“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”  Let’s see, that sounds almost exactly like Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good to them that love the Lord, to them that are the ‘called’ according to His purpose.”  If we are sitting in the middle of God’s purpose, and He is working everything out for good to US; we really can give thanks in all things, no matter what they may look like to the untrained eye, to the natural, non-Spirit-filled person on the street.  And it sounds like giving thanks in all things puts us in the middle of God’s will in Jesus.  That’s just another reason to ‘rejoice evermore’.  It’s a festival of love and praise and worship and thanksgiving all rolled into one.

Of course everyone knows that everything is NOT always sweetness and light all the time.  And since it’s not, we’re going to have spells of sorrow, sacrifice, pain, maybe even an occasional doubt.  But if I read this passage correctly, we’re supposed to rejoice and pray and give thanks in all things all the time; and I don’t know about you, but I just can’t get that done, in and of myself.  I just can’t be happy all the time, or good all the time, or obedient all the time.

So the only way I can get through to the ‘Festival of Praise’ is if and when I surrender my whole self to God, and let Him take care of me and my problems, so I can focus on the solution of Jesus, the same Jesus who is my Lord and Savior, and who is my Brother; the One who is with me by His Spirit.  That’s what brings me back to God every time, to rejoicing, and praying and giving thanks in all things.