Actually the Bible never says anything about being happy.
It says have thanksgiving in all things and overcoming
Life Bible Fellowship Church: Upland, California: Reflections Blog
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the Will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Colossians 3:15-17
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
I can't remember the exact place but Paul talks about how he was in prison and all the trials he went through and he learned to rejoice in all things.
Philippians 4:4-7 reads, "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say,
rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be
anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus." Blessed be the reading of God's Word this morning.
In AD 61 Paul, the author of this letter was sitting in a Roman prison where
He was chained to a guard. He wound up in jail eventually because he refused
To listen to the warnings of his church brother and sisters. He felt
Compelled to go back to Jerusalem and preach the Word despite their warnings
Of possible prison time. He went and preached in the Jewish Temple and some
Jews from Asia Minor had started to hassle him. They accused him of speaking
Against Jewish people and the law. He also got in trouble for bringing
Greeks into the temple itself and making it unclean. There was a
Disturbance, a small riot then the Roman commander came in and arrested
Paul, putting him in prison.
Yet, in spite of these difficulties, he writes tot eh church in Philippi. "I
thank God that you're the type of people up there in Philippi who have been
supporting me with prayers and finances. And I want to send a thank you note
with Epaphroditus, thanking you for backing me. Thank you for your lives and
for being a constant source of encouragement." And that's how he begins this
Letter to the Philippians.
So what is really happening here? What is the cause of such a positive
Outlook and attitude? The key was that Paul was able to look far beyond the
Immediate confining circumstances. Through the Spirit of God, he was able to
Interpret beyond the immediate. He could see that because he was in prison
He could see that many more things were happening. The Gospel was moving
Forward. And he said, "Rejoice! I want you to rejoice. Good things are
happening."
I understand that many of us at times are weary, like Paul, and we get
Lonely at times and we don't realize what's going on, that there are things
That happen to us that we are confused about. And yet despite all of these
Things - the shipwreck, the prison, the trumped up false charges, all these
Things laid on Paul's back, he is able to say, "Listen, it's all right, it's
okay. All is well."
The source and secret to Paul's attitude comes in four ways. In chapter 1
Paul says, "Jesus Christ is my life." In Chapter 2 Paul says, "Jesus Christ
is my example." Chapter 3, he says, "Jesus Christ is my confidence." And in
This chapter four, in his thank-you note he writes, "Jesus Christ is my
strength."
You see Jesus Christ was Paul's very life and he realizes that he's in
Prison so that he can spread the message of Jesus Christ to Europe and many
Who don't know the Way to Salvation. That's why he has the thrill of saying,
"Rejoice in the Lord! Rejoice in the Lord, not in my strength or my positive
attitude, not in my cleverness, but rejoice in Jesus Christ. Realize who He
is! Realize who you are! Put the two together and you'll come out saying,
"Well, praise the Lord! Rejoice!"
You see joy in the Christian life is as vital as oxygen is to breathing. We
need to be called again and again and again to it as believers. If you do
not rejoice in Jesus Christ, I would dare to say you need to repent of a
joyless life. Being genuinely happy because of who Jesus is in your life is
a mark of a real Christian. This authentic joy is not slap-happy silliness,
not warm-fuzzy feelings. This happiness and joy comes from understanding, as
Paul did, that Jesus is what you truly live for the rest of your life.
The attitude of being happy, because of Jesus, is what will produce that
gentleness that Paul talks about in the next verse. If people cannot sense
your gentleness and rejoicing in Jesus then you need to listen to this
revealed secret:
"As a third-century man was nearing death, he wrote these last words to a
Friend: It's a bad world, and incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in
The midst of it a quiet and peaceful people. They have found a joy which is
A thousand times better than any pleasure of our sinful life. They are
Rejected and despised, unpopular and persecuted, but they don't care. They
Are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people are
The Christians-and I am one of them."
Rejoicing about Jesus - That is our first step to dealing with that one
poison in our life. You and I know what it is. It is not an accidental
poisoning that happens to us. It is a poison of choice. Kind of like
nicotine. We know smoking is bad for us but some of us here have ignored the
warning that is right on the cigarette package itself and went ahead and lit
up.
