Saturday, April 14, 2012

Day 2 - Week 59 - Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!"

Have again been out of town for a few days...seems we have a spring full of short trips!  I always enjoy getting away, but it is always so good to come home.  Coming home always has a special feel to it, doesn't it?  And then I'm remembered that someday we will truly come home, and I believe everything we find "at home" will feel so perfectly right, so familiar, so comfortable...and yet so far beyond our wildest human imaginations.  I was reminded of all this by a post by a good friend of mine requoting Priscilla Shirer.  Priscilla's insightful statement was, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience for a few years." When we remember that we are on our way home, then we can view even our hard times here with the perspective of eternal joy.

Maybe that's it---maybe that's why Paul tells us we can rejoice always...maybe that's why James tells us to count it pure joy when we face trials...maybe that's why Jesus reminded us that in this world we will have troubles, but take heart...He has overcome the world!!

Robert J. Morgan says it this way,
We may not be able to rejoice in our load, but we can rejoice in our Lord.  We may find no joy in our situation, but we can rejoice in our Savior.  To rejoice in the Lord means we rejoice in our unassailable, unchanging relationship with the sovereign Lord and in His qualities, gifts, promises and attributes.
When we start allowing our minds to dwell on our undeserved and yet unfathomable relationship with Jesus, the Son of God, and all the promises that come with that relationship, how can we not be joyful.  I'll say it again, let's rejoice!! 

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Day 1 - Week 59 - Joy, Joy, Joy!

Doesn't that lead-in make you want to sing the old VBS song, "I've got that joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, down in my heart, down in my heart!"  We will add our second "joy" verse this week after getting Psalm 118: - what was that verse number? - oh yes, 24 (as in hours in a day) - Psalm 118:24 firmly in our hearts, "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."  I have a very hard time not putting an exclamation point at the end of that verse, but since the Holy Scripture doesn't, I just can't bring myself to modify it.  But don't you think the Psalmist really meant to?  Maybe they didn't even have an exclamation point in the Hebrew language....?

In listing our verses to review, this week we'll drop off the section of verses regarding the promises of God to make room for our verses of joy...

Obedience (10)
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
Lamentations 3:40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.
Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern the good, pleasing and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:11 Do not lack diligence; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord.
Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction, be persistent in prayer.
Romans 12:18 If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.
2 Corinthians 9:7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Hebrews 10:25 "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." (NKJV)
Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Proverbs 15:1 "A gentle word turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath."

The Holy Spirit's Role in our Lives (6)
Ephesians 5:18 "And don't get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled with the Spirit."
Ephesians 5:19 "Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making music in to the Lord in your hearts."
Ephesians 5:20 "Giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Ephesians 5:21 "Submitting to one another in the fear of Christ."
Galatians 5:22 "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."
2 Timothy 1:14 "Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you...guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us."

Joy:God's Kind of Happiness (12)
Psalm 118:24 "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

This week's verse follows closely on the heels of last week's....I think it's the New Testament version...
Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!"

Robert J. Morgan states that "Philippians 4:4-9 is Paul's personal six-point strategy for mental peace.  Do you want some mental peace?  I don't know many people in 2012 that do not long, at some time or another, for true mental peace.  But rather then turning to the Bible for the therapeutic theology that it offers us, we more often turn to poor substitutes offered by the world.  Let's look this week at the first step, as Morgan sees it, to Biblical mental peace.  The first step is Philippians 4:4 - rejoicing in the Lord always...maybe we'll be singing, "I've got that joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart"...before the week is over!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Day 5 - Week 58 - Psalm 118:24 "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

In closing out this week's verse, I just have to share some things that Robert J. Morgan included in his commentary on this verse.

First is an interesting way to remember the verse's reference...you'll have to remember Psalm 118, but the number of the actual verse should be an easy one to connect to its content.  Just as God composes each day of 24 hours, I'll bet you always remember that the verse that describes the day the Lord has made is Verse 24 of Psalm 118.

Then Mr. Morgan includes an old stanza scripted by Isaac Watts (born approximately 30 years after Isaac Newton who I always confuse him with --- easy to see why, they had the same hairdo!)  Isaac Watts wrote over 200 hymns!  Isn't that amazing?  And considering that these hymns were written around 1700 and that many of them are still prevalent in hymnals of today, I believe Mr. Watts deserves a moment of our attention.  If you don't know any other hymns by Isaac Watts, you most assuredly know "Joy to the World" which he wrote as a paraphrase of Psalm 98. 

The stanza that Mr. Morgan includes is Isaac Watts' reflection on Psalm 118:24,
This is the day the Lord has made;
He calls the hours His own;
Let heaven rejoice, let earth be glad;
And praise surround the throne.
I hope you had a wonderful day today and I hope when you wake tomorrow you will remember that you have been given another day of life by God.  He has made another day in your life, a day with the capacity for joy because we can rest in the knowledge that He has placed it in the timeline of our earthly journey.  Don't take any day for granted...they all come directly from the hand of God.

Today is a gift...that's why it's called "the present."

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Day 4 - Week 58 - Psalm 118:24 "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."



THIS is a day that we can truly rejoice in!  Happy Easter Sunday to all!!  For Christians, I can't think of another day that should bring us any more joy...He has risen!  He has risen indeed!



This is the day that makes all the difference.  For even with Bethlehem, and even with Calvary, if there hadn't been the empty tomb, we would not have any assurance of Christ's promises.  But with His resurrection, we have every assurance.  We have the assurance that He is who He said He was....we have the assurance that He took our sins, once and for all, and redeemed us...we have the assurance that through the power of God, He defeated death, and walked out of the tomb...we have the assurance that He ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God....and we have the assurance that He is coming again to take His children home!  Blessed assurance!

Rejoice in this day---share your joy!  Share the joy of the life you have been given through the resurrected Savior!

John 14:3  "And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me, that where I am you also may be."