Rejoice!

As 2008 dawned across the city, I discerned a change in the spirit; I could literally feel the gladness caused by the rejoicing of all the people. Their rejoicing was in (the rememberance of the past year and) the anticipation and hope of a new year. Wow, rejoicing is a powerful way to effect real change in spirit.

I reflected yesterday that often the way we feel is not actually a result of events which are observable; sometimes, the way we feel is a result of spiritual warfare or other things which are not directly correlated to recent happenings of memory. This is why the Bible exhorts Christians to: Rejoice in the Lord always; I will say it again: rejoice!

There is great power to effect change by rejoicing. Don't just draw conclusions that the way you feel is a result of events; this is often untrue; I know all too often I make that mistake.

Let's lift our gaze, remember your Hope and Joy, and take up the shield and spear of the act of rejoicing.

1 Peter 1 gives our grounding for this:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.