Where does our strength come from?

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice!” (Phillipians 4v4)

Why does God repeatedly remind us to rejoice, regardless of what is going on in our lives. It’s a very foreign concept to human nature. “Rejoice in all circumstances,” He says. In all circumstances? What happens if I’m going through hell? What happens if nothing is working out the way it is supposed to?"

“I will say it again. Rejoice!” says the Lord.

The bible says “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8v10) So the first thing the enemy wants to steal from you, is your joy. Just like a robber who goes straight for the safe because he knows the most valuable things are in there, so the enemy goes straight for your joy. If he can get that, he knows he has robbed you of your strength in the Lord. Like Samson lost his physical strength when his hair was cut, so we lose our spiritual strength when we lose our joy. So when God says “I will say it again, rejoice,” He is repeating himself like a loving father trying to tell his child something of great importance. As our eyes move anxiously to those things that are of temporal value,  God reminds us to focus on that which has eternal value.

I remember long ago a pastor saying “Satan cannot sow seeds in a grateful heart.” This has stuck with me because I have found it to be so true. None of the enemy’s seeds can grow in the soil of a grateful heart. But an ungrateful heart is the perfect soil for his seeds to flourish. Gratefulness is a state of mind. It’s the difference between getting to the end of the day and say “Lord, thankyou that I had my daily bread today. True to your word, you have provided everything I needed for today,” as opposed to “What about tomorrow? I had enough today, but will there be enough tomorrow?” …Same circumstances, different heart… The first heart is safe from losing its joy, but the second heart is on dangerous ground.

I believe thankfulness and joy are intricately linked. The bible says “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess 5v18) Again those two strange little words: “all circumstances.” Give thanks in all circumstances. Can God possibly mean that? Yes…

Joy is not happiness. Happiness is a feeling you have when things are going well. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit and it is not dependant on circumstances. The most confusing thing about people who know the Lord is their supernatural ability to praise through the worst of situations. The world looks at that and says “Is that person honestly using their last breath to praise the Lord? Their God is not saving them and yet they praise.” The world stares at that in wonder, shock and sometimes disgust. They don’t get it. And it’s not something you can “get” if you don’t have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. We all know the story of Job, a righteous man who lost everything – his possessions, his children, his health. The world responds to those circumstances like Job’s wife did: “Just curse God and die.” The world says “Wake up buddy, your life sucks and your God is not coming.” But the Spirit living inside of a true believer responds like Job did: “Though you slay me, YET will I praise you!” Like Shadrach, Mishack and Abednigo who were put into the fiery furnace for their faith and said “My God is able to save me, BUT EVEN IF HE DOESN’T, I will not bow down to your God.”

I have so many examples of people I know personally who have passed through the fiery furnace and kept their joy. The bible says that the kingdom of God is made up of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. That’s the kingdom of God so it cannot be shaken. Where the kingdom of God is, you will see righteousness, peace and joy, even if it is out of place in its surroundings. No-one can not conjure it up in the flesh. It is supernatural and it can not be shaken. I look at Jeremy Camp who married his young bride who had cancer, full of faith that God was going to heal her. I will never forget the video I saw of her thin and sick and unable to get off the couch and using all the strength she had to raise her arms to praise the Lord. She died shortly after that, but that image of her is stuck in many minds around the world.

The bible says believers are salt and light, and there is never a time when that light shines brighter than when they are suffering. Everybody understands a person who is happy when things are going well. Nobody understands a person who shines joy and sings praises when everything is being stripped from them. Our greatest opportunities to shine for Christ come when we don’t understand… Because when earthy understanding ends, supernatural peace and faith begin…

“And the peace of God which TRANSCENDS all understanding will guard yours hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4v7)