We all have had mornings in which things did not go exactly the way they were supposed to go. I had one of those mornings today. Yesterday, I failed to be in my place to exercise to take care of myself. This morning, I got up, got ready, prepared myself mentally, and went downstairs to my living room to exercise. I turned on the TV to connect to my exercise app, and it happened. The television told me that my Roku device was not working. This meant that my Internet was not working.
I checked my phone and my Spectrum TV app, and (sure enough) I saw that there had been an outage reported in my area at 2:57 AM. I was disgusted. I sat down on the couch and pondered what to do. There was nothing else to do. My exercise plans this morning had been nixed.
By then, I was wide awake, so I walked to the table to begin writing my Scripture passage for the morning. I flipped through my notebook and my Bible and could not find my Scripture writing plan list! “What is going on?” I asked myself this question multiple times. As I flipped through some pages, I found a piece of paper with some thoughts I had jotted down a while ago. I was not even sure when I had done this because the paper did not have a date on it. I was immediately humbled. It is funny how God does that to us.
The notes began with I Thessalonians 5:16-18, Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Talk about getting straight to the point! I needed to be reminded of this today. There are only three things that God commands us to do in these three verses. They are not optional. They are commands—things that God is telling us to do as Christians. If we do not do these things on a daily basis, we are living in disobedience. To be honest, life would be pretty depressing as a result!
First, we need to rejoice all the time. This is found in verse 16. We all know this verse very well; we often quote it throughout our lives. We are to be joyful at all times, not just when we “feel” like it or when our circumstances are favorable. We are to find joy in everything we do each day, even when things are not going as we expect them to! To do the opposite is simply unacceptable.
Second, we are to pray nonstop. This is found in verse 17 and is so simply put that I do not know why I, or anyone else, cannot understand it. We are to be in a mindful state of prayer all the time! This does not mean we are to be constantly on our knees with her heads bowed, although we should have those times in our prayer lives. However, we need to be constantly in a state of prayer every single moment of every single day, even and especially if our Internet stops working. It may be that God is telling us that He wants to spend more time with us. We should take time to pray when we walk, when we drive to work, and when someone or something comes into our thoughts. Take a moment to pray.
Lastly, we are to thank the Lord for everything. This is found in verse 18. We all must admit that we quote this verse often enough; but do we really apply it to what is happening in our lives?
Interestingly enough, we spend most of our Christian lives seeking the will of God. This verse tells us that part of the will of God for our lives is to give thanks to God for everything. As Christians, we can become so ungrateful for all that God has given us, and we need to put this verse into practice. Instead of constantly complaining about how bad things are, we need to stop and be thankful for what we do have.
After meditating on these verses today, I must admit that I have become so used to the daily routine in my life that I often forget to stop and rejoice in all of the things that I actually have and in what I am able to do with my life. I also need to admit that I often do not spend my day in a mindful state of prayer, and I need to work on this. Finally, even though I have quoted verse 18 on a regular basis throughout my life, I really do not thank God for everything that I have and am able to do.
Instead of complaining and lamenting about my Internet not working or not being able to exercise at my regular time or do what is routinely expected, I am going to rejoice that I woke up this morning. I will rejoice in the fact that I have the freedom and ability to read my Bible and pray this morning. I will spend a little extra time this morning thanking the Lord for all of the good things He does for me!
by April Hernandez
