John 11:35
Jesus Wept
35 Jesus Wept.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice Always, Pray Continually
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
As one reads through the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible, we can see three verses that are very short in length...They are short verses, with powerful meanings and teachings...The shortest verses in the NIV Bible are Jesus wept, Rejoice always, and Pray continually...And interestingly enough two of the shortest verses are joined together in St. Paul's letter to the Thessalonians...St. Paul tells the Thessalonians to "Rejoice always", and to "pray continually"....
Jesus gives us permission to mourn and cry and weep...He wept...There is a time to mourn and Jesus mourned with Mary and Martha over their brother’s death...During times of grief weeping is good for one to release their feelings of sadness...
The other shortest verse in the Bible is Rejoice always...St. Paul teaches us that we can rejoice in many things...When we believe in Jesus, we know that in the end all things will work out, because God is in control, and over time God’s will does get done...
And the other short verse is to pray continually...Jesus wants us to be persistent in our prayers and He wants us to constantly pray and be in constant communication with Him and His Father...
In a world that is not as it should be, we need at different a time to weep, a time to rejoice, and to pray continually...