Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice (Philip

"Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice" (Philip. 4:4). "Rejoice evermore... Quench not the Spirit" (I Thess. 5:16,19). "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with JOY UNSPEAKABLE and full of glory" (I Pet. 1:8). "And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a LOUD VOICE for all the mighty works that they had seen" (Lk. 19:37). "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep" (Rom. 12:15). "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of PRAISE to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name" (Heb. 13:15). "And the shepherds returned, GLORIFYING and PRAISING God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them" (Lk. 2:20). "Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he LEAPING up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and PRAISING GOD. And all the people saw him walking and praising God" (Acts 3:6-9). "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord... For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Philp. 3:1,3). These are just a few scriptural examples and instructions that show very clearly that anyone who is truly following after the Spirit of God is going to have plenty of joy and rejoicing in their life. And well they should, seeing that God's Spirit of holiness imparts just that for those who have it, and follow hard after it. The power of the holy Ghost was provided to give us power over sin, whereas sin had always had power over us (Acts 1:8; Rom. 6:6; I Cor. 6:11; Tit. 3:5; I Pet. 1:22; I Jn. 3:3,7,8). Those "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," indeed have a great deal to rejoice ABOUT! When true believers keep themselves busy "denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, [and] live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; there is a ton of rejoicing to be done, and it comes as natural as breathing. In fact, if a believer is NOT "rejoicing in the Lord," there can be only one reason - SIN! There simply is no such thing as a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ who does NOT have power over sin, and who is NOT full of "righteousness, and peace, and JOY, in the holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:17). And you can just throw out all of those silly religious excuses that say, "Well, we all rejoice in different ways." Right. And "we're all striving to go to the same place in different ways too, right? Wrong. I know all about the unspeakable joy that makes one as still as a stone, overflowed with peace, and far more content than a bug in a rug. And I know the excuses of those who cleave to a dead "Christian" religion that imparts NO joy or rejoicing. I also know by thirty two years of ongoing experience that anyone who walks in the Spirit of God in holiness is going to be doing a lot of loud, joyful praising of their God on a regular basis, and it is just a natural part of their life, not something that they are TRYING to do. They are going to dance in the power of the Spirit, and for more reason that King David, who was NOT baptized with the holy Ghost for the true remission of sins (Gal. 3:13,14; Heb. 11:13). I remember very well my first real experience with the Lord, about thirty two years ago to the week in fact. I had been going to the little [but powerful] Mission where I started out, for about a month, but I hadn't gotten my feet wet as yet. But after watching and listening about the power of the holy Ghost in those people's lives for several weeks, I went home one night with resolve to find out about this for myself. I was alone in my apartment, and I got on my hands and knees before God, and let him know that if this was the way to go, to give me a sign. And that sign was that he would instantly and miraculously deliver me from the drugs, the alcohol, the pot, and the anger and cursing; none of which I was able quit on my own. I went to bed after that short, but meaningful prayer, and went to work the next morning, having forgotten about my prayer. I was at work for a couple of hours and something just came to my mind and impressed upon me that my prayer of the previous night was answered. Oh my, do I ever remember! For the first time I just naturally lifted my hands to heaven and gave God sincere praise. Those bondages were gone and a peace had replaced the craving in my soul for those things.

I can tell you my friend that I have been praising God ever since, with uplifted hands, with a loud voice, with weeping, with other tongues, with singing, with dancing; and with every other conceivable and unconceivable means! By God's mighty grace of which I am not worthy, I "keep [my] heart with all diligence," and he keeps me full of joy and rejoicing; though as Peter said, there are times of "heaviness [because of] manifold temptations" (I Pet. 1:6). But as far as that goes, there is no greater rejoicing than to come through grueling trials with a pure heart and filled with God's love for him and for everyone else, including anyone who may have caused me trouble. And I have said all of the above to say this: In the last scripture I used in my text passages, the apostle Paul said that [we] "worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." The part about having "no confidence in the flesh" means that we are not supposed to have any regard for, or observance of any carnal, ceremonial ordinances of the old covenant law which pertained only to the flesh, or the outer man. Jesus died and rose again to furnish something for the INNER MAN, which the law could not furnish; and that something is the soul cleansing power of the holy Ghost (Mk. 1:7,8; Acts 1:4,5; Acts 2:4,33; Rom. 6:3,4; Rom. 8:3,4; I Cor. 6:11; I Cor. 12:13; Tit. 3:5). That is ALL Jesus came for my friend. Just ask John the Baptist, the man God sent to prepare the way for Jesus. You know where to find his answer. Jesus fulfilled ALL of the "works of the law" as Paul called them, and provided for us the real, spiritual performance of those ceremonies, which is the true washing away of sins and the joy that goes with receiving that remission, and keeping it alive in our lives. That is why this covenant is called the NEW covenant, and is referred to as a "NEW and LIVING way" (Heb. 10:20). And that is why the old covenant is referred to as "the ministration of death," because it showed to man that he was in sin, but it did NOT take away sin literally from the hearts and souls of those under that covenant; and it could NOT impart divine, eternal life (II Cor. 3:6,7; Heb. 10:4; Gal. 3:21). [Anyone reading the articles posted on this page will miss most of the understanding if you do not look up the referenced scriptures that are not quoted. I am not on here to write books, and I quote only enough to make the point.] But Jesus came "that we might HAVE life, and have it more abundantly;" and that life is the "SPIRIT of life" that he died and rose to baptize with (Jn. 10:10; Rom. 8:2). If we have that life, and keep it fully alive in our lives by keeping sin out of our hearts and lives, then we are as "complete" as it gets (Gal. 3:2,3; Col. 2:10). Giving heed to carnal ordinances that were under the old covenant will only take away from that completeness, because in observing these things we are taking away honor for what Jesus has done, and going in the opposite direction of the leading of the holy Ghost (Gal. 5:18). The apostle Paul said it best: "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Gal. 2:21). The reason that so many people want to hold onto and defend their observance of water baptism, so called "communion" services, the Sabbath, etc; is because they do not HAVE the joy and rejoicing of walking in the power of the holy Ghost in holiness. If they lose these ceremonial ordinances and other carnal traditions of Christianity like dress codes, hair codes, etc; they will simply have nothing left but the dead spirit that accompanies keeping sin and trusting in carnal ordinances for a supposed righteousness. And those two elements are no strangers to one another, seeing that the only reason ceremonial works were ever given was because those who were under the law were under sin and could not HAVE the fulfillment of them. And if we go backward from the leading of God's Spirit to honor and practice these ceremonies, sin is the only place left to go to (Gal. 5:4,15,16,18-21). When one relies strictly and only on faith in Jesus and the power of his Spirit of life that accompanies true faith, there is nothing left but the love of God and "rejoicing evermore." I think that says it. God bless.