Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
If you really want to live a joyful, beautiful life you have to get very serious about controlling your mind, that is, where you focus your attention, what thoughts you permit, and what imaginations you are spending time upon that are not healthy but time wasters and troublemakers.
People sometimes are busy imagining conversations they will have with people to point out their faults, justify themselves, or just imagining fearful consequences to things that look threatening in their lives that actually never happen. This is a waste of your and My time in the present age and is not gaining you any reward. It solves nothing and makes your life stressful.
Think of your life now upon this earth as the time for you to earn a reward that will determine your eternity. This is not your final landing place; you have no lasting city here. That lasting city is coming and you need to be ready, holding your head high, and dressed for the wedding feast of the Lamb. Jesus is coming back for a glorious church without stain or wrinkle. And that should be YOU as a member of His Body the Church.
And I have equipped you with everything necessary to be that person. I have taken away all your sins by punishing them on Christ, I have given you My righteousness in Him, your sins and offenses I remember no more, I have made you a new creation in Christ, I have prepared a life of good deeds for you in advance that you might enjoy them, and I am present as your helper, your healer, your provider, your shepherd, your peace, and your Father.
It is time you stepped up and enjoyed all Christ died to give you. It grieves Me that so many who believe in Me live a life way beneath what they have and who they are. They perish for lack of knowledge and give in to the devil and call it My Will for their lives. It is NOT My Will that you suffer a toilsome and curse filled life. I sent Jesus to make sure you would not.
It is time you took control of your mind. Stop tormenting yourself and others by your thoughts which cause you to say words that wound and do not edify or accomplish anything that blesses anyone.
So what do you do to get out of the tangled mess of your mind that keeps causing you to fail? Three things. And if you will do them, not just once but always, they will work. Guaranteed.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give constant thanks. This is My Will for you who are in Christ Jesus. This is not optional. It is a command.
My question is “are you doing them?” Some of you have never done them. And some of you do them occasionally, but My apostle Paul, despite all the obstacles and opposition he faced, did them constantly, even chained to the floor in prison. And he got out and saved every person in there.
If you are desirous to work with Me on controlling your mind so you can rejoice, pray, and give thanks in both the best of times and the worst of times, pay attention to what I will now share with you.
NEVER talk about something someone did or said to you that was not nice. Do not talk to yourself about it, the person who said or did it about it, or to another person. This is backbiting, complaining, keeping a record of wrongs, malice, and gossip.
Sometimes you have smoothed things over and are still living with that person, usually a family member, and then you bring it up and remind them of the nasty thing they said or did like a slap in the face. This will make you both unhappy and cause a rift in your current relationship that will throw you back to that time of offense and make you angry. And then the person that offended you (or you if someone reminds you of what you said or did) will answer with something the other did and it will escalate. And both of you will have another axe to grind.
I do not do that to you. I never remind you of things you have done or said to Me that were not nice and often downright sinful because I put them all on Christ and as far as I am concerned they are gone. Your sins and offenses I remember no more. And you should not either. Or those of others. Joseph, the son of Jacob, was very skilled at this. He never spoke to anyone about what his brothers or Potiphar’s wife did to him. And consequently he had a very happy, rich and fruitful life. Even when in slavery and in the prison, he was a free man—rejoicing, praying without ceasing, and giving thanks. And I was with him and made him a prosperous man.
So what do you speak to yourself about if you are in a deeply rooted habit of only talking to yourself about all the negative things in your life, in yourself, and in others? Dwelling on the bad things others have done to you and how you are going to confront them about it? This kind of thinking is neither making you happy or solving any of your problems. It is also cheating you out of all I have given you in Christ. It is keeping you out of your promised land, your place of grace. I cannot get you out of a pit if you keep digging it deeper and never look up to Me for help out.
I tell you the remedy in My Word. You are to make the most of your time and to redeem the years you have wasted in the vanity of your mind by getting the inspiration of the Spirit to live the abundant life that is My Will for you. Do not be foolish, but understand what My will is. You do this by taking yourself up a level out of the flesh, where the devil crawls, to the level of the spirit where there is light, revelation, joy, and peace. And you do this by changing the way you talk to yourself and what you imagine.
So what to you say to yourself? You must begin consistently speaking within yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to Me; always giving thanks for all things in the name of your Lord Jesus Christ unto Me, your Father, for the great things you have in Him. Ephesians 5:17-20.You have miracles of healing, provision, promotion, and power at your fingertips with Him.
Have you ever talked within yourself this way? With psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs?
