Ephesians 5:20

The world's joy expresses itself in a physical way; it is mere natural excitement, such as that caused by wine. The believer's is to be the opposite of this. It is not the lift given by natural causes, but the deeper delight ministered by the Spirit of God. It is one thing to be indwelt by the Spirit, and another to be filled with the Spirit. All believers are indwelt; but how few, sadly, are filled!

This is not a mere duty. I need not say we cannot deny the duty part. But it is clear the Holy Spirit assumes the saints will feel and understand this: it directs the heart rather than demanding something from it... Our hearts are naturally so legal that we tend to turn the words of our God to us into a law we must bend to. That happens even with the knowledge of God we have. Instead we should see that this is the good portion God has given us. Thanksgiving always for all things is then the natural expression of the heart taught by the Holy Spirit.

Thanksgiving is not optional on our part. The apostle declares that it is "the will of God in Christ Jesus" that we should "give thanks in all circumstances."

It is not giving thanks in everything that we do. It is more. No matter what God does, or permits to be done, I am entitled by faith to receive it as a blessing to my soul. So I give thanks for it. Whatever the trial may be — disappointment, scorn, distraction, the thousand influences that come from an evil world — I am not to thank Him for these. I thank Him for the blessing that God designs for me through them.

A man must know he has a good portion who can rejoice always in all things, who can give thanks always for all things. The natural man cannot receive such a word as this... God seems to say in this passage, My child, you will never be in any circumstances, or in any position, in which you have no cause to give thanks... This giving of thanks is not one or two links of a chain, then broken off; no, it is continuous and unbroken and lasting.

He could and did give thanks in the hour of deepest trial. In Matthew 11 and Luke 10 we see Him rejected by men... The dark shadows of the cross were already falling across His path. Then we read: "At that time" — mark it well. At that time, when all was darkest and He had unspeakable anguish ahead, "Jesus rejoiced" and said, "I thank you, Father." Oh, for grace to imitate Him in this — not only in subjection to the will of God, but in receiving the heaviest trials from the Father's hand, knowing that all is for eventual blessing.

He was occupied with circumstances, and not with the God of circumstances.

Redemption has set the believer in a position of eternal obligation to the God of grace... Everything, then, is to be acknowledged thankfully. The thing received, whether good or bad, matters less than the hand that gives it... Notice the deliberate precision in the language of this verse. Its many-sided purpose is to keep us from falling below the true level of spiritual worship when we give thanks.

This constantly thankful spirit will have both a preserving and a fruitful effect. It will make submission to one another in the fear of God simpler for us. So we will recognise God as being in control, rather than the will of man dominating.