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4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. -ESV
For many Christians the chaos that is going on around us in the economy and everyday living is closing in on them and robbing them of their joy and victory in Christ Jesus. With our harried lives of here there and everywhere it is sometime difficult to fit the Lord into our busy schedule—at least it is for me sometimes—and even harder to rejoice in the midst of it all.
Nevertheless, the counsel of these verses is very clear –we are to rejoice always in the midst of it all. You might say– ‘Well Michael- you don’t know what I am going through right now’—and that would be true but neither do you know what I am facing.
It is good for us to remember what Paul was facing when he penned these verses in the first place. He was under arrest facing the Roman Justice system. What ever we may be going through it has got to be better than that. The message transcends the centuries and the Holy Spirit confirms it in our very hearts:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
(To be continued)