A Jolt of JoySample

What strange advice written by a man in prison! "Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say rejoice!" This is the advice of Paul that is strongly declared from a first century Roman prison cell straight into your 21st Century heart: Your inner attitudes do not have to reflect your outward circumstances! Paul said it twice so I think that I will, too! "Your inner attitudes do not have to reflect your outward circumstances!" It is so easy to become discouraged about unpleasant circumstances or to be tempted to take insignificant events too seriously. There will always be situations in life that will cause you to be unhappy or unproductive or even weak emotionally. But there should never be any event in your life that causes you to stop rejoicing! There should never be any episode or happening that steals your joy. This is only possible when you are rejoicing "in the Lord". It is not possible in our humanity but it is indeed possible in the Lord! Your joy is a result of a vertical point of view as you are looking straight up into the face of God Himself! If you have a horizontal perspective on your life, as far as the eye can see you will only gaze at a dry and barren wasteland of existence. But if you can choose to look up into the face of the Father, you will be captivated by His love ... His peace ... and His goodness! If you determine today to live a vertical life rather than a horizontal existence, you won't have time to complain because you will be so consumed by the joy of His presence. You will no longer be bothered by disappointment because you will be so immersed in a lifestyle of worship. The word "depression" will be wiped out of your dictionary and you will be dancing into your destiny!