Paul sometimes wrote in a rather difficult style that can be hard to understand, but he didn’t write like this all the time.
Take the end of his first epistle to the Thessalonians for example.
Rejoice evermore.
That by any definition is a simple piece of writing.
Be cheerful or calmly happy at all times, or literally “every when”.
That is easy to understand but not so easy to implement, but my friends it can be done.
You see the act of rejoicing is a choice and it is not dependant upon our circumstances.
Paul was a man who acted out this verse, yet he was a man who was under extreme persecution and pressure.
In the depths of prison Paul chose to rejoice and sing praises to God (Acts 16 v 25).
In a storm at sea Paul chose to be of good cheer (Acts 27 v 22 and 25)
If Paul could live out his verse then we can.
What a lot of us do not realise is that we can control our emotions; most of us let the opposite happen and allow our emotions to control us.
No my friends, no matter what is going on in our lives we can CHOOSE to be calmly happy and cheerful.
If Paul could do it with his “light afflictions” I would suggest that we could do the same with our even lighter ones.
My friends, storms, affliction, temptations and trials will come our way, but even through these we can make a choice to be cheerful and calmly happy.
If this were not so God would have been cruel and unfair to put it in His Word.
God is not cruel and unfair, so we all can choose to rejoice at all times and under all circumstances.
Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that I can choose to rejoice, and thank you Father that I do that right now”.
1 Thessalonians 5 v 16…..Rejoice evermore
Heilan Word Ministries 