Rejoicing in the face of trouble times Psalms 37:25-26 & Philippians 4:4-7

David, in this Psalms, looked at a godly man and the path that he walks through life. A believer is a godly man whose path in God is good, right, straight and narrow. Such a path holds no attraction at all, for the wicked man. Verse 23 of Psalms 37 said, ‘the steps of a good man are order by the Lord and He delights in his ways’

What this means, is that a good man’s thoughts, affections & plans are directed by the Holy Spirit & by Christ’ grace, but why? Because such a man has a relationship with God and as such, he can rejoice in trouble times. For he knows his God will lead and guide him to an expected end to victory over whatsoever the challenge might be. By God’s providence, God over rules events & makes a believer’s pathway through life clear.

As you may know, David had been there, and had seen things. He had known what it means to be poor or rich as per the world view of poor and rich. Yet, he always rejoiced in the Lord’s doing. He is calling us to follow suit because our rejoicing does not depends on our circumstances but in the true relationship we have with God.

Paul’s call for us to rejoice always is for us to acquire an attitude of gratefulness and a deep sense of contentment, which is in the Lord. Base your trust in the sovereign, the living God, Who is always available even in difficult times.

Paul’s teaching here is that our inner attitudes do not have to reflect our outward circumstances. Paul was full of joy even though he was in prison because he knew that no matter the circumstance, God was with him and as such, in his rejoicing, he was victorious over that difficulty.

Brothers and sisters, if we have not been joyful lately, then we may not be looking at life from the right perspective because; ultimate joy comes from Christ who dwells within a believer. Christ is near, and we will fully realize this ultimate joy at His second coming.

God is with us always, so it is up to us to choose to rejoice in His presence or not, whether in difficult times or not. We must learn to live in the fullness of God, by so doing we refuse Satan to steal our joy. God’s provision is available to them that trust Him.

In this difficult and challenging time that the world finds itself, we must still rejoice in the Lord rather than put our trust in any man. We cannot put our trust in men who know nothing themselves, only God knows, so we must rejoice in the Lord. When we rejoice, Satan gets so confuse, remember our rejoicing has nothing to do with our outward situations. In this season of difficulties, those who trust in the Lord and rejoice in Him …will not cease to bear fruit…(Jer 17:7-8).

Satan is the enemy and the stealer of our joy; therefore, we must understand the important of a believer’s joy

• The joy of the Lord is a distinguish character of a believer (Acts 2:13).

• A believer’s joy is his/her greatest assert / valued possession of his faith

• Our joy in the Lord is Satan’s worse nightmare; it causes great pain to the kingdom of darkness

• Our joy is a custodian of many spiritual dividends.

As believers in Christ, we walk after the supernatural divine power and because of this consciousness, we rejoice regardless of what is surrounding us. Nevertheless, in any circumstance we still rejoice, that is why the church of God is prevailing in this trailing time because we know the end result is that God remain victorious. As such, our joy is complete in Him who was, He who is and He who is to come.

Let us now see why Satan tries all he can to steal our joy

1. Our joy guarantee strength, supernatural & a miracle of our string (Neh 8:10, Hab 3:18-19). We got to be courageous in times of adversity (Proverb 24:10)

2. Joy is therapeutic, it establishes health (Proverb 17:22) Laughter bring happiness to the soul and the devil don’t want good health for anyone so he attacks our joy in causing anxiety and worries so that people may become ill with depression and the likes of it due to fear…

3. Joy leads us to experience divine directions (Isa 30:29-30) and joy guarantee inspiration as stated in Isa 12:3, 2Kings 3:15. Satan in order to steal our joy, he cuts one off from divine direction and attacked one with heaviness, so that, one would be weak especially with one’s thoughts.

4. Joy brings answer to prayers (Ecc 5:19-20). An example in the scripture is that of Hannah, she was looking for a fruit of the womb. She had been praying but no result, why? Because she was trouble within her soul but when she found the inner joy, the Bible says her countenance change and at this time she received her testimony. (1Sam 1:1-20) Verse 18 says ‘and Hannah’s face was not sad’ before she could have the baby. Friends let us learn to rejoice in the Lord

5. Joy brings harvest and increase, when the devil steals our joy, he makes one little & small in everything especially in one’s thoughts. Many things are tied to our joy (Joel 1:10-12, Jer 30:19).

My brothers and sisters, the Kingdom of God is a supernatural one which causes those things which are not to existence. We should be acting upon God’s kingdom principles like in the day of Noah in the ark. The higher the water rose, the more they rise.

The Garden of Eden effect is still with us today in all form and with joy & prosperity to an overflow. We need to have an overcomer mentality which is excellence in the fullness of God’s grace. Friends whatever we are faced with today, know that our joy is always complete in the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we learn to be joyful, let His joy be our strength in Jesus name

Remember this that Christ has overcome Satan and death and has promise all who believes that we should rejoice and be overcomes like Him because His Spirit lives in us. No wonder He said this ‘…we shall sit beside Him on His Throne…’ (Rev 3:21-READ) Glory to God Almighty.

Amen.