Reading your Bible for Today November 5

November 5: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:16
Rejoice always

Devotion:
God has given us so many verses in our Bibles which offer up encouragement to us, just as these do. He has given us so much in our lives which we do take for granted, so much we do take without thinking, so much we take without thanking Him... Each and every day He continues to give us an extra day, more life, loving friends and family and His Word continues to be here for us to read. No matter how many things try to get us down, there is always something which we can look up to and rejoice that we do have.

We need to make sure we do continue to talk with God. We need to show Him that we do think of Him constantly and we can do so by praying to Him. We need to show Him (and remind ourselves) He is important in our lives by speaking to Him. We need to show Him that we are not going to let other things get in our way of praying. We need to continue showing our faith by making sure we do tell Him everything and express all of our fears and doubts directly to Him. There is nothing that He does not want to hear about!

During our time of prayer, we must make sure we do thank Him for everything which we rejoice in. There may well be times in our lives when we do not understand why we have to go through things in our lives; during those times, we still have to make sure we do thank Him because it will all be happening for a reason, a reason which we may yet not understand. We cannot hope to be able to understand just how awesome our God is, how He can prepare us for any eventuality through ways we cannot understand!

By making sure we give our thanks directly to God, He knows we are living our lives in faith. As we express our continual faith, He will be able to express His continual love for us. It is exactly what He would want us to do. He wants us to depend on Him and to show our faith and dependency continually and openly. Only through that way we will encourage others to seek what we can rejoice in!

Points to Ponder:
How often do you thank your friends and family for little things?

How often do you thank God for everything?