Let’s Choose to Rejoice

Let’s Choose to Rejoice

Breaking News! For you who worship at the Mt. Laurel Church of God,

June 28^th is NOT patriotic Sunday!

Come worship the King of kings and Lord of lords with us!

Let’s Choose to Rejoice

For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Psalm 30:5 NIV

There’s a war going on in our minds and the sorrows seem to endure. However, we can choose to rejoice in the goodness of our mighty God.

Even though life can throw curveballs at us, God wants us to experience true happiness—the kind that lasts a lifetime, not the momentary, quick-fix kind. If you have an intimate, personal friendship with Jesus, God’s So, you can feel happy even when life hurts. He can help you experience that deeper joy, not by avoiding or covering over your pain, but by helping you face it, embrace it, and letting Him carry it. Without facing the night, you can’t find the joy that comes in the morning.

Do me a favor. Ask yourself this question: “When was the last time I was genuinely, deeply happy—and what made it stop?”

What God is saying in Psalm 30:5 is this. The kind of joy that comes from God lasts a lifetime, but hiding your pain and trying to make yourself happy can only lead to temporary joy at best. When your heart is numb and distant from God, your mind will eventually be filled with darkness and despair as you keep eagerly searching for more and more pleasure to escape your pain. Unfortunately, that path leads a person to sin, and sin only sinks a person deeper into darkness. That darkness is the source of your unhappiness.

Here’s the good news—God wants to give you the happiness you’re looking for. Suffering and difficulty will come no matter what, but when you have a relationship with God, you can experience joy in both bad and good times. The choice is yours. You can choose to rejoice in Him and let Him give you joy that lasts a lifetime or you can keep trying to fill that sadness in your life with temporary experiences whose happiness will last until that experience is ended.

Always remember this though . . . God will never abandon you in the dark—He enters it. Jesus’s death on the cross proves that God enters your darkness. His resurrection proves that darkness never wins. That’s the good news: God conquers the dark pessimism, fatalism, and cynicism of life through the life of Jesus. He doesn’t expect anything from you except friendship with Him and a life lived out of gratitude for His love. If that sounds too good to be true, trust me. It’s true!

One more thing: Christ-followers don’t stop experiencing pain and suffering. But they do stop facing pain and suffering alone. When you have the faith that God is on your side, there’s nothing that can stifle your joy. You might get knocked down, but you’ll never get knocked out.



Thank you for reading Pastor Dale’s Mid-Week Encouragement. It’s not copyrighted so feel free to share it with someone who needs encouragement today. And, if you’re a regular attender of the Mt. Laurel Church of God or regularly watch the live feed on Facebook or the recorded service on YouTube, consider reading Genesis 22:1-14 to get ready to worship this coming Sunday, June 28 as Pastor Dale talks from God’s Word about luck!

Called to know the Way, go the Way, and show you the Way,

^{Pastor Dale}

Pastor Dale (PD) and Pamela his wife are honored to serve the Mt. Laurel Church of God. If this Mid-Week Encouragement has helped you, perhaps it may encourage someone else. Feel free to share this message with anyone you choose. And if you'd like to receive PD's Mid-Week Encouragement, just send an email to (kingdomguy@gmail.com) and I'll accommodate your request.