It's a new month and I am moving on to practicing Joy - the second characteristic listed as a fruit of the Spirit. When I thought for a moment about a passage in scripture that talks about joy, the first to pop into my mind was 1 Thess. 5: 16-18: "Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." I have always recited those verses together, but I've always thought of them as three separate instructions to us from the Lord through Paul. Be joyful. Pray. Give thanks. This time, though, when they came to my mind I instantly saw them as connected. My thought process went something like this:
"Always be joyful."
The command is obviously from God.
And yet it doesn't say how we can be joyful always.
Wait, maybe it does.
We can be joyful always through prayer and thanksgiving.
Praying keeps our focus on God. Giving thanks helps us to see all that is good around us. That is the perspective we need to be joyful. Always.
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