We will be looking at those three
phrases at the end of 1 Thessalonians 5. He gives these exhortations and
it's just very interesting how challenging the Word of God is,
isn't it? The question before us is, when we read these words, Rejoice
evermore, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Rejoice evermore, pray without
ceasing, in everything give thanks. The question for us, isn't it,
is What do we rejoice over? What is the cause of our rejoicing? What does the Lord do to bring
us to pray to Him without ceasing, to pray regularly, to pray in
all sorts of circumstances, to pray with expectation, to pray
with a sense of wonder and awe at our God? who calls upon his
people to pray and then promises to give us the answer to our
prayers, because he knows what we need before we ask him. The one that's before us tonight
is in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. And I stand before you as someone
who finds these words a serious rebuke in so many ways. I remember one of the most memorable
talks that we heard in the school in India that I was at was by
a lady called Gladys Staines. You might recall that about 15
years ago her husband who had been a missionary in Eastern India for a long, long
time. He and his two sons, who were students at the school we
were at, went to a camp, a Christian gathering, and the Hindu people
who were offended at the Gospel came there with petrol and those
trident forks they have. You see them all over the place.
I hate them because of what these people did. But they brought
petrol and they waited until Graham and the two boys were
in the and they were sleeping in the back of their jeep and
then they came with this gang of them and their tridents and
they poured petrol all over them and the car and then set it alight
and then stood outside with their tridents to make sure that they
couldn't get out and then the three of them were burnt to death. It's a graphic picture because
when they came to removed their bodies was the body of Graham
over his two sons trying to protect them from the flames. Gladys
came to school. One of the boys was in, would
have been in Jennifer's class at school. But she came and she
gave a talk to an assembly at school one day and she spoke
out of this psalm. I'll read it to you, Psalm 100.
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness,
come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord,
he is God, it is he that has made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people, the sheep
of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him, and bless
his name. For the Lord is good, and his
mercy everlasting, and his truth endureth to all generations. As you can imagine, it was a
heartfelt message, but what an amazing thing to say. So often
our thankfulness and our rejoicing is directly linked in our lives
to the temporal blessings that we have, that throughout the
Psalms and throughout the Scriptures God's people are called upon
to be thankful in the most extraordinary situations. These Thessalonians
were to be thankful even though They were afflicted, and the
afflictions that they had were severe afflictions. And the afflictions
that they had, Paul tells them in chapter 3 verse 3, they were
afflictions that were appointed unto them by God. Just because
God's children are afflicted doesn't mean that God is no longer
sitting on his throne. He does sit on his throne and
he does rule all things. Romans 8.28 is a cop-out but
it does actually speak God's truth to us. We know from the Word of God
and we know from experience that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the call. according
to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He also called. And whom He called,
them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified."
It starts in Romans 8.28 and then it's remarkable, isn't it? How verse 31 goes, isn't it?
What shall we say then to all these things? If God before us,
who? can be against us. He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? What remarkable promises. I sit
and read and study this book and it is full of the most remarkable
promises, breathtaking promises. Breathtaking promises that are
just a measure in so many ways of our great and awesome God. Thankfulness, rejoicing and praying. It's interesting, isn't it, the
order? They rejoice and they go to prayer and they come away
from prayer in everything giving thanks. What thankfulness they
had, what thankfulness we ought have. The Gospel came to them. The Gospel came. The Gospel was
sent at that particular time. It's extraordinary, isn't it?
From the time of the Tower of Babel, these people were scattered
like the rest of humanity. Ephesians 2.12 describes us and
describes them. with such clarity, isn't it?
At that time, you were without Christ, aliens, being aliens from the
Commonwealth of Israel. Without Christ, aliens from the
Commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise.
Strangers to them. No ideas of the covenants of
promise. The one covenant of promise that
covers all the other covenants of promise. That eternal covenant
of promise. That covenant in the blood of
the Lord Jesus. Strangers from it. It was a strange
message that Paul brought to these people. They thought it
was strange. And then he describes their state of being, having
no hope. having no hope. It's interesting,
isn't it? This secular world spends so
much of its time in two tasks, doesn't it? One is how hopeless
the situation is. Climate change, wars, you just
think about it. Everywhere it's just the news
is full of the hopelessness of it and yet in the midst of it
all there's this extraordinary sort of sense of we can do it. If all of us just get together.
