Reflections on Prayer

^{"Helping you grow in your intimacy with Jesus"}

Participating in God's Will

Have you ever wondered what God's will is?  Well lately I have been asking the Lord this question.  Now when I say what is God's will I am not referring too His specific will for each of our lives but what is His general will for our lives, that is the question I have been asking.  So with that said I have found many Scriptures that specifically tell us what God's general will is for our lives as believers but since this is a reflection on prayer, I'd like to share with all of you what God's will is in context of our prayer lives.  To do that let's turn our attention to the Word of God (Bible).  In 1 Thessalonians 5:16 - 18 it says, 

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus".

Here are three commands that we are to apply to our lives so that we can live in agreement with God's will.  The first thing that strikes me about this passage is it is a command to be joyful.  You know I have always thought that joy was a feeling and it comes and goes, but here it is listed as a command.  Therefore it leads me to conclude that to be joyful is a choice. The second thing that these verses lead me to conclude is that in order to be obedient to be joyful always, we are to pray continually, which is always speaking and listening to God as we go through life.  And in addition to praying continually we are to give thanks in every circumstance.  You see true joy comes from Jesus but we can only receive His true joy from doing to things.  First of all we can be joyful always by being in an intimate relationship with Him which is cultivated by praying continually. And secondly we can be joyful always by having the understanding that no matter what circumstance we face it is always, for the Lord's best in our lives even when it doesn't seem like it at the time.  

So my encouragement to all of you is from this day forward choose to be joyful always by being involved with praying continually and living with the understanding that no matter what, every circumstance is for our very best!