Skip to main content

Rejoice Always

       We let our minds be filled with things that have no value. We let the ideas of money, business, and grand adventures take over our idle thoughts. Why not strive to make our thoughts into a strong session of growth in Christ? We must let our mind think on godly things. For instance, one thing that needs to captivate our thoughts is rejoicing.


We need to be joyful over something good always. God is good and should always be rejoiced over.  What about the blessings He bestows on us? They should cause all of us to rejoice every moment of our lives. We have surrendered our lives over to God through Christ. We have lost ourselves in Christ where we should always rejoice. (Phil. 4:4)  When we did this our names were written in the book of life. (Lk. 10:20) We rejoice because of this. There is sufficient cause for us to always be rejoicing. We should never find ourselves without reason to rejoice in Christ.


We should rejoice in the truth. (1 Cor. 3:6) We should rejoice in what the truth brings us. We should rejoice in what the truth teaches us. We should rejoice in what the truth does for us.  We should rejoice when God’s children walk according to the truth and in the light. (2 John 4; 3 John 3-4) We are to rejoice under persecution. (Matt. 5:11-12) For when we are persecuted we know what we are doing what Christ did and commanded us to do. We should gather with others who are facing persecution and rejoice with them as well. (Rm. 12:15) We suffer for the cause of Christ. There is nothing wrong with that. Although I think many times Christians would rather not suffer. Or at least they find no need to endure it. We should rejoice in the suffering we have in Christ. Our persecution, suffering, ridicule, and rejection only comes when we are truly living the way God wants us too. When we are doing that God is proud of us therefore we should rejoice. (Col. 1:23-24) The church and each one of us individually benefit greatly from our own sufferings. We benefit in the salvation we are given. That is the ultimate cause for rejoicing. (Isa. 25:9)


Now there are many things we should not rejoice over. We cannot rejoice over evil. (Pro. 2:14) We should not rejoice when an enemy falls. (Pro. 24:17) I know that may not be easy at times. If you were to rejoice over such a thing, what would you be rejoicing about? Evil, sin, or some horrible accident? We would never wish such things on anyone nor want to rejoice over such a thing. We should never rejoice in the joy of the world or sin. That would make us stand against God. No one desires to stand against God. No one, knowing the truth behind sin, truly wants to rejoice over it anyway. (Hos. 9:1) Never rejoice in arrogance. Oh, the can of worms that can open for you. More importantly, what kind of person rejoices in arrogance anyway? Who would want to be like that? Be sure in your rejoicing you are joyful over something God deems good.


God makes it clear we should rejoice over our souls repenting and being saved. We should rejoice over any soul taking those steps. (Lk. 15:6,7,9,24) We should have the same crown of rejoicing as Paul did. Paul said his crown of rejoicing is us in the presence of Christ at His coming. (1 Thess. 2:19) God wants us to focus and think on the good things. Evil is all around us and presses in hard. Sometimes that pressure and overwhelming amount of evil can make the world seem void of good. If that were true it would cause anyone to give up. Praise God it is not. For God is good and because of His goodness we have faith. We have salvation. We have hope. That should always enable us to see the good. Are you rejoicing always?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Thoughts

Think on what is lovely. Let God direct your mind to what is truly lovely in this world. At the very least that tree, flower, and blade of grass that He made and you saw today is lovely. Let Him influence your thoughts every day until you think on what God considers lovely. Then dwell on those things. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. (Col. 3:16) There will be an overflow of lovely thoughts pour from your mind. Think about how encouraging to others that would be. Think lovely thoughts.
2 comments
Read more

"I Don't Wana Go" :(

Christianity is much more than just Sunday morning. In fact it’s an everyday focus, "pick up your cross daily" Christ said ( Luke 9:23 ).  Because of that everyday race running the assembling of the saints should be what we look forward to ( Heb. 12:1-2, 10:25 ). It's the one place we can be around those we are in fellowship with that are seeking to achieve the same goal, Heaven. A place to be rejuvenated, to mature, and to worship God. A reason why you should be seeking such assembling's of the saints and excited to be a part of it is that there is nothing else like it. You were made one of them when you were immersed into Christ. You live every day without that group at your side. So a few days a week you get to be around the saints ( Eph. 2:19, 2 Cor. 13:13 ). Who see the world the way you do ( Romans 12:2; James 4:4 ). Who live in the world the way you do ( Matt. 5:13-16 ). Who desire to be like Christ like you do ( Phil. 2:5; 1 John 2:6 ). Most importantly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Your Structure

“But  I  discipline  my  body and bring it into subjection, lest, when  I  have preached to others,  I myself  should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27). It would be best if you worked on creating in your mind mental structures for success. A study was done where  two basketball teams had to shoot free throws. One group went out and shot 100 free throws with something life 30% accuracy. The second group had sat for 30 minutes and visualized making a perfect free throw 100 times. That team went out and shot 100 free throws with 75% accuracy. What is the difference? The mental structure. You can do the same. Paul said, “I discipline my body, I seek to please God.” Just like Paul, we must get in our heads what we will do to be successful in Christ. Work to create Godly mental structures.                          ...
Post a Comment
Read more