If you are not yet a believer this last concept will not be understood but trust me there is joy as we worship once we really have let Jesus come into our lives and hearts.
Rejoicing is not as easy by yourself. When Paul and others were thrown into prison the guard found them singing with loud praises to God. This is strange and certainly the only way to understand this is.
THEY WANTED TO EXPERIENCE THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN PRISON.
As they praised God. God started to do the miracle. It is so easy to get into the not rejoicing mode because we can see that the world is in a real mess. But, wait, prison isn't a happy place and Paul could rejoice.
In fact, he wrote. REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS.
I like the first part, but the second..always isn't so easy. What about when things aren't going so well? What about an unexpected expense? What about setbacks or "delays" to answer in prayer. Can I rejoice then?
The reason we don't rejoice is that we don't realize that when we are obedient to REJOICE in the bad circumstances, the Lord will change these in some way as He, the Lord, comes into the problem.
When I was a young Christian I read a book called PRISON TO PRAISE. The book was filled with examples of people who praised God in their circumstances and persisted in rejoicing in them until they got changed. And they did.
We are a bit wishy-washy. If we say a little prayer and nothing happens we tend to say. "It didn't work." But, did we get to really rejoicing and really entering into the presence of the Lord? Then we can really find strength and joy and certainty that HE IS WITH US whatever we are going through.
Paul was tough. His life was rough. He had plenty of opposition but he also had joy. He experienced the Lord whatever.
Next time something "adverse" happens to us. Let's try rejoicing. And see God.
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