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#DailyDevotion In Jesus We Have Rejoicing, Gentleness, Thanksgiving and Peace

#DailyDevotion In Jesus We Have Rejoicing, Gentleness, Thanksgiving and Peace

Phil. 44Be happy in the Lord always! I’ll say it again: Be happy! 5Everyone should know how gentle you can be. The Lord is near. 6Don’t worry about anything, but in everything go to God, and pray to let Him know what you want, and give thanks. 7Then God’s peace, better than all our thinking, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Well I think the translation to rejoice is still better than be happy since happy tends to be a shallow feeling in our world today. Rejoice is to feel inwardly a joy again and again. You can be joyful and not be particularly happy. We should take notice about what and where we are to be rejoicing in, in the Lord always. Our rejoicing is to be in the LORD Jesus Christ always. In the LORD Jesus we rejoice that our names are written in heaven.  We can rejoice if we suffer for the name of Christ. We rejoice Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father. We rejoice in our hope of the forgiveness of sins and of the resurrection. We rejoice in the truth of our Lord. We rejoice in our own repentance to faith and life and over the repentance to faith and life of others. These and many others we rejoice in the LORD Jesus Christ.

Because the LORD’s second coming is near everyone should know how gentle we can be. Being gentle doesn’t have a whole lot of currency these days, except for those that are hurting. It is a vicious world we live in and we often lash out at people who disagree with us and don’t see things our way. This is not the way of Jesus Christ. While our LORD Jesus Christ on a couple of times did lash out from zeal for the LORD, he is the LORD. We are not. Instead the model we are given to follow is from the garden to the crucifixion. When we see people hurting and being hurt gentleness is the order of the day. When people lash out at us we should remember our LORD who did not open his mouth.

Instead of worrying we are to go to God, pray to let him know what we want and to give thanks, i.e. thank him for answering our prayer. Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter six to not be anxious about anything. Our Father in heaven knows what we need before we even ask him. He takes care of all living creatures, how much more worth are you to him than birds? And you are worth more to him than birds of the air and the grass in the field. He does not give us a scorpion instead of an egg, or a stone instead of a loaf of bread. He gives us his Holy Spirit when we pray and he intercedes for us to the Father on our behalf.

If we are rejoicing in the LORD and all his benefits to us, if we are turning to God the Father for everything we need and giving thanks as if we have already received it because we know he cares for us and promises to take care of us in our time of need, then Paul tells us, “Then God’s peace, better than all our thinking, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Yes God’s peace which is beyond our comprehension and is better than all our thinking will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. His peace is believing his promises to be true. His peace is trusting he cares for us on account of Jesus. Jesus is the proof God our Father cares for us. The cross and the empty grave are proof he will take care of all our needs. It is this that gives us peace when everything else is crashing down around us. Everything else is temporary. Jesus and all his benefits are unto life everlasting.

Heavenly Father, give us your Holy Spirit that we may rejoice in Christ Jesus always and in all his benefits to us so we may live at peace in a world that is in turmoil. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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Rev. Guillaume J. S. Williams, Sr.

The Reverend Guillaume Williams is the Pastor of Hope Lutheran Chapel of Osage Beach, Missouri. His pastoral ministry with Hope began in 2005 where he preaches the Christ crucified.

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