to 2 teenagers, and that it would be a blessing to other family members when the need would arise. I was not being a very good image-bearer while stuck in the church parking lot.
That part – in every situation [no matter what the circumstances] – is possible.
I love reading the same passage in the many different translations. Some are filled with words like thus, thou, and henceforth while others might have the nickname of the not inspired version. No matter what people say about what version is superior to others or not, God promises that His Word will not return to Him void (Isaiah 55:11). I had read the passage from multiple translations, but it hit me differently when I read it in the Amplified version. God knows we weren’t formed in cookie-cutters, so perhaps that’s why we have so many versions of the Bible. To help us understand that part.
Rejoice always and delight in your faith… other versions express that we should be joyful always, but the Amplified version explains what there is to be joyful about: faith.
There is no other faith like what we have. Think about what we have to delight in when it comes to our faith. I can sum it up in 3 words: It is finished (John 19:30).
That part – in every situation [no matter what the circumstances] – is possible because it is finished.
There is no more striving to be good enough, give enough, or do enough. It is finished.
My van losing the will to start (yep, it was the starter) revealed something in me that I wasn’t fully aware of before – and I really don’t like it. While I recognize that I was made worthy, accepted, whole, clean, new – all the words that describe being saved by grace through faith because Jesus took my punishment on Himself – I was not delighting in it. I had allowed myself to get so distracted by the nuances of the thus, thou, and henceforth stuff that I missed simply delighting in my faith.
When did I last marvel at the miracle of my salvation? When did you? God makes the impossible – the in every situation [no matter what the circumstances] – possible (Mark 10:27).
As I dig in to rediscovering the delightfulness of my faith, I hope that you’ll take some time to remember the it is finished. When we focus on that, we’ll find that it’s pretty easy to be living in God’s will for our lives – rejoicing and delighting in our faith and continually giving thanks to God in every situation [no matter what the circumstances].