Tag: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Posted in friends, Grace, gratitude, life, priorities, Scripture, thankful, Trials

Unbearable

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

It was almost unbearable. One of the things that I enjoy about my day job is that I get to share good news with people.  Every Sunday, except when I don’t, I have the privilege of sharing truth about God from the Bible.  Now I don’t know if you know, but for most preachers those sermons don’t come in the mail, don’t come from a website, and don’t just magically appear. For me, it all begins with getting God’s opinion about a topic, lesson or idea and then gathering all the necessities such as the right scripture and various stories and quotes. After that, I begin to put it all together to hopefully make it both informational and applicable.

Applicable—now that is a big deal to me.  I want what I prepare and deliver to be something that will help those who hear the message to go home with something that will help them do life.  I know it is important to have a good strong introduction and that is where this story begins.  I was going to talk that day about three things that God gives us from His Word that will help in our day-to-day walk.  Well, somewhere in the process of brainstorming and thinking, the number three and the fact that these three things were there to help make life bearable—in fact more than bearable—made me think of the story of the three bears.  Well, just like that I had the perfect introduction and outline for my message—almost.

So, with the story of the three bears ringing in my head, I began researching, gathering information and writing. After more than a few hours, the message began to take shape and center stage were those three bears.  Like I said, there were three things that God gave us to help make life more than bearable.  Taken from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, they were rejoicing always, praying always and always being thankful.  Enter the three bears.  I had Papa Bear, who was just a hair grumpy, complaining his porridge was too hot and his bed was too hard.  His answer and ours is to learn to live in joy—rejoice always.  Next please.

Next came Mama Bear and she had a problem with her porridge and bed too except hers was too cold and too soft. Oh, these silly bears—she simply needed to learn to pray more and complain less—in other words, pray always. By now I’m getting excited—the message was almost in the bag.  That can only leave Baby Bear and he got it right.  Of course, being the baby of eight in my family—I wasn’t a bit surprised—we always get it right.  His response was that the porridge and the bed were both just right.  He was contented and therefore He was grateful and thankful. There you go…put on a bow…and out we go just in time to beat the other churches to the restaurants.

Well, Saturday night is always my crunch night and I always go over the sermon making any and all final adjustments.  Well, I decided I should check on this three-bear thing to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, so I Googled it and discovered—I had it ALL wrong.  It seems I left out a young lady named Goldilocks and it was her and not the bears that did almost all the talking and complaining about the porridge and beds. And the humor of it all was the opening line in my introduction was, “Everyone knows the story of the three bears” that is everyone but me! Well, it was too late to rewrite the story so all I could do was tell my unbearable—no pun intended—tale.  Thankfully, I think it may have made for a better introduction anyway, but I must admit I am puzzled on how I managed to get it so wrong—even leaving out the main character.

Who knows, right? But then I realized we do it all the time except it isn’t a fairytale, it isn’t three bears, and it isn’t a little girl with golden hair.  Nope—it is the story of our lives, lived out in real life drama and how often we leave our main character, our Dearest Daddy, out of the story.  Well, if my rewriting of the three bears is crazy—leaving God sitting on the curb is even crazier. And remember, that Goldilocks wasn’t some minor player—she was the star of the show—just like God should be in our story.

Well, we will call this Grits a wrap and put the bears to bed. Just a few things to remember.  One, remember to always check the facts and preferably do it sooner than later!  Two, don’t try and make the story fit your story—I’m sure that helped me be wrong.  It all sounded so right—even though it wasn’t.  And finally, just remember that even when you get it all wrong, we can rest in one thing—that no matter what—He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, forgiveness, friends, Grace, gratitude, life, love, loving others, prayer, priorities, Scripture, thankful, Trials

Z-Pack and the Man Cold

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

Always be joyful. Never stop praying.  Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

They call it a z-pack.  It is called that because nobody can pronounce azithromycin.  Whatever it is called it–it works.  You know the story.  You are humming along, life is good and then you throat feels a little scratchy, your nose is a little stuffy and before long you feel awful.

Now let me explain awful.  If you are a man that means it is pretty much terminal.  It is a matter of minutes before the end comes.  Someone call 911.  If you are a woman, it means that life just became a little more challenging but hey people are counting on you, so you will push through.

Man or woman–terminal or not–you will probably call and make an appointment to see the doctor.  He will determine, much to the man’s surprise, that it is not terminal.  It is an upper respiratory infection.  Then he may prescribe our friend azithromycin or a z-pack.

A z-pack is a course of five pills, often two are taken the first day and one per day for the next three.  If you are a man, you take the first two and go to bed.  If you are woman, and in in particular a mother, you take the first two and go on with life.  The good news everybody generally survives.

I find too often in life this happens to me on another level. I am humming along, and life is good.  The mild speed bumps and occasional potholes of life are navigated with little or no trouble.  But then it happens. The smallest of infractions and I find myself going off–losing it.  Something doesn’t go just according to plan, and I am seething.  I don’t get my way and so everyone better stay out of my way. I’’ve been infected.

