REJOICE IN HIM, HE REJOICES OVER YOU

          

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⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! - Philippians 4:4 NKJV

As a believer in Jesus Christ, choose to live in your true identity, you are a child of God. Live like it, today and everyday, let the fruit of the Spirit grow and flourish in your life and as you do, the Lord's joy will be evident in you. Be conscious of His presence with you and in you, spend time with Him, talk to Him, listen to Him and just fellowship with Him. Be conscious of His presence at all times.

The Word of God declares that in the presence of the Lord there is fullness of joy, not to mention guidance, direction and yes, unending, eternal pleasures. The pleasures of sin are but for a short while and pale terribly when compared to the eternal pleasures the Father has for you to enjoy.

¹¹ You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. – Psalms 16:11 NIV

And that’s not all, the Lord himself rejoices over us and does so with singing. Picture that for a minute, your Heavenly Father, the Almighty Himself, the Creator of all things, enjoys you so much to the point of singing over you! Oh, how He loves us. If we only got a glimpse of the revelation of His love for us, we’d never again wallow in self pity or suffer from low self esteem issues. God is your Daddy and He loves you eternally and unconditionally.

¹⁷ The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.” – Zephaniah 3:17 NIV

It gets even better, as your Father sings and rejoices over you, you are being energized, strengthened and refreshed for His joy is our strength. This has all been made possible by Jesus' perfect sacrifice of himself for us on the cross; by His death and resurrection, He has reconciled us to God. Therefore, the Father has every reason to be eternally joyful and that means we have an endless supply of strength available to us forever. We have every reason to rejoice in Him, our circumstances notwithstanding. We know that He works everything out according to His will and purpose; He’s now at work in us, through us and for us. So we can keep on rejoicing in Him even in the face of adversity, knowing that His purposes are being accomplished in us.

² My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. - James 1: 2 - 4 NKJV

One thing about trials we’ll do well to remember is the fact that they are ultimately designed to bring us into a place of maturity and abundance. It may not look like it as we go through the trials but as our faith is tested, and we stand firm fixing our eyes on the Author and Finisher of our faith, the fruit

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of the Spirit is being developed in us, and as our faith grows we learn to joyfully walk in what Jesus has already provided for us!

With each trial we grow; we go from faith to faith, from glory to glory and from one level of joy to another. Even the early Apostles learned and grew in this truth. The first time they were arrested and threatened for preaching Christ, they went home and prayed and were filled with power to speak the Word boldly (Acts 4:23-31), then the next time around when they were arrested, flogged and threatened, they left the Sanhedrin rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer for His name’s sake (Acts 5:41). Now that is pure holy joy, not just mere “happiness” which someone once said depends on “happenings”.

The trial you are facing today is but a stepping stone into what the Lord has already prepared for you. He is right there in the midst of the trial with you and that alone is reason enough for you to rejoice, yes even in the face of adversity. 

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!