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The striking feature of these three exhortations is their universality. It is natural that we should sometimes pray and rejoice and give thanks. But certainly it does not come naturally to us to be always doing these three things. Nearly all men experience them at some time in their lives. Universality and continuance are to be the distinguishing characteristics of Christians in regard to them. It is, says St. Paul, "the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward" that these remarkable signs of grace should be seen in Christian people.

I. PERPETUAL REJOICING. Christians are, of course, subject to natural fluctuations of mood and feeling. They are also liable to the changes of fortune; and they are not callous to the perception of them. None of us can escape sorrow. Some good people have the greatest troubles. The only perfect Man who ever lived was "a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." How, then, can we rejoice always? St. Paul was too real and too sympathetic to mock the sorrowing with the glib words of cheer that shallow comforters administer. If he exhorted, he knew that the exhortation was practicable.

1. Christian rejoicing is a deep, calm joy. The surface may be ruffled while the depths are still; cross-currents may vary while the undercurrent runs steadily on. Surface pain may conceal sacred joys which it cannot destroy.

2. The secret of Christian joy is inwardness. These Christians do not depend on external circumstances for their happiness. The spiritual sources of rejoicing in the love and presence of God are not disturbed by earthly calamities. Often they give forth sweetest blessedness under the blows of affliction, as the waters flowed out when Moses struck the rock. If we want to rejoice always we must live always near to God. The first exhortation is closely connected with the second.

3. Christians are also helped to rejoice always by living in the future (2 Corinthians 4:17, 18).

II. CEASELESS PRAYING. It is needless to say that this does not mean that we are to be always on our knees. That is not possible; nor would it be right, for the work of life must be done. We are not only worshippers; we are servants.

1. Ceaseless praying is a continuous direction of the heart towards God. The essence of prayer is not the uttering of devout phrases. God does not hear us for our much speaking. Christ condemned long prayers, not because we could pray too much, but because they became superstitious as though a worth lay in their length, and also because they became formal when the spirit flagged. Prayer is essentially spiritual communion with God. This must be supported, however, and inspired by definite seasons wholly given to devotion. People often abuse the motto, Laborare est orare. It is only true of the prayerful man.

2. Ceaseless praying is attainable through the enjoyment of unbroken union with God. Our thought may not be always occupied with. God because the duties of life demand our attention, and its recreations are requisite for our health. But if we live near to God we shall have an abiding sense of God's nearness, a quick uplifting of the heart to him in quiet moments, and many a secret talk with him even in our busiest hours.

III. UNIVERSAL THANKSGIVING. The difficulty is to make this honest. For it is an insult to God to utter words of thanksgiving while the heart is ungrateful. How can we thank God for pain, for loss, for things the good of which we cannot discover?

1. Universal thanksgiving is possible through the perception that under all circumstances blessings outnumber and outweigh troubles. We fix our thoughts on our trouble to the neglect of a thousand blessings. A fairer, wider consideration would call up more grateful thoughts.

2. Universal thanksgiving is possible by means of faith that holds troubles sent by God to be blessings in disguise. A mere consideration of the facts of life will not create it. But when we have come to believe that "the mercy of the Lord endureth for ever," we have learnt the secret of universal thankfulness. - W.F.A.

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KJV: Rejoice evermore.

WEB: Rejoice always.