They're having a great big meeting over here, it's called Repowering
Shulhaven. I don't know quite what the whole
thing is, but apparently if we all sort of get together, and
they all get together, we can reorganise the electricity supply
and other things, and we can repower Shulhaven. Good on them. But there's always
two things, isn't it? Everything is sort of gloom and
gloom and there's potential hopelessness around the corner, but we can
do it. We just have to muster enough
of ourselves. And history tells us. History
tells us another story. God says, without hope and without
God in the world, And that's how the pagan world, the pagan
world that you and I were descended from. Cole has some Jewish heritage,
but the rest of us, we Gentiles, like these Europeans, these first
Europeans that the Gospel came to. Aliens, strangers, without
hope and without God in the world. And then the next verse in Ephesians
is one of those glorious buts. It describes what happened, doesn't
it? What happened to these Thessalonians.
But now in Christ Jesus, you who were sometimes were far off,
are made near by the blood of Christ, for He is our peace. These Thessalonians, as Paul
said, they were called. They received the call of God. They received that powerful inward
call. There is a call that goes out
to all the world, but these Thessalonians received that powerful inward
call. from God, they are called into,
unto His Kingdom and unto His Glory. The Gospel came, the Thessalonians
were called to know what they are and they were called to know
who God was. What thankfulness, what thankfulness
we ought to have that we have the Scriptures. But what thankfulness
we ought to have, not only that we have the Scriptures, that
we have the Gospel of the Scriptures. Turn in your Bibles just for
a second to 1 Peter 1 verse 25. See the world has more of these
books. I remember before I went to India
we used to hand them out bucket loads of little Gospel tracts
and Bibles at the school where I was a Scripture teacher. The
world has more. I remember in those days there
were enough Bibles on the earth that you could actually stack
them in on him and they'd go to the moon and back, and I don't
know how many times they've done, but in the last 15 or 20 years
there's been bucket loads more. There have never been more Bibles
in this world. It's this Word of God. This Word of God, you're born
again, verse 23, born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible by the Word of God. You must, to be born
again, you are to be born again by the Word of God, an incorruptible
seed which lives and abides forever. It's 1 Peter 1. verse 23 I've
just read. Then he describes us, for all
flesh is as grass and all the glory of man is as the flower
of the grass. The grass withers and the flower
thereof falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which by
the Gospel is preached unto you." You see, without the Gospel,
the Word of God is not preached unto us. We hear the stories,
we might learn the doctrine, but unless you have the Gospel,
you don't have the Word of God. You don't have, according to
1 Peter, you do not have the Word of God. That's why Paul
is reminding these Thessalonians the things they need to be thankful
for. A couple of weeks ago we spent some little time and I
just read through 1 Thessalonians. It takes about 10 minutes to
read through it and everyone had a copy and we were just to
make a note of the things that are a cause for rejoicing. and your piece of paper might
not look the same colour as mine, but it probably ended up with
an amazing number of marks on it and things underlined. Things
for God's children to be rejoicing. But they were to be thankful
and to be rejoicing because the Word of God, this Word came to
them. not only in word, but in power
and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. And that's an
assurance that this is the truth. Paul was telling the truth about
who the Lord Jesus is. They didn't hear it as the word
of men, but as it is in truth, 2 verse 13, the word of God and
the word of God which works effectually. effectually in those that believe."
