“Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” {Philippians 4:4}
“But why should I rejoice, Lord?”
“Because I am faithful.”
Are you the kind that looks at a cup half empty as opposed to half full? I am. As my husband would sometimes say about me, I’m the gloom and doom kind of person. Even when the Lord calls my name in the middle of the night I panic. I automatically think He’s going to tell me something I won’t want to hear. But really He’s just telling me to love Him and take some time to talk to Him.
He tells me again and again to: Rejoice, and be exceeding glad! {Matthew 5:12} Why? Because when it’s all said and done, He has overcome. It doesn’t matter how sad and scary life may seem because in the end we know that we will reign with Him. With a future like that, what’s there to be glum about?
The way to walk a happy and victorious life with Christ is in keeping our eyes stayed on Him. Keeping our hearts and our thoughts purposely stayed on Him. We do not deviate. We stay focused. Remember the scriptures Prophet Isaiah penned?
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” {Isaiah 26:3}
That’s the key to a victorious life – keeping our minds stayed on God and focused on Him. You might ask, “How? With life to attend to and with so many distractions?” The way to do this everyday is to keep committing everything we’re going through to Him. We keep talking to Him all the time, sharing with Him everything we’re going through and experiencing and feeling. We get Him involved with whatever we are doing and ask for His directions so we can make the right decisions, whether it’s as simple as what to cook for dinner or where you should go for vacation. It might not be easy at first but with practice it will become easier and more natural as time goes by. Proverbs described it this way:
Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established. {Proverbs 16:3}
Psalm 55:22 puts it this way: Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
Truth is, the Lord loves us so much and is so mindful of us that He doesn’t want us to live with any anxiety whatsoever. He wants us to be in perfect peace at all times. So His desire is for us to commit everything to Him, morning, noon and night – 24/7. You commit it to Him by talking to Him. You can talk to Him not only with your mouth but also with your heart, your mind, and with your spirit. When you are always thinking of the Lord it is not hard to talk to Him, especially because He is real and knows what you are saying and sharing with Him. He encourages you by responding to you in your soul and in your spirit. He makes it easy. I’ve experienced Him respond to me that wherever I was, whether riding in a car, or waiting in a doctor’s office, I could end up crying and speaking in tongues and being filled with His Holy Spirit. He fills me so much that I can’t help but cry because I could feel His love deep within my soul. He truly knows how to satisfy the longings of our soul.
Rejoicing always then is not that hard, it just takes practice. We practice focusing on the Lord by talking to Him, getting Him involved with our everyday tasks and desires and loving Him. We love Him in the process by thanking Him for being there for us, for always being present and being available to our every cry. We rejoice because we know that He is faithful. He has overcome the cross and the principalities of this world. There is nothing that is beyond His power or His control. All things are possible with God. He is true and faithful and will never fail. And we rejoice because we know that,
“…All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” {Romans 8:28}
Prayer
Father, I love You. I am so glad and thankful that You are so faithful in Your love for us – Your people. I know that there is nothing we can ever desire from You, if we believe in You with all of our hearts, that You will not grant to us. I thank You because You are true and faithful in Your word and that You know how to work all things out for our good.
Please Lord Jesus, Father God, continue to help us to commit everything to You by talking to You. There is nothing too hard with You. Please Savior, increase our faith in You today. Let us have faith and believe in Your great love for us. Help us to believe always that You are there waiting to hear us talk to You. Let us believe that You are able to work every thing out for our good. You know how to keep us until the end. You know how to keep us in perfect peace if our minds are stayed on You. Please Jesus, help us Lord. Help us to trust in You and have faith in You. Help us to commit our works and our thoughts to You always. I pray in Your most sweet and lovely name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