This poison has divided families. It's brought shame to the body of Christ
and shame to our families. This poison puts us into predictable convulsions,
doing things we know we shouldn't but do anyway. This poison steals joy from
our lives, sucks happiness from our souls and cuts life short by causing
heart failures, brain aneurysms and high blood pressure. The poison I am
talking about is ANXIETY.
A John Hopkins University doctor says, "We do not know why it is that
Worriers die sooner than the non-worriers, but that is a fact." But I think
I know. We are made in nerve and tissue, brain cell and soul, for Faith and
NOT fear. God made us that way. To live by worry is to live against reality.
Now I am not saying that you should never worry but take this mental note
down. Self-centered, unproductive worry without legitimate cares and
concerns for the way Jesus wants us to follow is anxiety that is harmful.
You see anxiety is faith in the negative, trusting in the unpleasant,
assurance of disaster and belief in defeat.
Paul tells us to be anxious for NOTHING! Did you hear that? He didn't say to
be anxious for your children, to be anxious for your family, to be anxious
for your future, to be anxious for your snow removal, to be anxious for your
church construction. We are to be anxious for NOTHING! Because you see being
anxious is the great poison of the mind that slowly kills your faith, slowly
killing the real joy of life. We become unsure of life. We stop trusting
people, we stop trusting God.
So what are we to do? Do we continue to let worry and anxiety cast a big
shadow over something so small? Paul gives us the answer. Pray. That's it,
prayer. You see anxiety and prayer are the two greatest opposing forces in
the Christian life. Like fire and water. Think of it. You talk to God less
about things and you end up having more time to worry about them. You talk
to God more about things and you have less time to worry. You see, God will
help us when we are in trouble. When we worry we are on our own.
And Lord help us when we're on our own. That's why we need to come to Him in
prayer. Anxiety has no place in the Christian life because in everything
there can be prayer. That is why Paul says to be anxious for NOTHING. If we
are anxious for nothing, we will pray for EVERYTHING.
But it is the kind of prayer that we need to refine. We need to tune-up our
prayer life. Some people have turned their prayers into a ritual, without
any meaning. Like the three-year old who was taught the Lord's Prayer over
and over again and finally when her mother thought she had it down heard her
pray at the end, "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us some e-mail.
Amen." Our prayers may lose meaning if we forget the meaning of the words.
Some people might slingshot prayers to God. You know, a little request here,
a little thanks there. Never giving long enough time for God to get their
name, let alone their sentence of prayer. Or are you like the person who
comes to Santa Claus, I mean God, when you need something? Do your prayers
start like this, "Dear Lord I really need." "Dear Lord could You. " "Dear
Lord please bless."?
God made the heavens and the earth. He gave breath to babies and puts all
things in perfect order in the physical universe. The sun is just the right
distance from the earth. The earth rotates just fast enough to keep life
going and slow enough to keep it from shooting into space. Our God already
knows our needs better than we can tell Him. But what He really needs is our
thankfulness. He needs our gratitude, our worship for the things that He has
done for us. Like author John Macks puts it in his book, "Heaven Talks
Back" - "You should pray everyday not in begging but in gratitude for all
You have been given. I'm just like everybody else; I like a little
Appreciation now and then. Nothing big, no plaques, just a nice, "Hey God,
good job today."
That is why Paul says in verse 6 that we pray with, 'thanksgiving.'
Literally, this means that we tell God why He has made our hearts warm. I k
Now some people who have some of the warmest hearts I have met. They have
Endured more than most before they were seventeen years old. They would
Never ask, but I will: Have you lost your family to civil war? Have you seen
Childhood friends die horribly right next to you? Have you gone insane,
Having no reason or mind? Have you been shipped to another country, forced
To learn a new language - separated by thousands of miles from...
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Rejoice! - alt.christnet.bible | Google Groups
Is Jesus happy with us?
When we seek to please him he most likely is.