Tag Archives: Rejoice in the Lord always

Learning to laugh

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Carol Burnett just received her Lifetime Achievement Award. What a well deserved honor! She and Tim Conway, and Red Skelton before them, committed their lives to making people happy. That’s not a bad legacy to leave, don’t you agree?

 

Life is serious business. But wholesome laughter is good medicine for our soul. And the bible has quite a bit to say about having a joyful spirit. One of the “fruits” of a spirit-filled life is joy. Joy should naturally blossom from the love God gives us to share with others. Do you know that God rejoices over you? We’re often so hard on ourselves, thinking we’re not good enough. But God has adopted us into his family and made us heirs of his kingdom. Regardless of how you feel, you might as well face the truth: God loves his children and is filled with joy over them, including you. Psalm 16:11 reminds us that there is joy in God’s presence. So why are we so eager to let everything else get in the way our most prized joy? The closer you grow to God, the more joy and fulfillment you will experience!

 

I like the expression in Psalm 126:2. “Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” Can you help but smile when you recall how very many ways God has intervened to save and bless his people? Expecting God will show up in your day should bring certain joy and cause for celebration. I wonder how many small things we let frustrate us when a better response would be to laugh it off.  Solomon reminds us (Ecclesiastes 3:4), “there is a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” If the wisest man in all the world recognized this, shouldn’t we also join in the celebration of life? Only in the power of God can we rejoice in our trials. Only by the faithful promise of Jesus can we accept, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.” Our troubles will not always plague us. He who catches our tears in a bottle will cause us to laugh again one day.

 

““I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! (Some versions say, Be of good cheer!) I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

 

Learn to laugh more. Help others to laugh. If God is filled with joy and laughter, shouldn’t we be like him?

 

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” We can rejoice, because regardless of the burdens we face, because God Almighty sees us where we are, he stays with us always, and we will live in the house of the Lord forever! Be blessed in being filled with his joy and hope!

 

Watch Carol Burnett’s humble acceptance speech for her lifetime achievement award: http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/01/carol-burnetts-speech-at-the-sag-awards-is-gold.html

 

Rejoice … Always?

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We love to be happy. We take special joy in happy celebrations. But we’re not always happy are we? There’s a lot of stuff in life that steals our joy. We don’t rejoice in disappointment. We don’t rejoice in cancer. We don’t rejoice in being mistreated or ignored by others. We don’t rejoice in hardships or injustice. But Paul says we can – and should – rejoice always… when we rejoice in the Lord. (Philippians 4:1)

 

Why can we rejoice in the Lord always? Because he is the ultimate authority over the suffering and difficulties we face. He is the one who:

  • Makes us able to be gentle with others
  • Answers our prayer with a peace that transcends all understanding
  • Renews our mind with thoughts that are true, pure, and praiseworthy
  • Teaches us the secret of being content in all circumstances
  • Gives us sustaining strength
  • Meets all our needs

 

We can rejoice in the Lord in the face of all trouble because he is constantly faithful, because his plan is infinitely wiser than ours, and because he offers hope we need and can’t find anywhere else. The world brings pain and disease but we can rejoice in the Lord because he restores our soul. The world is filled with turmoil and anxiety, but we can rejoice in the Lord because he gives us peace that transcends all understanding. The world is full of uncertainty but we can rejoice in the Lord because his faithfulness is constant.    We can rejoice in the Lord because he is strong when we are weak, because he loves us when we are most unlovable, because he calls us when we aren’t even looking for him, and because he never abandons us even when we turn our back on him. We can rejoice in the Lord because the headlines at the end of all time read, “God Wins!” and those found rejoicing in him win with him.

 

 

If you have nothing else except Jesus you may find that Jesus is all you need. I cannot imagine more or settle for less. Paul is not talking about putting on a plastic smile and pretending to be happy. He’s speaking from the personal experience of excruciating suffering and still finding the contented joy in rejoicing in the Lord…always.

 

Have you learned the secret of rejoicing in the Lord even in the toughest of times? Maybe today is the day to turn to him and ask him to reveal more of himself to you – more of his power, more of his love, more of his joy, more of him in your life.