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“Rejoice Always? Really?!!”

Rejoice

Have you ever had the thought, “How can I really be joyful in this life?  There is so much sorrow so how can I have so much sorrow and really rejoice?”  It is hard to understand how sorrow and joy can coincide but they really can.  We cannot do it in and of ourselves.  It is only as we allow the Lord to have full access to our lives that we can rejoice through it all.

What we see

We see so little compared to what God sees.  We may listen to the news and hear all the evils that are transpiring in this world.  But we see so little compared to what God sees.  He sees it all.

I am going to veer off here for a few sentences.  May I suggest that listening to the news is nonproductive?  I don’t listen, read, or watch the news.  There may be little snippets I see posted on Facebook or someone may mention to me, “Did you hear….?”  I usually haven’t heard so they give me a little run down.  Sometimes I check it out further but for the most part, I don’t.  What does it gain us in our spiritual walk to focus on the wickedness of this world?  It is discouraging and can suck the joy out of life.  How many people are depressed and angry because of what they dwell upon?  We have got to keep our focus where it belongs.   Our focus should be on having a solid connection with God and then be a witness for Him through our lives.

God sees

God sees all the wickedness of this world but He is also rejoicing, “over one sinner that repenteth.”  And yet it pains His heart every time we don’t accept His ways and choose the wicked things of this world to fill our lives.  The wicked things can be filling our lives as we do them or it can be filling our lives as we vicariously take part.

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

If we would make this our Motto in life it would make a difference.  Just because it is claimed to be “true” doesn’t mean it is of “good report”.  When I think of the news there is so much bent to what is said you never really do know what is true.  It is all bent to whatever political party they represent.  Well, I want to represent the “political” party of Jesus.  I want to be like Christ.

Prepare

The only way that we can be like Christ is to be prepared.  We need to be in the God’s Word and in prayer.  As we are in the word we need to be storing it in our hearts by putting it to memory.  This is the only way we will be able to rejoice through all circumstances.

This reminds me of a story that was shared with me.  It was about two men that climbed a mountain together.  It was a dangerous mountain.  The mountain was steep with rock climbing as well as ice climbing.  The mountain was also higher elevation.  It was dangerous with lots of crevasses as well.  I don’t remember how many days it took to make it to the top but they did make it.

The descent

The difficulty came on their descent.  One of them, when going slowly down through the snow stepped in a spot that sent him over the edge.  He broke his leg majorly.  They came up with a plan of how they could get down.  His friend would get well positioned and then lower him 300’, then he would station himself and his friend would follow.  It was a very painful thing for him to be lowered but it was life or death.  His friend couldn’t “care” about his screams of pain he just had to keep lower him.

Then came the time that his friend lowered him and he dropped over a cliff and was hanging and he could not get to the ledge to get well established so his friend could descend.  They were too far apart to communicate so they both waited in the dangerously cold night.  I don’t remember how long his friend waited but he eventually had to make the hardest decision of a person’s life.  He had to decide to cut the rope.  It was now life or death for himself.  He could not survive if he did not keep moving down.

It was so hard to arrive back at camp, where there was another guy waiting for them.  He explained what had happened.  He was in such bad shape himself with frostbite and exhaustion, besides the emotional trauma.  The guy that had remained at the camp felt they should go from base camp down right away but he could not get him to leave.

Falling

When the rope was cut loose the guy on the other end fell into a crevasse.  Surprisingly,  he survived the fall but now what.  He had a lot of rope but what good is that when you have a broken leg.  He anchored himself so he wouldn’t fall farther and called for help but there was no answer.  After a while, he decided to lower himself into the crevasse more to see if there was another way out because he had tried to climb up but with his broken leg he could not.

As he lowered himself he found a spot that was a gradually going up vertically and he was able to crawl out of the crevasse.  It was very painful, and took great effort and several days, with no food or much water to make it back to camp.  What he did not know is when he got to camp would there be anyone there.  But thankfully when he did make it back to camp his friend was still there and his life was spared.  It was nothing more than miraculous.  We have such a drive to live that we will push our bodies beyond the limit in an effort to survive and live.

Do you want to live?

