The Bible Tells Me to Rejoice Always. I Don't Feel Like It.

Have you ever done a thing, just because you know it's the right thing, and not because you really feel like doing it? Then, afterwards, the thing you dreaded, brought LIFE to your soul?

This week, I recalled my years volunteering as a candy-striper at the local hospital just around the corner from my house.

I worked twice a week through my high school years delivering food trays, making beds, emptying bed pans, pushing the book and magazine cart around the floor room to room, and sometimes rocking babies. 

I would come home from school and dress in my little jumper and crisply ironed white shirt...BUT, truth is I never "felt like going." 

It was voluntary. 

I didn't have to go.

But, I did.

And, when I came home following my shift, I was ALWAYS GLAD!

Ultimately, every shift brought renewed LIFE to me.

*****

We have this mandate in Scripture: 

Rejoice...for this is God's will for you...

Some days, there's nothing I want to do less than to rejoice. 

This morning "feels" like one of those mornings as I sit praying for friends experiencing some incredibly tough stuff.

In fact, there are So! Many! Hard! Things! I feel discouraged for them...

...and, when "hard things" arrive in bundles, faith weakens and wanes. 

I wonder, "How much more can they take, Lord?"

The Apostle Paul knows this to be true (stoned, beaten, shipwrecked, left adrift at sea - 2 Corinthians 11:25).

He processed through it, and, in the end found the secret to contentment.

If we spend any time in the book of Philippians, we can filter the letter down to this one word:

I landed on Phil 3:1 this week as a focus for an online bible study I lead once a month.

I loved the word "safeguard." 

The word found its etymology in military origins. 

A guard of troops got assigned to high value targets as a precautionary measure to allow secure passage through battle zones during war. They were called a "safe guard."

I've said it before, I'll repeat it again: every word in our Bible matters. 

Every word is relevant.

In the midst of the hard journeys of some of my friends, whom I love, and consider it a privilege to walk alongside, they would tell you they understand why Paul used a word relating to "war." 

They'd give adamant nods to the "BIGNESS" of the battles, the seriousness of the skirmishes, and the difficult fight for faith to remain steadfast as the attacks grow more and more personal.

So, Paul gives all of us instruction for those times we just don't "feel" like rejoicing: rejoice.

Always (not just when you feel like it). 

Why?

Rejoicing is your safeguard through the battles, for protecting and, even, growing your faith.

In spite of how you feel, live out the expression of joy with gratitude - thank Him for all He has done in your life; worship Him through adoration, expounding on the character of God; and, speak truth (shout it if you have to) to your soul. 

I've seen it happen time and time again, my heart and my emotions start responding to the words from my head that are coming out of my mouth....and, pretty soon they all line up. 

The enemy of our souls wants nothing more than to steal the light from within Jesus followers, or put it out, and he doesn't care how much pain he brings in the process. 

So, even when I don't feel like it...I will listen to Paul...even if it's a simple, slow start...and, I will obey what the Spirit of the Lord whispered to him in the middle of the hard: 

I will 

I WILL.

And, I will watch for the Lord to do what He does best.

Bring life into the impossible and safeguard my faith.