Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.
Philippians 4:4
If you’ve been a Christian for any amount of time, you’ve certainly heard a lot about rejoicing in the Lord when things are tough, but I want to point out that we ought not to forget to rejoice in the Lord when things are good. So much emphasis is placed on rejoicing when we don’t feel like it (and rightly so!) that sometimes we may forget to praise God ‘just because.’ The Word of God says to rejoice in the Lord always: and again I [Paul] say, rejoice! This goes right along with a familiar passage (Psalms 34:1-3) that says,
I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.
It is so important that we cultivate a lifestyle of praise and worship that whether good, bad, or ugly, our natural reflex is to praise, glorify, and magnify the Lord God!
This word rejoice used in Philippians is the Greek word chairō, which means to rejoice, to be glad, or to rejoice exceedingly; to be merry¹.
My encouragement today is to take some time today to be intentional about praising, thanking, and rejoicing in the Lord. Don’t just wait until you are experiencing problems in your life before you really press into the joy of the Lord (as funny as that sounds, many people only thing about Philippians 4:4 when times get tough).
Don’t just stop at thanksgiving and praise. Let your heart become flooded with the joy of God Himself. He wants to fill you with a supernatural endowment of His joy today, if you will let Him into your space.
Here’s one last Scripture along these lines that causes me to raise my hands in praise nearly every time I read it:
May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope. (Romans 15:13 AMPC)
Why don’t you take a few moments today to truly rejoice in the Lord?
Reference
- Kittel, Gerhard, et al. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament : Abridged in One Volume. Grand Rapids, Mich., W.B. Eerdmans, 1985, p. 1299.
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