"Rejoice in the Lord ever. I will say information technology again: Rejoice!" - Philippians four:4

When you call up of the word "rejoice," what do you typically remember of? You might think of rejoicing as being in a state of constant happiness and jubilant every detail of your life with unending exuberance.

What virtually when you see the Scripture that says "rejoice in the Lord e'er"? Does that take the same sentiment as the mentioned state of happiness to a higher place?

Philippians four:4 has the apostle Paul telling the church of Philippi, in a alphabetic character, to always rejoice in the Lord, always celebrate the Lord. This carries the agreement that y'all practise it whether you lot desire to or not, whether you are happy with the Lord or non. When you gloat with the right thought in listen almost how God works, it will be possible to observe means to rejoice in the Lord.

Let us examine the following passages in Philippians 4 to see why this advice from Paul is so profound and how we can agree to this belief of God'southward greatness at all times, finding the joy within building up as we give Him thanks.

What Is the Context of Philippians 4?

The book of Philippians is the campaigner Paul's letter to the church of Philippi to share with them wisdom and encouragement for living out their religion in Christ and standing strong when struggles and persecution might occur.

Recall that when information technology came to suffering for your calling, Paul was definitely the expert. He endured severe persecution for his belief in Christ and telephone call to ministry, so advice from him on rejoicing during trials seems to exist a adept idea.

Philippians 4 centers mostly on Paul conveying to the believers what to focus on during times of dubiousness. He wants them to also know that as they get through challenges, they will be able to practice more than because Christ is in them (Phil. 4:xiii).

The fourth chapter of Philippians also encourages people to non exist anxious for anything, but to give their needs in prayer to God (Phil. 4:half dozen) and gain God'south peace in render (Phil. 4:7).

Paul also shared in Philippians 4:11-12 how he has learned to be content where he is because he knows what it is like to be hungry and total, to suffer and to abound.

Nevertheless, with Philippians iv:four, Paul merely declares that we "rejoice in the Lord, always. Once more I will say, rejoice!" What Paul is saying here is that nosotros should rejoice at all times, whether we are sad, happy, angry, confused, or fifty-fifty tired: there shouldn't be a moment that goes past that we aren't giving cheers to the Lord for His love and provision.

joyful mom and daughter singing praise songs with headphones on

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Lordn

What Does It Mean to "Rejoice in the Lord Always"?

Rejoice, according to Merriam Webster Dictionary, is "to give you" or "to experience joy or great delight," while to rejoice in means to "have or possess."

So, the Scripture conveys that to rejoice in the Lord is to have joy or please in the Lord; to experience joy when you call back of Him always.

How do you lot practice that, you might enquire? Well, call up of God equally you would someone you can see in front of you, whether a family member, friend, co-worker, or someone from your church building or customs. When you lot spend time with someone that brings you joy and happiness, you rejoice or delight in being with him or her. Y'all gloat it.

Although you can't see God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, y'all come up to know that they are in that location with y'all, as close equally anyone tin exist to yous. You feel their presence when you lot feel at-home in the midst of chaos, happiness or positivity in the midst of sadness, and confidence in the midst of incertitude. You are rejoicing in knowing that God is there with you, strengthening yous when you are weak and encouraging you when y'all experience like giving upwardly.

What if You Don't Feel Like Rejoicing in the Lord?

Specially in our nowadays status of life, it can be hard to rejoice in the Lord when there is pain, struggle, and sadness all around united states. Even so, it is possible to dearest on the Lord, to rejoice always, even when y'all don't feel like information technology or are grappling with too much pain to think of God.

Philippians 4:four is followed by the well-known verses shared in Philippians 4:half-dozen-7, where information technology talks virtually not being anxious and giving your requests to the Lord with thanksgiving in your heart. Verse 7 follows this with: "and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

What these verses state is that when we rejoice in the Lord, we begin to feel peace in our situations, peace in our hearts and minds, considering nosotros understand that God has our prayer requests well in manus and brings us peace until those requests are answered.

Even when yous have been waiting a long time for a prayer request to happen or a state of affairs to modify, you lot can rejoice and be thankful for the Lord in the meantime because you lot know your prayer request has reached the ears of God and will be answered presently.

One style to rejoice when you don't feel like information technology is to retrieve back on the times that you were waiting on other prayer requests or were in similar situations of distress, and how God provided when it didn't look similar annihilation would change. When you remember what occurred and how appreciative yous were to God, this feeling should make full you with joy and tell yous that God can do this again and once more. He is a God who loves and cares for y'all.

So, Philippians four:6-7 tells united states not to be anxious, as the world would have us be, but hopeful, thankful, and at peace in knowing your prayer requests will be taken care of. The world may be anxious in its lack of control, but you don't accept to be considering you know who is in command.


Photo credit: Unsplash/Nghia-Le

A Prayer to Rejoice in the Lord

As we close, let'due south follow what is expressed in Philippians four and rejoice in the Lord ever, as nosotros give Him our prayer requests and await His peace in render.

Lord God,

Give thanks you lot for loving us and caring for our needs as Y'all do. For Y'all know the plan alee for us and know how to guide our steps to exist in line with that plan. It'southward non always like shooting fish in a barrel to rejoice and remain hopeful in You when problems and circumstances arise, but we take to think dorsum on the times we have been in similar positions and remember how You blessed us more than we thought possible. From big to little, we tin can count the blessings that You gave u.s.a. before and detect they are more numerous than we ever thought possible. That is because Y'all know our needs before nosotros ask them, You know our heartaches before we take them, and You know what will abound u.s.a. the almost to exist all we can be in Your eyes. Then, let us rejoice and exist glad equally we give You our prayers, knowing when nosotros least expect information technology, You will bring them into fruition. Nosotros give all of this to You in Jesus's proper name.

Amen.

God Will Provide

Rejoicing in all situations, especially nowadays, can be hard to exercise, if non incommunicable, at times. However, God has chosen us to rejoice in Him e'er, knowing that we are loved and cared for by an eternal God.

The apostle Paul knew well the suffering that we can suffer in our day, having experienced several bouts of it throughout his ministry building. But he reminds us in this affiliate that we demand to e'er be looking to God for hope and encouragement. God will provide for our needs when no i else can.

As we bypass feelings of apprehension of rejoicing when we are going through hard situations, hopefully nosotros will let those feelings be replaced by feelings of peace and conviction that the God who began a good work in united states of america will fulfill it in His children.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/torwai

Blair Parke  is a freelance writer for BibleStudyTools.com, and previously worked for eight years with Xulon Press. A graduate of Stetson University with a Available's in Communications, Blair previously worked equally a writer/editor for several local magazines in the Central Florida expanse, including Celebration Independent and Lake Mag in Leesburg, Florida and currently freelances for the Southwest Orlando Bulletin.

This commodity is office of our larger resources library of popular Bible poetry phrases and quotes. We want to provide easy to read articles that respond your questions about the meaning, origin, and history of specific verses within Scripture'southward context. Information technology is our hope that these will help you amend sympathize the meaning and purpose of God'south Word in relation to your life today.

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