Thankfulness for the Gospel coming, thankfulness because it reveals
God, thankfulness because it reveals the truth of His Word,
thankfulness because it reveals the centre of all of this book,
This book is about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Every page
and every story and every paragraph is about Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. And without a knowledge of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified, a knowledge of Him in our hearts, it's just
words on a piece of paper. And look at the glorious things
that we have to be thankful for. Thankful that the Gospel came,
thankful brethren, verse 4 of chapter 1, thankful of your election
of God. Thank you for that you became
followers of us and of the Lord, and you received the Word. You
received the Word in much affliction, you received it with joy in the
Holy Ghost, and they became examples. They saw the Lord Jesus, and
they saw what He had done. And in verse 9, they turned from
idols to serve the living and true God. And they were there,
waiting for His Son from heaven. whom he raised from the dead,
and even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." One
of the things that's extraordinary in 1 Thessalonians is how often
Paul causes these Thessalonians to think about the return of
the Lord Jesus, to think about the things that are happening
to them, the circumstances of their life, the trials they're
having, the joys they're having, the context seems again and again
for them to be thinking about what is it going to be like on
that day, to be delivered from the wrath to come. Delivered,
delivered completely and perfectly. by the Lord Jesus, to meet Him. They are waiting for His Son
from heaven. And wrath is coming. 2 verse
16 says that the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost, those
that oppose the Gospel. And Paul in chapter 2 verse 19,
for what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Ah, not even
you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming. He continually wants them to
think that in these circumstances, our God sits on a throne, our
God is in control, and times might be tough, but you have
reason in the midst of tough times to be thankful. He's coming. in chapter 3 verse 13, to the
end, the Lord make you increase and abound in love toward one
another and all men, even as we do toward you, to the end,
to the goal, to the purpose, that he may establish your heart
unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints. And that's the beginning of that
glorious section where he tells us that even our brothers and
sisters who have gone before us into glory are really just
asleep. have only just fallen asleep,
and God will bring them with him. The Lord Jesus is coming
back, and when he comes back, he's coming back with all of
his own. He's gathering his flock together. He's fulfilling all that he promised
to do. What a cause for thankfulness. What a cause for rejoicing. What
a cause for prayer. Prayer with rejoicing and prayer
with thanksgiving. You see, one day all of life
will be seen just from one perspective. It will just be seen from the
perspective of where you stand at that day. All of humanity
will either have cause for endless, endless rejoicing and thankfulness,
and praise and glory to our great God. People will spend all of
eternity and all of the pleasures and all of the things that they
have enjoyed on this earth will only add to their condemnation. What does Romans 1 say about
the people of this world? Romans 1 verse 21 says, I'll wait till you turn there.
God has made himself known to all of humanity. The wrath of
God, verse 18, is revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold down the truth, suppress
the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest to them Why? Why is it manifestism? For or
because God has shown it unto them. For the invisible things
of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power
and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because that,
when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were
thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their
foolish hearts were darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools, unthankful, unthankful to God. What a gift rejoicing, what a
gift a grace gift prayer is, what a gift thankfulness to God
is. God is faithful, God is just. looks to Him. Prayer, as we said
last week, is the believing, submissive heart worshipping
God and seeking His will. It's communion with God, it's
communication with God, knowing Him, being in an intimate relationship
with Him. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Thankfulness that the Gospel
has come. Thankfulness that God has revealed
Himself. Thankfulness that God has revealed
Himself to the hearts of His people. Thankfulness that God
has revealed to us what our hearts are. As difficult as God's words
are, isn't it better that they be true, rather than what these
false teachers around the Thessalonians were saying, peace and safety. Peace and safety they're saying
to each other. What a great, great escape God
has won for His people. What a great deliverance. I don't
know about you, do you remember living in that world? I lived
in that world. I enjoyed that world. I thought
that world was my oyster. I thought I was on the greatest
little ticket. in this world. Born in this amazing
country. Born when there were no wars
to go and fight. Born at the beginning of a time
of prosperity that this world has never witnessed before. Prosperity that's lasted generation
to generation. What a remarkable time we have
lived in. And I relished it, and I enjoyed
