Nothing new here this post is reiterating what the Lord has already counseled for this year. It is reinforcement.
This is where the Lord wants us:
Phil 4
4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say,
rejoice. 5Let your reasonablenessd be known to
everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6do not be anxious
about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5
16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God
in Christ Jesus for you.
Ps 34
1I will bless
the LORD at all times;
his praise shall continually
be in my mouth.
Psalm 100
1Make a joyful noise
to the LORD, all the earth!
2Serve the LORD with
gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
3Know that the LORD,
he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;a
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4Enter his
gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
5For the LORD is
good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
Yes, we are going to have trials and tribulations in this life. It's going to happen, got it. When it does happen how are we going to respond? Thats it. We have free will, we get to choose. Getting knocked down is one thing, staying down is another. Yes, the Lord understands when we take a blow and get knocked to the ground it hurts and there will need to be some time to recover but the less recovery time needed the better. As soon as possible we need to be back in our lane of thanksgiving, praise and rejoicing. The enemy will throw the kitchen sink at us to get us out of that place but we need to resist and persevere.
Those who wonder what the Lord's will is for us do not need to wonder no more:
1 Thessalonians 5
16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
It is right there ^^ in black and white.
This will not always be easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is. Our Lord wants us to cross the finish line strong, not slide into homebase with our pants on fire looking like we just barely made it.
We can finish with this today:
2 Peter 1
3According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 10Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: 11For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
He told us specifically what we need to do and how to do it. Its up to us to exercise our response-ability to make sure it happens. We do not know what exactly is coming at us this year of our Lord 2023 but we do know what we should be doing and how to respond. The Lord our God is very good. Please take some time out to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. If we do what we were told to do, we will not be disappointed....
Glory to God
Grace and peace
