I hope this devotional can be something to remind you that because of Jesus, you are free. So we can rejoice. We can stand free and rejoice. “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4) Thanks for joining me. - Rhett
DAY ONE
I walk a bit different now
Now that my heart's been found
Nothing really feels the same
I hold my head a bit higher
I lift my voice a bit louder
Yeah, something inside has changed
In Philippians, we read where Paul’s mind was while he was in prison - how he counted imprisonment a situation that was actually helping to spread the news of God. That’s where I know Paul and I have two different personalities. I am so quick to jump to how bad a situation is. I sometimes run to anxiety. I would’ve seen imprisonment as… you know… being a prisoner. Paul did not. He saw it as an opportunity. He saw the situation as a situation that God was not surprised about, and that God had a purpose behind. I heard a message by Craig Groeschel where he said Paul’s mind was in the place of, "they think I’m the one stuck here; but look at the many guards who are actually the ones stuck with me and now I get to share the truth of God to them."
What do we miss in the everyday because of our focus being out of whack? Or by being anxious in everything?
If we really are a new creation in Christ, shouldn’t that be our focus? Yet, the majority of the time, we mess up, sin, get lost in our thoughts and become angered, repent and start all over. Let’s practice keeping our focus on Jesus and rejoice, hold our heads a bit higher, lift our voices a bit louder, because we know that we are changed.
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7
DAY TWO
"Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things." -Philippians 4:8
I know this is not my home
I know I don't walk alone
No matter what comes my way
I have peace through the trouble
I have joy though the struggle
And now my hope's in a brighter day
The enemy doesn’t stop. There’s no off day. The whispers don’t let up. That’s what the Satan wants to do - kill, steal and destroy - to tear you and everything you care about apart.
That’s why we have to rejoice in the Lord. The only way to combat is praise.
Paul and Silas knew how to keep their focus and rejoice. In Acts 16:16, the story talks about this possessed girl who is following Paul and Silas. Pause right there - that’s a focus killer. If I’m walking with my friends and The Ring girl is following me, I’m not just still walking and talking. Then it says that she followed them for many days! Fast forward - Paul commands the spirit, in the name of Jesus, to come out of her, and it does. Which then, (spoiler alert if you haven’t finished reading Acts), gets them dragged to the marketplace where they become prisoners. They get their clothes ripped off and beat with rods, then they were thrown in prison. Then Paul’s like, "Hey, everyone. Rejoice in the Lord always!" Paul understood his life was not his. He understood that all he could offer was Praise to God. His focus was not wavered. He rejoiced.
Again, the only way to fight back against the enemy is Praise.
The whispers get drowned out. Praise brings focus to a spiraling mind. When we rejoice in Jesus, we declare war! So, in Acts 16:25 Paul and Silas, at midnight, were not giving into the thoughts of depression, not claiming it’s over, and not fearing the next minute. They were drowning out the whispers. They were praying and singing hymns to God. Suddenly, in the middle of the praise, a great earthquake comes, the doors were opened and shackles hit the ground. You wanna walk free as a new creation in Christ, rejoice in the one who gave you freedom, even when you don’t feel like rejoicing.
DAY THREE
I am a mountain mover
Water walker
More than just an overcomer
Cause I've been set free
“Believer” was a song to remind myself of who I am. Because I am a believer in Jesus Christ, I have a foundation that I did not have before Jesus - a foundation that does not move. My dad, Dr. Mark, who is a pastor in South Carolina, teaches it this way, “The Bible doesn’t say to ask Jesus into our heart or say a certain ‘sinner’s prayer.’ It’s the knowledge that God sent His son to die on the cross, walked sinlessly, payed our debt. He was put in a grave, rose again and is now preparing a place for us in Heaven. Jesus coming into your heart and forgiveness of sin is a result of salvation, not requirements for it.”
"That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Romans 10:10
My dad goes on to say, “Once we know that, we are positioned correctly with the Father. God no longer sees our sin. He sees Jesus. We still mess up, our souls were saved, but our flesh still screws us up. But we’ve got to view our strongholds as Christ sees them. We’ve got to see our strongholds through the lens of redeemed people, and because of Christ, we are overcomers.”
In this day and age, it seems like we’re known for our shortcomings. Like the person in the room with the biggest problem is the most famous. It’s because that’s all we talk about.
“How’s your day been?”
“Bad.”
“How’s your job?”
“Well, my boss.....”
