Don't be grieved; for the joy of the LORD is your strength. -- Neh. 8:10b (HNV)
You shall rejoice in all the good which Yahweh your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the foreigner who is in the midst of you. -- Deut. 26:11 (WEB)
Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. -- Rom. 5:11 (WEB)
Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, Rejoice! -- Philippians 4:4 (WEB)
Did you ever notice that God expects us, and even commands us to rejoice? That means that you can decide to have joy. God is not unfair. He gives you the power and authority to do everything that He asks you to do, even if it is to walk on water. There may be times in your life that it might seem easier to walk on water than to rejoice. How, exactly, do you do that?
Take a look at Paul and Silas, and what they did after being falsely accused of a crime they didn't commit because they had cast out a demon, beaten without a trial, and locked in stocks in a most uncomfortable position. They started praising God in song!
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But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, �I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!� It came out that very hour. But when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, �These men, being Jews, are agitating our city, and set forth customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.�
The multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore their clothes off of them, and commanded them to be beaten with rods. When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a
charge, threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.
But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone�s bonds were loosened. The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, �Don�t harm yourself, for we are all here!�
He called for lights and sprang in, and, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and said, �Sirs, what must I do to be saved?�
They said, �Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,
you and your household.� They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house. -- Acts 16:18-32
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Notice that Paul and Silas weren't real quiet with their singing hymns to God. The other prisoners heard them. They had something to rejoice about that nobody could beat out of them. No financial problem, no physical problem, no political problem, no health risk, no beating, no imprisonment-- nothing stopped them from rejoicing in their salvation in Jesus Christ. It was this same Paul who later wrote to the church that he established in Philippi -- the same city where he was unjustly imprisoned and beaten, contrary to his rights as a Roman citizen -- to rejoice in the Lord always. He said it twice for emphasis. "Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, Rejoice!"
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