Rejoice in the Lord Always

In the Old Testament days, there were festivals during which all Israelites were to present themselves before the Lord "at the place He will choose as a dwelling for His name" and rejoice (Deuteronomy 16:1-17) -- the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Now the Lord dwells within us as the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19) and we are commanded to "rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4). Rejoice always, not just at times of festivals.

It is important to note that this commandment to rejoice in the Lord always was written in Paul's epistle to the church at Philippi. In Acts 16, we read about Paul and Silas being imprisoned in Philippi by false accusations of the owners of a fortune-telling slave girl that Paul and Silas liberated from the evil spirits. While in prison, they prayed and SANG HYMNS to the Lord. An earthquake followed and the prison doors all opened up. When the jailer tried to commit suicide, he was stopped by Paul and Silas and was then introduced to the gospel, he and his household. Thus began the church at Philippi. The Macedonian church at Philippi suffered from "extreme poverty" and "the most severe trial", but with overflowing joy, they gave richly and generously to support Paul's mission (II Corinthians 8:1-5). In writing to this remarkable church, Paul was in prison again in Rome (Philippians 1:12-14). Writing in the direst situations to a church suffering greatly from a trial and poverty, Paul admonishes to "rejoice in the Lord always." In fact, the word "joy" or "rejoice" is mentioned no less than 13 times in the epistle. Likewise, the Thessalonian church received the gospel message with joy despite a severe suffering (I Thessalonians 1:6).

In fact, our Lord Jesus commanded us to rejoice in times of persecution and false accusation on account of His name (Matthew 5:11-12). Paul's message to the other churches was the same -- to rejoice in times of suffering (Romans 5:3, Colossians 1:24), as was the message of other apostles (James 1:2, I Peter 1:6, 4:13). We are to rejoice, even when we face hardships and trials.

This is possible, because our joy does not depend on the circumstances we find ourselves in. Our joy is from within. Our joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit (I Thessalonians 1:6), a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). The joy given by the Holy Spirit dwelling in us is not like the joy of the world, which is transient and is here one time and then is gone the next. It is like a spring of water that wells up within us, so that whoever drinks it will never thirst (John 4:13-14), since the Holy Spirit is the living water that flows from within (John 7:37-39).

"I've got joy like a fountain.
I've got joy like a fountain.
I've got joy like a fountain in my soul, Hallelujah!

I've got joy like a fountain.
I've got joy like a fountain.
I've got joy like a fountain in my soul."

(youtube version in Korean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGt2X_1OQd0)