Teaching at Rapha last night, we took a look at I Thessalonians 5.
Paul writing the local church there, he gave them what I call "Post-it" notes to remember. The one thing I've come to be acquainted with it the need to jot things down in order to remember them. I guess Paul must have had the same "forgetful" syndrome I suffer from. Anyway, Paul gave the good folks of Thessalonica a list to remember in the claim to be followers of Jesus.
#1 - Rejoice Always: Do what? Are you serious? I get the rejoice part. You know we're suppose to be a "happy-happy, Religiously silly, people". And it isn't the rejoice part that some have trouble with. It's the "ALWAYS" part. Do so in the good times....and maybe crank the rejoicing up a notch when the days are hard. Such activity , when we are being overwhelmed, drives away the darkness that our enemy wants to drown us in. Not saying that this rejoicing is easy when the wheels are coming off...just saying that Paul found the value of turning to God and having a little praise-fest.
#2 - Pray without ceasing. Huh? You mean on-going, continual prayer? I think maybe Paul has lost his spiritual marbles. No, not really. It is what I refer to as "Non-stop" Prayer. By this, I mean that we stay in tune to the need to pray all day...not just at specified times. I call this praying by "sentence-prayers". Short statements that I pray to God as I move through my day. When my eyes open first thing in the morning....it's "Good morning, Father---Thank you for another day...thank you for life...thank you that today i am going to see you not only in my life, but in the life of someone else...help me to carry out your kingdom plan today." Then moment, by moment, all through the day, I am throwing up these little "sentence" prayers, so that by the time my head hits the pillow...it's "In the name of Jesus I pray this...Amen"...and I will have prayed "without ceasing".
#3 - Here is a goody! Give thanks for this is the will of God. But....(isn't there always a "but?") do so in everything. In every situations we face (Hmmm...sounds like we are bouncing back to the first post it of rejoicing always) for everything in our lives...we are to give thanks. The most important part is WHO we are giving thanks to....God....our creator....the love of our souls...the one who gave us breath, and continues to do so with each beat of our heart. We are to be a thankful people. Not complainers. Not grumblers. This is so not the way the world approaches life, and it could be that by being a thankful people we may actually draw some to see what makes us different.
#4 - We are to allow the Holy Spirit complete access to our very being. After all, He has taken up residence in us (if we truly are followers of Jesus). My roll in this Holy Spirit occupation of ME, is to cooperate with Him and follow His instructions. So I don't get to pick and choose what I will and will not do. Here in is the battle isn't it? Me wanting to do what I want to do over and beyond what the Spirit is leading toward? IT sure is. It is an ongoing lesson that I must embrace daily.
#5 - Abstain from every form of evil. What falls under "every"? Why every one and thing. How evil do you have to be, to be evil? Why just a little bit. Good advice to stay away from...to not fall into and follow....to run away from anything that even hints at being evil. TO do this would mean we have to be spiritually aware of things we come in contact with. People we may meet on a daily basis. Keep our spiritually antenna's up and receiving from God as to "what do I do next" kind of mentality. Sounds like a dumb statement, but truth is "Nothing good ever came out of evil", so run and move on.
Well, there you have some of Paul's post-it notes to the good folks we read about in I Thessalonians. Still as relevant today as when Paul first stuck them on the fridge in the fellowship hall of that church. Good advice, even for us today.
God on you...
mbb
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