Or, heavy stuff like strongholds and depression and sickness, etc. We let them define us.
I used to always laugh at older people’s answers to questions like, “How are you doing?” cause they would always say stuff like, “I’m breathing,” or, “Blessed.” But that’s what we've got to get back to cause we’re all tired of hearing everyone’s crap and living in a sad-focused world.
As believers, we know we are mountain movers and overcomers because we’ve been set free. For me, I try to wake up every morning and declare who I know I am because of Jesus, and then rejoice in Him. Let’s try to do that together!
DAY FOUR
I am a gospel preacher
Heart on fire
Freedom singing
Testifier
Cause I've been redeemed
I am a believer
"There also you and your households shall eat before the LORD your God, and rejoice in all your
undertakings in which the LORD your God has blessed you." - Deuteronomy 12:7
"But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy;
And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exalt in You." - Psalm 5:11
"Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones;
And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart." - Psalm 32:11
"Rejoice always." 1 Thessalonians 5:16
As believers we should always rejoice. That’s a lot easier said than done.
First thing that comes to my mind is traffic. I can have worship music blaring and still have to watch my tongue. Also, why does traffic even happen? Like, whoever is in the front, just go on. Anyways, we talk about getting to Heaven and forever praising God, yet we’re always too busy to pray, read our Bible, get to church and rejoice. I listened to a podcast the other day from Debra Fileta and she said, (I’m paraphrasing here), that we don’t wake up and forget to eat food for days and wonder why we get sick. We eat! We don’t get the ding on our car to change the oil and just run it till the engine locks up. We change the oil. So why do we become believers and then just say, "I’m good?"
It’s crazy to me and I’m guilty, that we pray when things are bad and rejoice when we win. Our praying and rejoicing should not be because of what Christ does for us, but because of who we are in Him. We are called to rejoice, always. We are called to be Gospel preachers with hearts on fire for Jesus because we have been redeemed. Well it’s hard to do that when our focus is on the negative. If we walk around pouty, stuck up, depressed, angry and call ourselves Believers, we make Jesus, to the unbeliever, just as pouty, stuck up, depressed and as angry as we are. Let’s focus on the verses about rejoicing. Let’s continue to remind ourselves, while looking in the mirror, that we are children of God.
Rejoice! Even when it sucks.
DAY FIVE
I am a child of the Father
An orphan no longer
No doubt about who I am
I’m in the hands of the healer
The arms of the savior
His grace makes me who I am
Here are the reminders behind those lyrics:
As a believer, you’re a child of the Father no matter your last name, where you’re from, what number is in your bank account, and what you’ve done.
An orphan no longer! We were dead to our sin with no true home but Jesus.
No doubt about who I am. That’s a tricky one if our focus is off. Joseph’s brothers wanted to kill him but he had his dreams and kept his focus. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego - I’d have a hard time knowing who I was if I had a name like one of those cause I’d never have learned how to spell it. But, for real - thrown into a fire. They kept their focus and rejoiced. In today’s age, there are so many things that tell us who to be but if we keep our focus and rejoice in the one that calls us His, the doubts leave.
I’m in the hands of the healer. I won’t wash over this and pretend like disease, anxiety, and depression aren’t real issues by just saying, “God’s got it,” because those things are horrible. BUT, when our focus remains on Jesus, the fear is diminished. It doesn’t mean it’s not hard. It doesn’t mean you should not take medicine or see a counselor - God created those too - but it does mean not being a slave to fear.
The arms of the Savior. When a baby cries, you comfort it. When a friend or loved one is hurting, you embrace them. Why do we not realize, so many times, that’s how God looks at us? There’s comfort in the arms of our Savior. There’s rest. There’s peace. We’re not just stuck here till we see Him face to face, He’s with us now.
His grace makes me who I am. When I was 17 and my wife was 18, we got pregnant. It was mostly her fault cause she’s hot. But when we found out, we were scared to death. As a pastor’s kid, I knew how to get out of everything and say the right thing. This was the one thing there was no getting out of and no way of hiding. So we pulled up our bootstraps, got married, and surrendered that marriage and that new baby to God. Now we have been married for 15 years and have four beautiful babies. I tell you that to tell you this - that story has nothing to do with Rhett and April, but everything to do with how big of a God we serve. The crap that we bring to the table, Jesus still says, “You are worth it.” His grace is what has shaped all of our lives as believers. So again, let’s rejoice. In everything, we rejoice.