it, boots and all, until until God, but God. And all that we thought, all
that we thought was our wisdom and all that we thought was our
righteousness, you end up like Paul in Thessalonians, Whatever things were gained to
me, I counted loss for Christ. When Christ comes, all of that
is seen for what it is, and we are seen for what we are. And
the heart of man is deceitfully wicked and beyond cure, and who
can understand it? But our great God comes to sinners,
comes to sinners, Saviour of sinners. And that's the reason,
isn't it, the great reason for thankfulness. It's a gift. You're not thankful for something
that you've earned. You're thankful for something
that you've been given. You're thankful for something
that is undeserved and unmerited. That's the grace of God. The
word thankfulness, its root is the word grace. It's graciousness,
isn't it? It's a grace gift that we have
received from God that we now, as God's children, are in communion
with Him and in communication with Him. We have access to God. We come boldly to the throne
of grace to obtain help and mercy. I just thought briefly we'd have
a look at the three times that Paul goes to prayer and goes
to thankfulness all at the same time. It's really good to think
of what Paul is thanking God for when he thinks of these Thessalonians. As with all of his thanksgiving,
he thanks God for the evident signs of grace. The grace that
has sustained these people, the grace that causes them to stay
faithful, the grace that causes them to love one another, the
grace that causes them to hang together as a little flock. Fear you not, little flock, said
the Lord Jesus. It's the Father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. So let's just look at them. The
first one is in chapter 1, verse 2. And Paul says, we give thanks
to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers,
remembering without ceasing your work of faith, your work of the
faith. It's a noun, it's a description
of them holding on to the faith that had been once delivered,
the description of the gospel, the faith. Your labour of love. God has brought the Gospel. God has united these people to
himself and has united them one to another. They labour in love
for one another. And they labour in love and they
work out their faith in patience. Patience. waiting for the hope
of our Lord Jesus. Patience in hope of our Lord
Jesus Christ. But it's interesting that he
gives thanks in the sight of God and our Father. He wants
them to know, doesn't he, that all of Christian life is lived
out in the very seeing presence of God. His ear is upon His people,
He listens for them. His eye is upon the righteous. He gives thanks to God for God's
work in their lives, God's choosing them from before the foundation
of the world. And He says, knowing brethren
beloved, What a great description. Brethren, beloved, Paul was made
to have his heart knitted together with them in love and he never
forgot it. Brethren, beloved, your election
of God, that from before the foundation of the world God had
chosen these people in Christ Jesus. They were the Father's
gift to the Son. They were the Son's delight. They were the ones that the Lord
Jesus entered into a covenant of love with, a covenant that
brought him to this earth, a covenant that took him to the cross, a
covenant that now causes our great God and Saviour to be interceding
for them in heaven, elect, chosen God. And the reason was that
our Gospel came. What thankfulness we must have
that the Gospel came. Where would Paul have been? What
was he doing? There he was, marching on the
road to Damascus, letters in his hand, hatred in his heart. But God. But God. The Gospel came, the Gospel came
as it did to him, as it did to these people. It came in power,
it came in the Holy Ghost, it came in much assurance and these
people became followers. They were followers of the faith,
they were followers of the life of Paul and the Lord. And as we said, they received
the Word. They received the Word in much
affliction. They received the Word with joy
in the Holy Ghost. Verse 6. So he's thankful. Are you thankful? Do you have
reason for thankfulness? In the midst of the trials of
life, is your heart drawn to say thank you to God? Thank you to God for that faith. Thanks to God for the object
of faith. Thanks to God that He is faithful,
that He will do it, that He will honour all of His promises. Thankful
to God that He's been gracious to you. Gracious to you, you
haven't earned a thing, but you've been the recipient of absolutely
everything. If you have Christ, you have
everything. What does Paul say in Colossians?
Christ is all. Right now, we have an advocate. We have an advocate. I love how
John puts it, he says, when we sin, and if we sin, We don't
lose an advocate, and if we see that we have an advocate. Right now, we have an advocate. Someone who pleads His blood,
and His righteousness, and His merits, and says that they are
mine. They are mine. His mercies are to be valued
because of the nature of the giver. His mercies and his grace
are to be valued because of the cost. It cost him his life's
blood. mercy and grace and thankfulness
to him because these gifts reveal the character of the giver and
they reveal in all that's given the unworthiness of the recipients. And therefore Paul praises God
for his work in the lives of these people. He praises God
and he's thankful for who he is. He's thankful for his character. He's thankful that the gifts
that he gives reveal his character. The world is unthankful. God's children are thankful people. We have reason to be thankful,
brothers and sisters. They're having a party next door.
