His Presence Changes All

"Rejoice all, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)


Rejoice always.

Pray continually.

Give thanks.


Six words. Three things to do that sound simple. But Paul puts them in this letter because they're not what we naturally do most of the time.

When life isn't going as we want, rejoicing seems impossible. It's the furthest thing from our minds. Our circumstances may even seem to be preventing us from rejoicing.

For most of us, much of the time prayer seems like a pretty daunting task. Praying continually also seems impossible. We don't even know what we would talk to God about that much.

Giving thanks. . . and Paul adds, in all circumstances. Sometimes our circumstances are far from anything we want to even try to be thankful in.

If it's so hard to do these things in our normal, every day life, then what are we to do about these words in Scripture? How do we live this?

As I've thought about this lately, I've been drawn back to Philippians 4:4-7 where Paul writes similar words:

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:4-7)

In these verses in Philippians, Paul says very similar words to what he has written in 1 Thessalonians. Paul says to rejoice always, and he encourages taking everything to God in prayer, and says to do so with thanksgiving.

I think there's one more thing Paul says clearly in Philippians that speaks to this:

The Lord is near.

These four words in the middle of these verses, I think shed light on how to live what Paul has written about in both Philippians 4:4-7 and 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

We can rejoice always because the Lord is near. No matter our circumstances, we can rejoice that we're not alone in them. God is right there with us.

We can pray continually because the Lord is near. We don't have to do anything special to get His attention or time first. We can just talk to Him as we go through our day.

We can give thanks in all circumstances because the Lord is near. We may not be thankful for the specific circumstances we find ourselves in, but we can be thankful for God's presence with us in them.

It't God's presence that changes it all. And it's our awareness of His presence with us that causes us to rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. As we do these things intentionally, our awareness of God's presence with us grows.