"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4).

When I practice the presence of God and keep my mind stayed on His Word, I have joy. I have a joyous day. And what I have learned is that this joy in the Lord prepares me for any attack on my mind that Satan might devise. I have the ability to have perfect peace if I trust God. "You will keep him in perfect peace Whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever..." (Isaiah 26:3-4).
    To have joy and to rejoice becomes a goal each day. In order to renew my mind so that I am able to cope with daily living, I must continue to live in Christ. "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving" (Colossians 2: 6-7).
    I have learned that I am to rejoice in the Lord and not in myself. This is not so easy all the time. Sometimes I don’t feel like rejoicing. Rejoice means to have a repeated experience of joy; which brings to my mind Paul’s encouragement to believers to forget the past. I do not need to entangle my mind with unpleasant situations, which Satan just loves to put before my mind’s eye.
    "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead..." (Philippians 3: 13). I need to replace unpleasant thoughts with God’s Word. (From "Renewing Your Mind", Chapter 6, by Peter Wade, adapted by Hildy Matthews.)
    Affirmation: I rejoice in Christ Jesus. I will do this every day. No matter what my circumstances are, I will renew my mind to God’s Word and rejoice in Christ Jesus.

Insights from Every Chapter in the Bible
G. Campbell Morgan was a well-known preacher and writer of over 60 books from the first half of the 20th century. In each issue he gives a comment from one verse in every chapter of the Bible. We continue with Paul's letter to the Romans.

"Who in hope believed against hope" (Romans 4:18).

That account of Abraham's mental attitude, as the result of the promise of God to him, is also a description of the experience of all those who live by faith in Him. Hope is always the expectation of good things to come, with a corresponding activity toward the realization of them. There can be no hope where there are no grounds of expectation. To Abraham there were no grounds of expectation in circumstances that he should have an heir. They absolutely denied the possibility. Nevertheless he hoped. Upon what grounds? Those of " the promise of God."
    To the man who believed in God, they were sufficient; and therefore he hoped, that is, he expected that the thing would happen, and he ordered his life accordingly. That is the very genius of the life of faith. All the great things for which we look are impossible things by the standards of circumstances. If we compute the possibilities of realization upon the basis of things seen, ours is the most hopeless of enterprises. For the bringing to birth of the new order, man is dead, and woman is barren. But if we reckon with God, then we are the most hopeful of all men. He has promised, and no word of His can be void of power. Therefore we hope against hope. When there is no ground for expectation in circumstances, we find it in God; and thus with jubilant songs we cheer the night, and journey toward the Day of God.

Hymns we no longer sing...

I awoke the other morning with a hymn going through my brain, one that I had sung or heard sung for decades! And I realized just how many of the hymns I loved as a young Christian are no longer popular. So from time to time I'm going to share them with you. Here's the one I'm talking about...

I feel like singing all the time,
My tears are wiped away;
Jesus is a Friend of mine,
I'll serve Him every day.

    I'll praise Him! praise Him!
    Praise Him all the time!
    Praise Him! praise Him!
    I'll praise Him all the time!

When on the cross my Lord I saw,
Nailed there by sins of mine,
Fast fell the burning tears; but now
I'm singing all the time.

When fierce temptations try my heart,
I'll sing, "Jesus is mine!"
And so, though tears at times may start,
I'm singing all the time.

The wondrous story of the Lamb
Tell with that voice of thine,
Till others, with the glad new song
Go singing all the time.

(E.P. Hammond)

Thanks...

To all who remembered that Psalm 90:10 has special significance to me this weekend. Your kind words are much appreciated.

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