They have parties over there all the time. And here we are
as a little flock. Who is better off? Let the world
have its parties. Let the world enjoy them. What
do God's children do? If you turn to Hebrews, there's
a beautiful verse in Hebrews 13. I read it often because I
love it so much. It's just such a glorious scripture. He's talking about that sacrifice.
He's talking about our Lord Jesus who's the same yesterday, today
and forever, verse 8 is that famous verse. And he talks about
that sacrifice in verse 12, therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify
the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. What
a remarkable thing, isn't it? Sanctify is to make them holy,
not by their activities but by his blood. He suffered outside the gate.
Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, outside
the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we have no continuing
city, but we seek one to come. and then verse 15, by Him therefore
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to His name. And as I remind you so often,
His name implies His character. It's not just some words, it's
all of the character of God. Paul is thankful for how the
Gospel has come. He went there afflicted by the
persecutions in Philippi and he comes to this little place
and he's just there and he's kicked out and then he goes to
Berea and he's kicked out of Berea and he's not sure of what's
happening and he gets this extraordinary news from Timothy and he's just
thankful. He's immediately thankful to
God and immediately he goes to prayer. His next prayer is in
2, verse 13. He says, for this cause also
thank we God without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 2.13, because
when you received the Word of God, which you heard of us, you
received it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the
Word of God, which effectually worked worketh also in you that
believe." It begins working, it is working, it continues to
work, it comes from heaven ordained and appointed by God to do its
work, it does its work here and it returns to Him having achieved
His purposes. What an awesome thing to hear
the Word of God. What an awesome thing. an extraordinary
thing to hear it without faith. And for it to be vanity in your
life, it doesn't mean that it hasn't done its work from God's
perspective. The same sun which melts the
wax hardens the clay. For this cause, for this cause,
he says, we thank God. And what's the cause? Verse 12,
that you work worthy of God. who has called you into his kingdom
and glory. We thank God without ceasing
because the word was received. It came and it was received,
and it was received as a truth. It was received as not something
to be discussed and debated and argued in all of the apologetic
ministries in the world. have dishonoured God because
they assume that somehow you can argue sinful rebels into
an understanding of who God is. The Gospel is the power of God
under salvation. The Gospel is the power of God
under revelation to reveal who God is. This is what happened
to these Thessalonians. Paul didn't come there to have
an argument with them. He came there just to declare
the Gospel. He came there and he had the
Old Testament Scriptures, and he went to the Old Testament
Scriptures, and he proved from the Old Testament Scriptures,
he demonstrated to them that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ
of God. It works effectively. You see
there in verse 13, he became followers of the churches of
God which are in Judea, which are in Judea and in Christ Jesus,
for also you have suffered like things of your own countrymen."
When the Gospel came, they became traitors, as it were, to their
country, traitors to the world's way of thinking. So even in afflictions,
Paul is thankful. He thanks God for them. I love that passage in Song of
Solomon that we looked at closely some little time ago in chapter
5 where she acts with willful, wicked, open rebellion against
the Lord who came to her. But when she goes searching for
Him. He doesn't answer her, He's not
present and she can't find Him. But in the midst of all of that,
in the midst of all of that, she's given opportunity to speak
of Him and she speaks in the rest of Chapter 5 in the most
glorious ways about her Saviour. It's a great lesson, isn't it?
