Rejoice always, (17) pray without ceasing, (18) in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  (19) Do not quench the Spirit.  (20) Test all things; hold fast what is good.  (22) Abstain from every form of evil. (23) Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  (24) He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

The letter to the Thessalonians was written by the apostle Paul. Our verses today are in the closing chapter of the letter and are Paul‘s farewell imperatives for the faithful, telling them how to live while waiting for the second coming of Christ Jesus.  Paul gives us the key for these instructions in verse 18 where we are told that “this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”.

”Rejoice always.“  The faithful are rooted for now in this world physically but our souls and future bodies are meant for another place through Christ Jesus. This is a certain hope And this is the good news of the gospel Paul preached. Our short term goals and the grind of daily living can easily obscure this message.  Basically Paul is telling us to lift up our eyes and hearts to the unseen reality we profess to believe; the certain hope of life eternal in Christ and to rejoice always in this reality instead of the illusion of reality we live in now.

“Pray without ceasing.”  We need to have always an awareness of the presence of the Lord. This should be the context in which we operate and train ourselves to make good use of chance moments to pray. Prayer is not meant to be a last resort – we should not compartmentalize our lives but acknowledge the presence of God always. This should be our intent and we can revel in it. At the very least prayer puts what is prayed for in perspective and will bring calm, relief, surrender, acceptance and guidance. Prayer should be our first, not last, good habit.

”in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  Paul suffered much in his service of God and he learned to be content in every situation.   His contentment was not based on his circumstances but on his relationship with Christ. The apostle Paul lived as he preached and who would not want what he had;  a life lived in joy because nothing can separate us from the love of God.