David did, it begun in his heart on the hillsides of Bethlehem, and it went on to when he was hiding in caves from Saul, but it was no longer him singing just to Me, now four hundred men who were in despair, distress and debt joined him and they heard as he sang to Me, “O magnify the LORD with me, let us together exalt his name, I sought the LORD and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears! Look to Him that you may be radiant with joy and not blush with shame. Those who seek You, LORD, want for no good thing!” and they watched him encourage himself in Me in every trial and never speak ill of Saul or try to harm him for the abuse and evil he was saying and doing to David.
And as they begun to join him they saw great and mighty things begin to take place. They were no longer in despair, distress and debt, the impossible happened and they became mighty men of valor, champions and overcomers that never backed down to an oncoming enemy. And towards the end of David’s life on earth, they all contributed millions of dollars in gold and silver towards the building of a house for Me. And they rejoiced in gratitude to Me together that they had so much to give, and acknowledged it was all from Me.
Do you still think it doesn’t work? And David’s songs did not just stay in his heart, you have many of them written down by My Spirit as the Psalms to encourage and edify you today and show you the path to the life that is life indeed. David sang to Me to know the path of life and fullness of joy in My presence, and I did.
And he wanted others to have the same, so he set 288 Levites trained in My songs and musical instruments to draw lots to sing psalms, hymns and inspired songs 24/7 before My ark of the covenant all the time of his reign as king. 1 Chronicles 25.
And there was joy, peace and prosperity in Israel while David was king and people were learning to sing My songs before Me 24/7. But when that stopped among his descendants the peace and joy left Israel and lawlessness prevailed.
Let us continue to the next step. Now you are speaking to yourself and beginning to sing out with others My songs. Next I tell you in that passage of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians to submit to one another, to be subject to one another, in service in reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:21.
You will be much happier having an attitude of helping one another out then harboring resentment that someone is encroaching on your time expecting you to do humble acts of service caring for their needs. This can especially happen with family members who expect the stronger ones to care for them. I have told you that the greatest one among you is the one who serves the rest and the least one among you is the greatest. I have given you the mind of Christ and He was anointed to serve you. He announced that in Nazareth in fulfillment of the great prophecy of Isaiah. My Spirit had anointed Him to preach the good news to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to release those you are oppressed and captive, to open blind eyes, heal the sick, raise the deed, and lead prisoners out to prosperity. I anointed Him with My Spirit and power to go about doing good and healing all those oppressed of the devil. And that same anointing is on you.
He did come to be served but to serve. Is that your attitude? That you are here to seek out and save the lost? To wash each other’s feet? Jesus told you the night He washed His disciples feet that He gave you an example to humble service though He was their leader, that they must do as He had done. Go about doing good and healing those oppressed of the devil?
Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves. In that way you will not resent to serve, you will do it willingly to gain a great reward, in fact, you will go an extra mile. Because what did I do with Christ for submitting Himself to service? I exalted His Name above every other Name so that every knee bends to His Name. And I did the same for Joseph in Egypt, Pharaoh decreed that everyone had to bow to him. And that fulfilled Joseph’s dream, his brothers had to follow Pharoah’s command and bow before Joseph when they showed up for food in the time of famine.
And that flows into the next step in the Letter to the Ephesians, nourish and care for others as Christ does the Church, which is His body. And you are members of that body. So do for the other members what He does for you. And what does He do? He nourishes and cares for His body, washing it with pure water by My Word so that it is glorious, without wrinkle, blemish or any such thing, but that the Church would be holy and blameless before Me. And so you are by the Blood of His Cross and the washing of water with the Word. Ephesians 5:26-27. Wash others with My Word.
YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS SPEAKING ANYTHING BUT MY WORD. Whether as written in the Bible or spoken by My Spirit in your heart.
Jesus told you He never said anything on His OWN initiative but only as directed by My Spirit. He only spoke the Words initiated by Me for My Words are eternal life.
And this is not difficult to understand, anything that does not exhort, edify, and encourage others and anything that is not spoken with love and a heart free of malice, resentment, bitterness, jealousy, and anger, is probably against My Words. My Words are spirit and life. And they are always spoken with love behind them. Even when I correct and direct you along the good path for your life.
Love does not mean giving people carte blanche to do anything that they want, especially not your children, just because they say it makes them happy. If it is sin, those joys are fleeting, and it will ruin the life of the one letting it in and the life of the one not warning them. If it is your child, you must discipline them to walk in My ways or you are opening destruction in their lives.
If you do these things I have shared with you today you will save yourself from much grief.
I love you. Always be in the Light. Be doing things and speaking words that could be broadcast from the housetops with no shame on your part. Just benefit. Your private and your public life should match up. And that all has to do with the thoughts written on the tablet of your heart. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing and give constant thanks. These three are the power triplets. Never be out of touch with Me during your day and night. That was Eve’s mistake. She forgot I was there.