HONESTLY
It occurs to me that to rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice (Philippians 4:4), we have to be able to be honest. Why? Because God wants us to be completely open to him.
When we stay “in our heads,” and try to think things through and work them out, we’re not asking for the help we need. We may even come up with all kinds of excuses why we’re not rejoicing, but we’re just not “feeling it.”
But the author of Philippians didn’t tell us to rely on our feelings, nor did He tell us to ignore them. Neither of these is faith.
Rejoicing in Him is a step of faith; not feelings and not thoughts. It is an act of obedience to the Spirit of God that allows Him to inhabit the atmosphere of praise and send angels to the front of the battle.
It may be one of the most difficult things you have done, but here’s a suggestion: start by thanking God for the situation you are in, the moment you are in, the battle, the crisis. Thanking Him in all things is like rejoicing in Him scaled down. It’s a starting point.
If you can’t acknowledge that your situation is within the reach of Jesus’ Lordship, what are you actually believing? Maybe it’s time to get honest with God about that. Is there someone you aren’t forgiving? Demons love that. Yes. I said demons. They are the ones who can’t acknowledge Jesus’ Lordship. You may want to read that again.
Paul wasn’t sitting in a lovely meadow listening to the birds when he wrote Philippians. He was in a prison. But, as Richard Lovelace discovered 1600 years or so later, “Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage.”
Paul knew, not with intellectual knowledge, but by the experience of daily dependence on God’s Spirit to be alive and at work within him. He had learned that rejoicing would turn His Spirit loose to operate on his behalf.
It occurs to me that to rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice (Philippians 4:4), we have to be able to be honest. Why? Because God wants us to be completely open to him.
When we stay “in our heads,” and try to think things through and work them out, we’re not asking for the help we need. We may even come up with all kinds of excuses why we’re not rejoicing, but we’re just not “feeling it.”
But the author of Philippians didn’t tell us to rely on our feelings, nor did He tell us to ignore them. Neither of these is faith.
Rejoicing in Him is a step of faith; not feelings and not thoughts. It is an act of obedience to the Spirit of God that allows Him to inhabit the atmosphere of praise and send angels to the front of the battle.
It may be one of the most difficult things you have done, but here’s a suggestion: start by thanking God for the situation you are in, the moment you are in, the battle, the crisis. Thanking Him in all things is like rejoicing in Him scaled down. It’s a starting point.
If you can’t acknowledge that your situation is within the reach of Jesus’ Lordship, what are you actually believing? Maybe it’s time to get honest with God about that. Is there someone you aren’t forgiving? Demons love that. Yes. I said demons. They are the ones who can’t acknowledge Jesus’ Lordship. You may want to read that again.
Paul wasn’t sitting in a lovely meadow listening to the birds when he wrote Philippians. He was in a prison. But, as Richard Lovelace discovered 1600 years or so later, “Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage.”
Paul knew, not with intellectual knowledge, but by the experience of daily dependence on God’s Spirit to be alive and at work within him. He had learned that rejoicing would turn His Spirit loose to operate on his behalf.