No doctor is needed for this one.  It is called selfish-itis.  Let me say that again…selfish–itis.  Yup…for some reason it all becomes about me–or you.  While it’s caused by several things it often find’s it’s source in a little virus called “why me.”  I mean I understand why the neighbor deserves bad things; he is mean as a snake.  And my brother-in-law hasn’t worked for months.  Of course, then there is Cousin Eddie, never mind, we won’t even go there.

Well, the good news is there’s a z-pack for it and it is fast and effective.  Take three “pills” and before long you will be humming again.  The z-pack is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 and consists of three powerful truths that will kick the “selfish-itis” bug in no time.  Here’s the z-pack. “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances.” There you go–be joyful, pray always and be thankful.”  Bye-bye blues and hello cancel the 911 call. Three simple truths, three simple practices.

A while back I got ahold of a great definition for Biblical joy.  It is “a deep sense of inner well-being based on faith in God and trust in His sovereign will.”  Now that’s powerful. Boom.  It is what we close everyday with, “He’s got this.”  It’s true and He does.

Praying always is simply like breathing.  It becomes second nature and an essential part of life.  You don’t even need your knees to pray.  You don’t need to close your eyes–especially if you are driving.  It is a whisper to God as needed, when needed.  And it works.

The last one is gratitude.  It is learning to be thankful for the smallest detail in your life.  News flash–God is a God of the details.  That little deal you are concerned about is not little to Him.  He loves His kids and wants them to know He will be there.  Now that doesn’t mean you get every toy in the toy store.  It does mean that He will be there whenever, forever.

The last part of verse 18 is huge.  It says, “For this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”  He wants you to do this not for three days but every day.  He wants you to be fulfilled and at rest and these simple truths will put you on the right road.

So, men, put on your big boy socks and push on.  Ladies–remember we men struggle with the small things, so be sure and show a little mercy when we are terminal–or at least think we are.  God does and He does it not only for the men but for all of us.  He invites us to crawl up in His lap and rest in Him.  And listen close, He’s whispering, “I’ve got this.”  Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, gratitude, life, prayer, Scripture, thankful, wisdom

Z-Pack

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

They call it a z-pack.  It is called that because nobody can pronounce azithromycin.  Whatever it is called it–it works.  You know the story.  You are humming along, life is good and then you throat feels a little scratchy, your nose is a little stuffy and before long you feel awful.

Now let me explain awful.  If you are a man that means it is pretty much terminal.  It is a matter of minutes before the end comes.  Someone call 911.  If you are a woman it means that life just became a little more challenging but hey people are counting on you, so you will push through.

Man or woman–terminal or not–you will probably call and make an appointment to see the doctor.  He will determine, much to the man’s surprise, that it is not terminal.  It is an upper respiratory infection.  Then he may prescribe our friend azithromycin or a z-pack.

A z-pack is a course of five pills, often two taken the first day and one per day for the next three.  If you are a man, you take the first two and go to bed.  If you are woman, and in in particular a mother, you take the first two and go on with life.  The good news everybody generally survives.

I find too often in life this happens to me on another level. I am humming along and life is good.  The mild speed bumps and occasional pot holes of life are navigated with little or no trouble.  But then it happens. The smallest of infractions and I find myself going off–losing it.  Something doesn’t go just according to plan and I am seething.  I don’t get my way and so everyone better stay out of my way.  I’ve been infected.

No doctor is needed for this one.  It is called inselfishitis.  Let me say that again…in-selfish–itis.  Yup…for some reason it all becomes about me–or you.  While it’s caused by several things it often find’s it source in a little virus called “why me.”  I mean I understand why the neighbor deserves bad things he doesn’t even go to church.  And my brother-in-law hasn’t worked for months.  Of course, then there is cousin Eddie, never mind, we won’t even go there.

Well, the good news is there’s a z-pack for it and it is fast and effective.  Take three “pills” and before long you will be humming again.  The z-pack is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 and consists of three powerful truths that will kick the “inselfishitis” bug in no time.  Here’s the z-pack. “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances.” There you go–be joyful, pray always and be thankful.”  Bye-bye blues and hello cancel the 911 call. Three simple truths, three simple practices.

A while back I got ahold of a great definition for Biblical joy.  It is “a deep sense of inner well-being based on faith in God and trust in His sovereign will.”  Now that’s powerful. Boom.  It is what we close everyday with, “rest in Him…He’s got this.”  It’s true and He does.

Praying always is simply like breathing.  It becomes second nature and an essential part of life.  You don’t even need your knees to pray.  You don’t need to close your eyes–especially if you are driving.  It is a whisper to God as needed, when needed.  And it works.

The last one is gratitude.  It is learning to be thankful for the smallest detail in your life.  News flash–God is a God of the details.  That little deal you are concerned about is not little to Him.  He loves His kids and wants them to know He will be there.  Now that doesn’t mean you get every toy in the toy store.  It does mean that He will be there whenever, forever.

The last part of verse 18 is huge.  It says, “For this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”  He wants you to do this not for three days but every day.  He wants you to be fulfilled and at rest and these simple truths will put you on the right road. So, men, put on your big boy socks and push on.  Ladies–remember we men struggle with the small things so be sure and show a little mercy when we are terminal–or at least think we are.  God does and He does it not only for the men but for all of us.  He invites us to crawl up in His lap and rest in Him.  And listen close, He’s whispering, “I’ve got this.”