Finally, my sisters…
Paul begins to wind down his letter to the Philippians, but as he does, he gets a second wind of Holy Spirit inspiration and goes into a whole new place of teaching them how to live. This new way to live, this parenthesis of the letter, is relevant to us today. Pay attention to this.
Philippians 3:1
“Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh…”
Up to this point in the letter Paul expresses his own attitude in how he relates God over all points of interest in his life. He speaks of hard actually being good and bad being lovely. He speaks of trusting and loving, caring and going the extra mile without complaining. He tells them Phil 2:18 to do everything with a glad heart and a rejoicing spirit. And, now…he launches into his closing thoughts to them.
It is a repeat. It is intentional. It is important.
Rejoice in the Lord!
- What is it? Rejoice comes from the Greek, chario…which means to be glad, to thrive, to hail, to rejoice.
Rejoicing means to FIND JOY in something.
- How do we find JOY? We find joy by focusing up, and looking to the Lord in each of our circumstances. We look to Him and trust that there are no second causes with Him, but that He is in all and over all. This CAN bring great comfort and joy to our hearts. I like to think of Joy as..Jesus Over You! When Jesus and His power is reigning Over YOU, there is no need for worry, fear, or stressing out. He is with us in and through everything! This is something to celebrate! We often must celebrate it by faith, but faith in what we do not see, pleases God and keeps us looking to Him.
- Why should we do it? First of all we see it throughout scripture. And, important to note: Rejoicing, speaking joy, praising, also blocks off the power and influence of the evil one. We see in 2 Chron 20 that King Jehoshaphat sent out worshipers before the army and it put an ambush against the enemy!
- How do we do it? Start today. Find joy in God and stop and thank Him for being over all your life…regularly and frequently.
This morning, after reading this, my husband and I stopped and had a praise time. It ended up also being a time of placing our requests before God, but it began with thanking God for being Large and In Charge, over the details of our very lives.
Today…thank Him, look to Him, find Joy in the God who...Knows You, Protects You, Made You, and Values You. Find comfort in knowing that God’s love for you can not be separated by your circumstances. Smile in remembering that God is for you, even if life seems against you.
I am smiling too!
It’s a new week, let’s Live Up!
Debbie
