Welcome to Moms for Christ Podcast. This is Jessica with a word for you today. Today my reading will be from 1 Thessalonians chapter 5:16 through 18 and it reads, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” When Paul wrote this to the church in Thessalonia he says that when they receive Christ they were going through severe suffering and yet they still were given joy through the power of the Holy Spirit. And so whatever you may be going through in your household today, know that through the power of the Holy Spirit you can receive joy for the hope that is set before you. The hope that Jesus Christ loves you, that He cares for you, that He has given his body so that you would come to know Him and have salvation through Jesus Christ.

"Whatever you may be going through in your household today, know that through the power of the Holy Spirit you can receive joy."

I sing a song with my son called This is the Day and it really is “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it”. And so I encourage you that whatever you may be going through today, that you would find a way to put your eyes on the Lord and you will certainly have joy in your heart. Encourage your family. Come together no matter what you would be going through, I encourage you to just gather into your living room and rejoice in the Lord, worship Him, find joy in the fact that He has called you into His kingdom, into His wonderful kingdom of light out of darkness, that He has given us His word so that we would know the way to live. It is a way of success, it is a way of long life. God promises our children to be able to be always provided for and so there is always something to rejoice in the Lord and we've got to be able to move forward in that hope.

"Give Him the honor that He deserves in all circumstances."

We must pray continuously. It says to not cease in our prayers. When you get discouraged you may stop the prayers because you may not see things going your way. You may have outcomes that you were not necessarily expecting, but we must lay ourselves and humble ourselves that we know that He is in charge of our lives, that He knows what is best for us. Sometimes there is a pressing, sometimes there is God challenging our hearts so that we would have our faith deeper in Him. He knows exactly what we need to go through in life in order to be sanctified inside of our hearts so that we would be able to go to heaven with Him so that we would be purified and our faith would be purified. So let us not curse our God, but let us pray continuously, allowing ourselves to be humbled and poured out before Him and that we would open ourselves and know that He is faithful and that He sees our hearts. He knows what we need even before we ask of it, but that doesn't mean that we're not going to put ourselves out there. That we are willing to be vulnerable to God. We're not just going to say to Him ‘well you know what I need’, but really being able to verbalize it to God and give Him the honor that He deserves in all circumstances. The verse said “..for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Rejoice in the Lord always!

So, Father, I just pray for the moms who are out there listening today. I know that we go through all different kinds of challenges when we have young children and any kind of family with any age children definitely go through ups and downs, but God we just focus on this verse that you have given us today that we are called to rejoice, that we are called to pray continuously, and give thanks to God in all circumstances for you are with us and you have not left us as orphans. You are with us and you are for us so we thank you Lord and send your Holy Spirit with each of the moms out there today. We thank you God. In your precious name we pray, Amen.