WHATEVER HAPPENS

Philippians 3:1 NLT Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.

As I was reading about Paul rejoicing as he was writing to the Philippian church I asked myself what am I rejoicing in today because, I don’t know about you, but we can get so caught up in the nitty gritty of our day that we forget to rejoice. Maybe you don’t feel like rejoicing, and you may think there’s not much to rejoice about because of the state of the world, or because of health or family issues.

But God wants to bring us up higher today to remember all the things we can rejoice about no matter what happens around us.😊

We can rejoice because God has forgiven us, because He has accepted us and called us righteous in His sight. Those things all on their own are a cause for huge rejoicing! But what’s next? 

We can rejoice in God’s provision and His wonderful care of us; in God’s protection and how He watches over us, and most of all we can rejoice because in His presence is fullness of joy. We all know it’s much easier to enjoy the ones we love when we actually spend time with them and interact with them. It’s the same with God.😊

In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 NIV God reminds us we are spirit beings who have a soul and we happen to live in a body, but the spirit is where our real life is, it’s the real ‘us’, and God’s Holy Spirit is joined to our spirit. That is where and how Paul could rejoice in the midst of prison, in shipwrecks, in beatings. He just had such an awareness in his spirit of who he was in Christ and all that Christ had done for him he couldn’t seem to not rejoice.😊

We may not be at that point yet (I know I have a way to go) but as Paul says, we leave those things which are behind, we press forward and we rejoice in all Jesus has done for us as we go.

Psalm 33:1 NKJV Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful.

When things are tough in life, let’s remember we can still rejoice in God’s presence, in His provision, and in His protection and so much more! What a wonderful Saviour, and I hope it has helped you rejoice today.😊 Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.x😊

Photo by Nico Smit on Unsplash

STEADY THE KNEES!

Isaiah 35:3-4 NIV Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance with divine retribution he will come to save you.”

I read a sign which said, ‘Life without cake is possible but pointless.’ which made me chuckle.😊

Life without faith is also possible but pointless. We all look at situations and think some can change and others look impossible. We find all the reasons why they won’t or can’t be done, but that is when we are walking by sight! God calls us to walk by faith because it’s our faith that overcomes the world, not our doubts or human reasonings, because Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith.😊

God says we're on the victory side, that we are above only and not beneath, that all things are possible to him who believes! Matthew 19:26 NIV Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” When we look at the circumstances we can listen to our doubts, bow in defeat and say things will never change, or we can choose to believe Jesus and thank Him for the victory by faith.😊

The Lord is standing beside each one of us encouraging us to stand up, to put our armour on yet again and declare the victory Jesus has already won for us. No matter how we feel, I’m so glad we can say by faith that we are strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, because it depends on what Jesus has already done, not on how we feel or what things look like.

The Holy Spirit is right there, right now, to steady your knees that might feel wobbly, to encourage you to know you are strong in the Lord! He will rise up within you so you can walk by faith! Let’s poke the enemy in the eye together as we join our shields of faith and say we will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony, by the power of the Spirit of God inside us, because with His help He says we can! Amen.😊

Photo: Diliara Garifullina on Unsplash