Does joyful mean “REJOICE ALWAYS”?

I bumped into this two-word Scripture just before life spun like a Tilt-o-Whirl. The command to “rejoice always” looked so good on the pages of my Bible that I selected it as a memory verse to lift me up.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, ESV

Then the school year began and my rejoicing withered.

My basketball girl headed north for her first second of college, excited, and my eyes leaked. The eldest just found a few gray hairs and says she feels old. . .in her mid-twenties. My boy-man doesn’t like school and has told me so, over and over and over. I felt tempted to pop an Advil and stave a headache.

Does God really expect any of us to be joyful always? Always is a big word, wouldn’t you agree? What is an obstacle to your joy? 

There are hurricanes and identity theft, AIDS and divorce, school shootings, Internet porn and battered women, meth labs, sex trafficking. . .

and the Bible says, “Rejoice always”? To be joyful. . .always?

An Impossible Command?

Was Paul philosophizing the impossible when he wrote these two words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit?

Then I pondered the words that followed, and as my thoughts began to line up with God’s thoughts, my anxiety diminished Click & Tweet! . What helps your anxiety turn-around?

“Pray without ceasing; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Think about it. When you and I choose to pray through my day, then we’re talking with and listening to God, right? And God knows us best and wants the very best for us. He wants you to be joyful in him.

By reminding myself of what God says in Scripture, I know I’m his daughter, beautiful and cherished. You and I don’t need to earn his love. He gives his love to us freely. This is grace. A gift, unmerited.

Pray, Thank, Know

And as I give thanks to God in all circumstances–not for them–I recognize that he is completely in control. Nothing takes him by surprise.

Thus, I can rejoice always. Cultivating a thankful heart matter and knowing he’s good and in control allows me to rejoice always. This really is God’s will (i.e., his plan, his purpose) for me.

My joy has little to do with my circumstances and everything to do with two choices: how I view God and myself.

Joyful Choice #1

Many, many years ago I thought God was out to get me, and I feared him in a bad way. This admission sounds horrible. How could I think such a thing? But like many women, I had someone in my childhood who should have protected me but didn’t.

Worse, his neglect exposed me to a painful situation. At a young age I wrongly thought, “If they say they love me but hurt me, God will hurt me too.”

As an adult, God cleared my eyes as I read my Bible day after day. My choice: to stubbornly hold tight to my twisted god or to agree with the one true God that he is absolutely nothing like the lie I believed.

Joyful Choice #2

Ugly to the core – this was how I summed me up. I saw myself as a crumpled up paper that belonged in a trash can. Do you relate? Do you know someone who does?

Beautifully, God says that you, me and everyone is wonderfully made with the deepest respect by him, the Creator. As God spotlighted another lie I believed, he gave me the strength to hold it up to the light of Scripture. My choice: to believe God is a liar and I really am trash or to agree with him that I am beautiful in Christ. I can be joyful.

With humility and awe, I attest that God says I am beautiful in him! You are too!

This is joy:

to know the one who made you completely loves you, wherever you’ve been, whatever is happening in your life now.

You don’t have to do anything to win his approval. You only need to accept the gift that Jesus bought for you. This gift is the truth that you are who God says who are: blessed, forgiven, complete and. . .beautiful.