Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

–Parallel Verses
Philippians 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Praising God and rejoicing in all circumstances is a decision we make. And sometimes we feel so worn down it is so hard to choose praise and joy. This is where calling out for help from our brothers and sisters is so important.

I had a lady I prayed with in the last couple of months who was experiencing a high-level of anxiety about her career. She loved her job, was enriched by her boss, but the stress of the business was getting to her. And she was almost to her car after church, when God put it on her heart that she needed prayer. So she came back into church and asked me to pray for her.

So why was she so hesitant to ask for prayer until she had almost left? I can’t speak for her, but I can tell you my own experience: it is the work of the Devil whispering lies into our ears. These lies can sound like this: “No one really cares about your problems. They just are nice on the outside”; “They already have enough trials of their own, you will be dumping on them”; or “You have blown it too many times and you have used up all of your chances for forgiveness”.

But the truth is … we serve a Lord and Savior that loves us and when we come together with our brothers and sisters in prayer, his Spirit shows up IN POWER!

What are the results of taking our worries, hardships, pain, and heartache to the Lord in prayer? They fade away compared to his surpassing greatness! And in the hard trials and struggles, we lock arms and pray harder and deeper … and God’s Spirit shows up in better and greater ways!

So why should we rejoice (be joyful over and over again) in our pain, stress, hardship, and anxiety? Because by doing this we grab onto and hold prevailing hope that God will be faithful and see us through it. And this hope, it is powerful!

“God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” (‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭6‬:‭18‬-‭20‬)

This passage is referring to the oath God made with Abraham to bless him and to make his descendants as numerous as the sand on the shore. Abraham had this hope, and as “grafted in” (or adopted) children of God, we can grab and hold onto this hope as well. It is truly an anchor for us in the storms of life!

Lord, thank you for all of the ways you bless me! You even bless me by allowing me to go through heartache and trials, in order to draw closer to you and increase the quality of my faith. And when you move and act, it is truly amazing! How blessed I am to get to ride “shotgun” with you in life!