{"id":6109,"date":"2012-08-21T12:23:50","date_gmt":"2012-08-21T12:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=6109"},"modified":"2012-08-21T12:26:04","modified_gmt":"2012-08-21T12:26:04","slug":"6109","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=6109","title":{"rendered":"A Trilogy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My wife shared a powerful teaching with me. \u00a0Now I’m sharing it with you!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cA Trilogy\u201d<\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 packs three important commands into three tiny verses. Paul wrote,<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201c16\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Rejoice always<\/strong>,\u00a017\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>pray continually<\/strong>,\u00a018\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>give thanks in all circumstances<\/strong>;\u00a0for this is God\u2019s will for you in Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What Paul wrote here is more than just three easy memory verses. Paul tells us three things that he expects Christians to do on a continual basis. It isn\u2019t just that Christians need to occasionally rejoice or be \u201cpart-time pray-ers\u201d or give thanks under selective circumstances. Paul says these are three things to do always<\/strong>, continually<\/strong> and in all circumstances<\/strong>. Instead of give you more things to think about I want to ask you to do something. I am going to give you three lists to rejoice<\/strong> over, pray<\/strong> over and give God thanks<\/strong> about.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rejoice:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • That God has created you<\/span><\/li>\n
  • That God has saved you<\/span><\/li>\n
  • That God sent Jesus for you<\/span><\/li>\n
  • That God loves you unconditionally<\/span><\/li>\n
  • That God has supported you through His church\/people<\/span><\/li>\n
  • For the people God has put in your life<\/span><\/li>\n
  • What else would make your list?<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \n<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n

    Pray<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    • For guidance in your decisions<\/span><\/li>\n
    • For the church to grow and reach more people<\/span><\/li>\n
    • For God to keep working on your heart<\/span><\/li>\n
    • For greater wisdom<\/span><\/li>\n
    • For greater boldness<\/span><\/li>\n
    • For the words to say to those who need God<\/span><\/li>\n
    • What else would make your list?<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      Give Thanks<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      • In whatever circumstances your life is currently in, whether it seems good or bad<\/span><\/li>\n
      • For the way God has sustained you up to this point in your life<\/span><\/li>\n
      • That God will continue to sustain your life<\/span><\/li>\n
      • To God for family and friends<\/span><\/li>\n
      • To God for whatever blessings you have\u2026they all came from God<\/span><\/li>\n
      • For God\u2019s patience, mercy, and grace<\/span><\/li>\n
      • What else would make your list?<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        It is important we make a regular habit out of doing these three things.<\/span><\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Amen,<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        the pilgrim<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        My wife shared a powerful teaching with me. \u00a0Now I’m sharing it with you!   \u201cA Trilogy\u201d   1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 packs three important commands into three tiny verses. Paul wrote,     \u201c16\u00a0Rejoice always,\u00a017\u00a0pray continually,\u00a018\u00a0give thanks in all circumstances;\u00a0for this is God\u2019s will for you in Christ Jesus.\u201d     What Paul wrote here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6109"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6113,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6109\/revisions\/6113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}