Instructions for Life.

Last night my landlord and good friend Bob came to say goodnight and share some of the verses he'd read in 1Thessalonians 5:16-28 NIV.  What a wealth of information and praise God for a godly landlord.

 ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

This can be hard.  When trials come to our lives it's easy to pray "God get me out of this."  However I have learned more through trial than through comfort.  I have learn to be content in all circumstances (Philippians 4:10-42) and I do thank God for trials.  I've actually begun to view them as a chance to learn.

 ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; hold on to what is good, ²² reject every kind of evil.

When the Holy Spirit moves, go with Him.  When you don't you miss the opportunity to work with God.  You see that person on the street and you are prompted to speak, SPEAK. That person and you were put together as a divine appointment.  Don't make God have to send another.

I was raised in a church the says that revelation is closed and prophesy has ceased.  The basis for the belief is found in Revelations 22:18-19 NIV.  It was my actual belief as well.  Yet I am meeting REAL Christians who disagree and I find verses like this in scripture.  Have I ever met one who claims to be a prophet?  No.  If I ever do I merely test what they say.  If they truly have a prophesy from God it will come true 100%.  There will be no doubt.

We know the good things and we know the evil things.  In our flesh we somethimes want to play in the edges of what is evil.  We are to reject it.  Stay away.

 ²³ May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

To sanctify is to set apart or make holy.  Holy itself means to set apart for a special purpose.  The liberating point in these verses is that GOD is the one who does the sanctifying.  Verse 24 promises that he WILL do it.  Any child of God will continually be sanctified here on earth till our final sanctification when we see him face to face.

²⁵ Brothers and sisters, pray for us. ²⁶ Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss.²⁷ I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters.

 ²⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Pray for your leaders and teachers.  Pray for me that I would continue to learn and live this blog.

As a teen I loved verse 26.  I believe this is a cultural thing for the church at the time.  I don't recommend you go around kissing folks this Sunday.

Instead of my usual "God Bless" I shall quote vs 28.

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you."