How do you maintain an attitude of thankfulness?
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil (1 Thessalonians 5: 16-22).
Changing your Focus
Paul was saying in light of your overwhelming circumstances, make a choice in this moment and in every moment after that about how you will live.
Thankfulness is a choice we make every single day.
Unfortunately, even as God’s people we tend to be focused on how everything affects me and fail to see God’s bigger picture. Only when we understand who God is, His sovereignty, His goodness, His power and His grace and His plan can we have a deep sense of security, stability, life, hope, peace and purpose in everything we face.
When we intentionally look to God and trust that He is doing something in the middle of this mess, then we can be thankful.
Giving thanks in everything literally means in “everything” - in the good, the bad, the happy times, in times of suffering.
It is only those who are in communion with the living God, who understand the depth of their own depravity and abundance of God’s grace that understand the power of thankfulness. Only those who continually delight in God’s grace will be joyful and able to rejoice and those who delight in what His grace has accomplished for us and has freely given us will to be thankful.
Even while Jesus was enduring intense agony, greater than we could ever imagine, on the cross, He had joy.
He had an intense satisfaction in knowing He accomplished the will of His Father.
His sacrificial death made eternal life and peace with God possible for millions upon millions of people who would place their faith in Him.
“His focus was on God’s eternal purpose, on the big picture.”
How did the church in Thessalonica make it? How did they maintain their joy, a consistent attitude of prayer, and thankfulness? By changing their focus from the circumstances to focusing on Christ their Redeemer.
Choosing your Source
Paul said,
“Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances” (1 Thessalonians 5:19-20).
This word quench means “to put out a fire.” A Spirit-filled life is a grace-filled life and a grace-filled life results in thanksgiving.
Our disparaging attitudes and actions, unconfessed sin, our disobedience to the Word and refusal to repent, extinguish the influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and reveal to yourself and the people around you what source you are drawing your life from. Who or what controls you?
Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace (Romans 8:5-6 NLT).
Only through the presence of the Holy Spirit can we be assured of God’s love for us, that He is at work in every situation and truly working things out for our good and for His glory (Romans 8:28).
Is thankfulness the first words we speak when things in life have spiraled out of control? In times of shock from tragedies and loss?
Without the Spirit’s power, we would have no hope beyond what we can see in front of us.
Yet even in those situations we can thank God for His personal presence, thank Him that every day is not like this one, to choose to look up at the stars instead of down at the mud.
“There is power in changing our focus and choosing Christ and His grace as our source. ”
Paul said in vs 19, Don’t despise prophetic utterances. What does this mean? It means, “Do not neglect to hear and come under the instruction of God’s Word.”
Checking our hearts
The Church in Thessalonica had received God’s word with joy, they had turned away from things in their lives to serve the living God. Their faith in God became known everywhere and they were living to please God. But even though everything was going well with respect to their relationship to the Lord, they needed to be vigilant.
Paul said:
But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22).
Paul said “to continue to examine everything carefully” - put everything to the test. The word test comes from the classical Greek word = Dokimazo. This described the testing of precious metals (especially gold or silver coins), usually by fire, to prove whether they were authentic or counterfeit.
Paul was exhorting them to test every teaching, every philosophy, every action, every thought against the purity of God’s Word (your own and others).
Paul said hold onto that which is good and true and keep far away from any form of evil. Evil never changes its essence, (it is always malignant) but it comes in many forms. The devil will tailor evil to appeal to your weakness, in order to catch you off guard, damage your testimony, and ultimately knock you out of the race.
In Ephesians 5:10 we need to test our own lives against the Word of God. Is the way I’m living, thinking, acting pleasing to God, is it according to what His Word says? Will it cause someone else to stumble, will I be ashamed of a certain lifestyle, behavior, or decisions made when Christ brings it to light?
Checking our own hearts is key - that way we don’t bring shame to the name of Christ.
We need to change our focus, choose our source and check our hearts, everyday. Let’s put the 8 imperatives into practice:
rejoice,
pray,
give thanks,
do not quench the Spirit,
do neglect the hearing and instruction of the Word,
examine everything,
hold fast to the good,
and abstain from evil.
There is power in thankfulness. Rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in everything.
