Rejoice, Pray, And Give Thanks

"Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances; For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

 I truly love this Bible verse because it really gives us an idea of what God is wanting from us. It shows us what His will for our lives looks like and, if you do these that He is asking, you are going to see a new life come to pass right in front of your eyes. So what do we have to do to get there? Well, let's start with the first point;
 "Rejoice always."
 Now, what do you think that this means? It doesn't mean being happy every once in a while. It doesn't mean having a good attitude when things are going good. But see that word there? The second word of the two. "Always." Now, when God is asking us to "rejoice always," He is simply just saying, "remember what I have given you." Be thankful for the things that God has blessed you with! Rather than looking around at what others have that you don't or looking at what you don't have rather than do, that is not what God's will for you is! He wants you to rejoice in and enjoy these things that He has blessed you with.
 "Pray continually."
 "Now, why do I have to pray continually? Isn't prayer when I am asking God for something?" If that's what you are thinking, well, I am sorry to say my friend that you are mistaken. You see, prayer is so often mistaken for a tool that we use when we want to ask God for something, but it is really so much more. Yes, we can use prayer to ask God for things, but it is also a communication device. It is our way of having a conversation with God. It is there so we are able to say, not only "God, if it be your will, could you....." but also "God, thank you for....." See, prayer is the way that we talk to, ask, and thank God, and He wants us to keep doing so.
 "Give thanks in all circumstances."
 Now this one, this one is definitely important. See here, when we thank God, it is usually when something good is going on in our lives. It is usually when a miracle just happened, when an unexpected blessing arose, or just when something good happened. But what about the bad times? We don't find ourselves thanking God much there do we? But here's what He is asking us to do. He is asking us to, rather than fixing our eyes on the bad situation, fixing our eyes on Him, and, even though we are going through a tough time, look at all the blessings around you, and thank God for those.
 If you take these steps today, you are going to start seeing a new life come to pass for you. A life that is so much greater than you could have ever imagined.