Special Replay – Rejoice In All Things
Can you really rejoice in all things when everything seems to be falling apart in your life and all around you? Yes, you can. And in this episode, I will share with you the secrets of Christian living.
Sponsor Media Angels, Inc. – One More Child book — A Few Minutes With God
Oscar Wilde is said to have said, and I am paraphrasing here, but that Religion was a fashionable substitution for faith. When we focus on what we are to do and not do we can become bogged down. When my children were little we would read the books of the saints and we loved these stories. They depicted young men and women who loved the Lord and though example, even in the toughest times and situations always showed the love of the Lord to others in their lives. They were wonderful stories that were true of heroism and virtue. Oh, to be like the saints. But, my young daughter said, “Mom, I love reading about the saints but the books are so sad because they always die at the end.”
Out of the mouth of babes, right? Yes, they die at the end after living heroic and virtuous lives. Yet, to us death is sad. This year my husband lost his parents, both of them, I lost my inlaws, and my children lost their grandparents. We think about the loss instead of the joy. They are in a place that knows no pain or sorrow. A place that is what we strive for all of our lives. As we live our lives we must seek God while we can and rejoice in all of the glorious things that happen.
To rejoice in all things can easily be explained like this, “Make lemonade out of lemons.” How can you apply this principle in your life. God’s ways are not our ways and if we are striving to be more like Him I want to remind you – as I forget to do this daily like I want to and that is to give your will to God each and every day. Lord, I give you my will. Please give me your will. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven! It is a reminder of the Lord’s prayer that we too should pray each and every day.
God said follow me. When you find yourself saddened or miserable think about who you are following, or what are you following. Is it the news, the events of the day? It is best to turn it off! The only way we can rejoice in all things is to think about today. Not yesterday with the should-have-could-have or tomorrow with the what if this or that happens. Just today. Focus on today.
In Isaiah 25:9 we read, In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
and in Isaiah 29:19 we read: Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
Think about these passages and realize this is the Old Testament it was foreshadowing the coming of our Lord and Savior. We celebrate Christmas once a year – the birth of the Savior and we celebrate Easter once a year, the resurrection of our Savior, but what do we celebrate daily? Are we rejoicing in all things?
Put a smile on your face each day and ask the Lord for that grace to be joyful and appreciate the things that are the most important in your life. What are the graces you need each day? Is it the grace to go to work, to do the things you must do for yourself or your family? Very few people love their jobs and yet they get up daily and go to work so they can support their families, and even in this very act of giving they are an example to others. With our actions, we are a greater example than all of the words we can use.
Let’s pray!
Dear Lord, help me to have the gift to be able to rejoice in all things. Give met the gift to focus on today on the here and now. To think about each of these things and not worry about the other things that might or might not happen. Dear God I want to praise you each and every day and I ask for this gift. Dear Lord, I pray for the following needs in my life, and I pray this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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