He Knows My Name, He Knows My Heart, He Keeps Me Safe - May 7, 2025

Scripture:
Rejoice Always, Pray Continually, Give Thanks In All Circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
— 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)

Devotional:
This scripture tells us to rejoice always, to pray continually, and to thank God in all circumstances — right? We are instructed to give God praise no matter the situation. We are always told to rejoice always.

Let’s be real for a minute — it’s hard sometimes to be happy in an unfortunate situation. The last thing we want to do is smile and rejoice when we’re going through. However, this is a command from God: that we actually do that.

I’ve experienced situation after situation after situation where I did this very thing. I smiled when I was hurting. I thanked God and still praised Him while I was going through. I still held on to faith in the unknown. It was HARD.

But at the end of the day, when I made up in my mind to follow Christ, that meant loving Him and being obedient to Him in spite of my circumstances — because I love God more than the things. At one point, that’s all I wanted.

But I realized that God is the one who keeps me safe — not the things, not even me. I can’t even protect myself at times.

What I’ve learned through all of this is that God will keep you safe because He knows your name and He knows your heart. He knows who YOU are. So while you may be in an unknown situation right now and don’t know what the outcome is going to be, trust God to be the ultimate decider of your fate. Remember that He is always in control and HE IS GOOD!

Praise Him in the midst of what you’re going through. Thank Him in all circumstances. Rejoice always. And when you do what is right, God will do what is necessary.

You’ll finally get to the place where you can expect to be kept safe even when you know you failed. You can expect God to come through when you need Him the most. You can expect God to vindicate you when you need representation. God will do it! Trust me!

When you can praise God in those situations, your heart is telling Him, I love you still — because you’re STILL good.
And He will keep you safe.

Reflection/Challenge:
Think about a situation you were in or may be in right now and just start praising God right in the middle of it. It may not feel good, it may look like it’s not going to work in your favor, but rejoice, pray, and thank God for HIS goodness, and his Grace and Mercy.

Prayer:
Lord, I thank You today for Your goodness, Your mercy, and Your grace. Your grace is sufficient for me today. I thank You for life today. I’m alive, well, and in my right mind. I thank You for that. God, I ask You for forgiveness for ALL of my sins and shortcomings. Forgive me father for being upset and not praying as I should in unfortunate circumstances. I acknowledge that You are good ALL the time, not just sometimes. Thank You for your forgiveness and I receive it in my heart. Lord, today, this situation is unfortunate, it hurts, and the outcome is unknown but I thank You for being GOOD all the time. I thank You for your grace being sufficient ALL the time. I thank You for being who You have been in my life. Thank YOU. I love YOU. I adore YOU. I give YOU all the praise. I rejoice today because I know the One who is in Control, and Know that He is good. I rejoice today because I know the One who extends His Grace and Mercy, and promises to never leave me nor forsake me. So while this situation may not look what I anticipated, I rejoice anyways, because I know the ONE who holds my life all together, and the ONE who has NEVER FAILED ME. So today I just want to say THANK YOU, and I trust You even with this situation. You are STILL God, You are STILL in control, and you are STILL Good. Thank You for loving me the way You. Do. I do believe by Faith, You know my Name, You know my heart, and You will keep me safe. In Jesus name I pray, Thank God and Amen.