In the midst of suffering, in the midst of affliction, in the
midst of trials, speak sweetly and think sweet things about
the Lord in His absence. There's a great story told of
two Welsh preachers who were going off to preach in different
directions and they came and they were walking along together
and they came to the crossroads and one of them said, May you
get the light of His countenance in your preaching today. May
you feel as if the Lord is standing by you and you see His face and
you speak sweet and delightful things." And he replied, I hope
so, brother, but if I do not get the light of His countenance,
I will speak well of Him behind His back. Sweet, isn't it? I've reminded you of that old
saint. She said that if she ever got to heaven, Jesus Christ should
never hear the end of it. He'll never hear the end of her
praising him, thankfulness. what thankfulness we have to
offer to our God. In chapter 3 verse 9 is the last
of them, and that's where Paul says, for what thanks? How much? I can't thank God enough for
you all, he says. Can we render to God again for
you, for all the joy, wherewith we joy for your sakes before
our God." And so his thankfulness again is in the presence of God,
and in the presence of God he brings these Thessalonians before
God, and he's thanking God for God's work in their lives. That's Paul's standard way of
encouraging people all through his letters. It's the standard
way the Holy Spirit has inspired him to encourage people. Not
by telling them what a great job they've done, or telling
others what a great job someone else has done. the thankfulness
of God for His work of grace in the lives of His people. Kept
them faithful, kept them faithful. That's why Paul says in verse
8, just prior to it, he says, For now we live, if you stand
fast in the Lord, And he himself, in the midst of his afflictions,
in verse 7, he says, Now therefore, brethren, we were comforted over
you in all our afflictions and distress by your faith. By your faith. Again, faith there
is a noun. It's a being thing as much as
a doing thing. We're comforted in all our afflictions. It's a glorious thing, isn't
it? It's a glorious thing to think that Paul is excited because
he sees signs of God's work, bringing his people to faithfulness,
bringing his people to walk worthy of the Lord. And there he is
in a place where no doubt he's suffering enormous trials and
things, and he just gets this little bit of news from this
little flock. that He left in such distressing
circumstances. And what are they? They're being
faithful. They're hanging in there. Thankfulness. In everything,
give thanks. In everything. In all the things
that the Lord has given us, we have reason to be thankful. Thankful
for our preservation, thankful for our food, thankful for clothing,
for shelter, thankful for the extraordinary world that we live
in. What a glorious creation God
has given to us. And thankfulness especially.
Only people will ever really be thankful are those who the
Word has come, the means of grace has come. God has sent His preacher. God has sent someone to proclaim
the real Jesus. In this world where there is
a promise of false Jesuses, in this world where there is a promise
of Satan masquerading as an angel of light, To have the truth is
the greatest gift that God can bring. What a gift! One day we'll
know what a precious word salvation is. One day we'll know with clarity. Let us be thankful for all these
spiritual blessings. What grace? Electing grace, redeeming
grace, regenerating grace, adopting grace, pardoning, forgiving grace,
justifying grace, preserving grace. Perfectly fit for heaven
all of God's children are. Made fit. Made fit. a sure hope for Lord Jesus, a
husband, a friend, a brother, a saviour, an advocate with the
Father. What blessings there are in the
Gospel, life, peace, joy, comfort, righteousness, sufficient grace,
Even in the midst of heavy trials, God's grace is sufficient. I love how Paul speaks of himself in 2 Corinthians 12. He sought
the Lord, and the Lord denied him his prayer. But the Lord
gave him something much better than removal or whatever that
thorn in the flesh was. And he said unto me, and so the
Lord responded with grace upon grace. He said, My grace is sufficient
for you. My grace is not going to necessarily
remove all the trials and the troubles, but My grace is sufficient
for you. For my strength is made perfect
in weakness. And Paul says, Most gladly therefore
will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecution,
in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am
strong. Strong in Him. Let's pray. Our
Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a God who commands
rejoicing and prayer and thankfulness. And we thank you, our Father, that under the new covenant your
great blessings are that I will and they shall. Heavenly Father
we thank you that your commands are promises for what you do
in our lives. And our Father, we do ask that
You work in our lives, that You cause us to be thankful, cause
us to be people who look around and look to our Saviour and look
to our brothers and sisters and have cause for rejoicing and
cause to come into Your courts with thanksgiving. Thankful,
thankful to our glorious Saviour. We do pray your blessing upon
us, Heavenly Father. Bless our fellowship and bless
your fellowships throughout this world. And bless your people,
Heavenly Father. May you cause them to come into
your courts with rejoicing and thanksgiving. We pray your blessing
on us, Heavenly Father, that you would make your word powerful
and effective in our lives. For we come before you in the
name of your dear and precious Son, our Lord Jesus. We pray
these things in his name and for his glory. Amen.