As I have thought of this story it made me think about eternal life.  It actually brought tears to my eyes thinking about it.  We will put so much effort into surviving in this life but how much effort do we put into surviving for eternal life.

Having eternal life is a life and death situation.  How much privation are we willing to endure to survive.  Our spiritual bodies are broken and it is painful but how much effort are we willing to make no matter how much pain or privation it causes.  Are we willing to give up those things that will keep us from having eternal life?  Are we agonizing with God to the point of our sweat being “as great drops of blood” like Jesus did?  Do we want to live?  How much effort are we willing to make?

There will come a time that all our human resources will be cut off and it will be up to us to choose the right things and make the right choices.  We will be alone.  Some of us may even be alone at this moment in our choices to live.  There will come a time ahead of us that we will no longer have “food” (God’s Word) to nourish our spiritual bodies.  There will come a time when “water” will be scarce.  Are we filling ourselves with “food” (God’s Word) right now so that when the time comes we will be sustained?

Grim

You might be saying about now, “I thought you were talking about rejoicing, this sounds grim.”  It may sound grim.  But I can tell you from experience that as I surrender all to the Lord and walk side by side with Him, filling my life with His Word, it brings joy.  I can rejoice through the trials, privations, and hardships.  But if I dwell or get involved with the things of this world, joy fades away.

No matter what we may be going through as long as we are surrendered to God we can know that it will all work for our good.  In this, we can rejoice.

Dear Father,

Help us to see our need for You in our lives.  You are the only One that can give us peace and joy, as we surrender to Your will.  Continue to show us the way.  Thank You for Your patience with us.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Surrender all to God today.  Keep your focus on Him and fill your mind with His Word.

Love you all.

What do you do to help keep joy in your life?

 

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“Travel Carefully!!”

Travel Carefully

For those of us who live in certain places around the world, we have snow this time of the year.  I love the beauty of the snow. It covers all the imperfections.  Although the beauty is wonderful the roads are another story.  The roads can be icy and very slippery, especially when you get off the main road.  The main roads are kept clear by the graders and the salt that they put on the roads to melt the ice.  But even the main roads, at times, are treacherous.

One day I was on my way to work on more treacherous roads.  One vehicle in front of me slid and ended up in the oncoming traffic with an emergency vehicle heading his way.  At the same time, a pickup truck ended up in the ditch to my right.  He drove along the ditch for a while before he was able to make his way out of the ditch.  I am grateful that there was no serious accident and no one was hurt.

More than one road

This experience made me think of the Christian walk.  The beauty of the snow reminds me of the righteousness of Christ.  As we repent of our wrongdoings Christ righteousness covers us and makes us as “white as snow” (See Isaiah 1:18).

As we travel on the “main road” at times it can get slippery if we are not keeping it sprinkled with the salt of God’s Word.  There are times that we slip and slide and even go into the “oncoming traffic” going in the wrong direction but all we need to do is cry out to God in repentance and He will get us immediately back on the road.  At other times we may completely slide off the “road” into the ditch and we go along like everything is just fine.  But praise be to God He gets a hold of us and He makes a way of escape and we are able to get right out of the ditch. He doesn’t force us, He waits until we cry out to Him and then He helps pulls us up.

Trials and persecutions

As we travel this road we will have trials and persecutions along the way.  But as long as we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus He will see us through.  We don’t need to grumble or complain we just need to trust.  And as we trust in Him we will be able to rejoice.

Matthew 5: 10-12,  “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”

1 Thessalonians 5:18,  “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

It can be so difficult to give thanks and have joy in our heart during times of trial and/or persecution.  But if we put our full trust in God He will give us joy.

Dear Father,

Thank You for Your Word that can keep us from “slipping”.  Help us to cling to those promises when the trials and/or persecutions come.  Thank You that we can trust You and that You will bring us through every difficulty.  Your love is unbounded for which I am grateful.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Come to Jesus today, He is calling You.  Trust Him with your life.  He will work out every circumstance for You good. (See Romans 8:28)

Love you all.

I love how God is revealed in nature and He can show us connections between nature and our Christian walk.  What has He showed you today?  I would love to hear your story.  Share your story below in the comments.