Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser
There is no better way to start your day than to rejoice in the Lord all the time. Rejoicing makes us focus our attention on the Lord and His promises instead of our negative circumstances. Every day is an opportunity to have a fresh start. It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday; all that counts is today. “This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps.118:24). Have a fresh beginning by rejoicing at the start of everyday. Life has a beginning, and today God can give you a new beginning. He can give you a fresh beginning, a beginning that can never make you small for the rest of your life. From today you will be progressing gradually until people see you and say you are the head and not the tail. You are the first and not the last. Life is a race of gradual process. It’s a race of continuity. Life is a daily thing. We need fresh beginning in certain areas of our lives where we have not been functioning in the way that God intended us to.
One area that I want to focus on today is that of rejoicing in the Lord. This is because in my dealings with people, I have found over the years that so many Christians are not living with joy. I know some people will say that’s kind of a strange thing to talk about. Some people may think let’s talk about more important things. How do you have joy even when things don’t look alright? Start your day with joy. Rejoice in the Lord. The Bible says: “This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps. 118:24). Have a fresh beginning by rejoicing at the start of everyday. If you have been born again and been baptised with the Holy Spirit, people ought to see you rejoicing and yet, many are just as depressed, fearful, bitter, angry and as people who have not received the Holy Spirit. I’m not saying this to condemn anyone, but I’m saying have a fresh beginning by starting your day with joy.
Cheer up as you remember what God has done, what He is doing, and what He’s about to do. “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Every believer has been commanded to rejoice; we have been instructed to cheer up irrespective of the situation we are facing. Christians are the only people who have true reason to rejoice. Joy is actually a state of mind. It depends on how you think about things. I know that there might be some challenges to that statement, but as I continue with this message and share with you what I want to convey to you, you will come to the same agreement. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33). Jesus is saying to you and me to cheer up.
Christians are the only ones who should be rejoicing. The rest of the world, it doesn’t matter what’s going on in their lives, if everything looks good at the moment, the end result, if you don’t know Jesus, is all going to be for nothing. The end result is what matters most. What good is it, if you have all the money, fame, recognition, all your needs met and you are empty on the inside? What good is it, if you eventually die and go to hell and spend eternity in hell? As Jesus said, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mat. 16:26). When you look at things in the light of eternity, Christians are the only ones that have a reason to be rejoicing.
" True joy is not a state of being, it’s a state of mind. "
To rejoice is something you choose to do. Therefore, choose to rejoice. “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Are you waiting for everything to line up, or waiting for joy as a by-product of no problems before you start rejoicing? I’m telling you that’s not sustainable. Rejoicing is something you choose to do. This is very important! If Satan can’t steal your joy, he can’t steal your strength. You need to recognise or pay attention to Ps. 118:24 and Neh. 8:10. If you don’t have joy in your life, you don’t have strength. There’s a big difference between what the Bible calls joy and what the world calls joy. The world is talking about drunkenness or getting yourself high on something. That’s not what the Bible is talking about as joy.
True joy is rejoicing in your heart even though everything around you is collapsing. I know that there are people who will say I don’t believe that. But it’s absolutely true. The apostle Paul wrote the book of Philippians while he was in prison in Rome. He mentioned 17 times in those chapters to rejoice. He said, “Again rejoice” (Phil. 4:4). There are 17 times that joy, rejoicing and rejoice were used. It was the most joyful, the most victorious, the happiest letter that the apostle wrote, and he wrote it while he was in prison. People don’t understand that true joy is not based on circumstances. Joy is not based on what’s happening to you, it’s based on what’s happening inside of you. “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4).
True joy is not a state of being, it’s a state of mind. It depends on how you are thinking about things. People who don’t understand that will say it’s impossible to rejoice when things are not going on well in your life, and yet we have the example of the apostle Paul writing from prison, the most victorious, joyful, and happy letter that he ever wrote to anybody. That says a lot to all of us. He said “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4). Let’s take this into context. He was in prison. He was writing to people who were concerned about him. They thought that Paul could be killed at any time and so they were concerned. They were trying to find out, Paul are you OK? And Paul was trying to comfort them by saying rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Some people may have thought we may have misunderstood him, he couldn’t mean what he said in his letter. I’m sure Paul knew that, so he said ‘again I say rejoice.’
He was trying to get this point across; that regardless of what’s happening in your life, you can be rejoicing. As a matter of fact, the very word rejoice is a verb and not a noun. For any of you who have background in English grammar, a verb is an action word, it’s something you do, whereas a noun is a description of a person, place or a thing. In other words, if he said have joy, is like an experience. But to rejoice is something you choose to do. He is telling you that regardless of how your circumstances are like, or what you are going through, rejoice in the Lord. Act on this, operate on this, and release the joy of the Lord. Jesus said this in John 16:33; “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” These were the very last words that He was speaking to His disciples the night before His crucifixion. So, always have an attitude of rejoicing.
