Living Christianly Part 2 | English Devotion | NHFCSG

Living Christianly Part II
1 Thessalonians 5: 16-28  
The mark of true Christian faith is that it changes everything you do and say. It affects every area of your life. Paul outlines some areas as he closes his 1st letter with profound wisdom that can help us live Christianly even today. 
#1 Rejoice always
Rejoice always means Be cheerful. Do not let things get you down. Society is filled with despair and gloom. 
Christian can rejoice always because their joy isn’t based in circumstances, but in God. Circumstances change, but God doesn’t.
Count it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials and temptations," James 1:2
#2 Pray continually
Prayer is communication with God, and we can live each minute of the day in a constant, flowing, conversation with God. That is the method of drawing on the inner strength that God provides.
#3 Give thanks
Why be thankful? Because when you are faced with a trial you are being given an opportunity to glorify God. If you never face trials or pressures, how could anyone ever see that you have an invisible means of support, that you have a reliable source of strength that others do not know anything about? These are the opportunities that God gives us. So, be thankful.
#4 This is God’s will for you
The will of God is not to make some dramatic display of power or gift that is going to attract attention. It is the quiet response you make to the daily trials and circumstance in which you find yourself. 
If you want to do the will of God there are the two areas in which his will is clearly set out for you: Moral purity for your body; continual thanksgiving for your spirit. 
#5 Do not quench the Spirit. 
We can quench the fire of the Spirit by our doubt, our indifference, our rejection of Him, or by the distraction of others. When people start to draw attention to themselves, it is a sure quench to the Spirit.
The Spirit's promptings always come in two areas: Stop doing what is wrong and start doing what is right. 
#6 Do not treat prophecies with contempt
 In those early days, before the New Testament was written, this was done orally; prophets spoke the mind of the Spirit in an assembly. Today we have the written Scriptures. So prophesying really becomes what we call today expository preaching and teaching. 
It is opening the mind of God from the Word of God. That is the wisdom of God. That is telling you how to act, how to think and how to order your life. Do not treat it lightly.
#7 Test all things
Evil and deception can show itself even in a spiritual setting, so it is important for Christians to test all things. When the test has been made to the standard of God’s Word and the discernment of spirit among the leaders, we then hold fast to what is good.
#8 Reject every kind of evil.
When the testing is made, any aspect of evil must be rejected. This includes evil that may come with a spiritual image. The evil that is perceive in the heart, and acts that we do to repays evil for evil. Rejecting them happens when we test them. 

As he concludes, Paul made it clear that sanctification is God’s work in us. He puts this emphasis in the words Himself. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. 
All through this letter the coming of our Lord Jesus is the great hope set before us. Jesus is coming again. God's kingdom will come on earth.
The apostle leaves us with the hope of the coming of our Lord, and the resources God has provided, so that we may live in a new and different way in the midst of this modern age.

Let us Pray: Heavenly father, thank you for the wisdom that you have given us. Help us to walk through with these resources that we may be blameless on the day of the Lord. Amen.