Rejoice in the Lord

As I wrote in the introduction to this study, Paul can be considered the “apostle of joy.” In addition, Philippians is considered the “epistle of joy.” In today’s verse, Paul reminds his readers to rejoice in the Lord. He never says that we can rejoice in our circumstances at all times, but that we can rejoice in the Lord at all times.

What does it take to rejoice in the Lord? It requires thinking about what we have in Christ rather than focusing on our circumstances. It also requires focusing on what we do have instead of what we do not have. We can rejoice because we have been forgiven of all our sins, our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, we have a personal relationship with God, and we will live in God’s presence eternally. No matter what we lack, we always have hope—and hope is powerful.

See, our thinking is the foundation for all of our emotions, and if we desire to have pleasant feelings such as joy and peace, we need to think thoughts that produce them. Here is one great promise of God that causes me to rejoice: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28 NIV).

Over the years, my speaking schedule has required me to travel a great deal, and Dave and I have experienced many inconvenient and irritating circumstances during that time. For example, during one heavy travel season, twice in one month the water went off on the floor of the hotel where our room was located. What are the chances that such an unusual occurrence would happen two times in one month in two different hotels? Not many. So, we decided the enemy was merely trying to irritate us, and we refused to be irritated. I laughed and said, “If the water doesn’t come back on by 7:00 a.m., I guess I’ll have to find another room in the hotel where I can get ready for the day. I can’t go to a conference looking the way I do, without the opportunity to clean up and fix my hair.” I prayed, asking God to somehow solve the problem with the water by 7:00 a.m., and at 6:55 a.m., an engineer knocked on the door to tell us the water was back on.

Perhaps if we prayed and kept our joy instead of becoming upset and losing it, we would see more amazing answers to prayer. Just as we can walk to a sink and choose to turn on the water, we can also turn on our joy by deciding to have godly perspectives on our circumstances. So I encourage you: Choose to rejoice today!

_{Adapted from the book Be Joyful by Joyce Meyer. Copyright 2022 by Joyce Meyer. Published by Hachette Book Group, Inc. All rights reserved.}