God Speaking

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

(Psalm 118: 24)

Last week my family with their two young children came to dinner at my place and once we were seated at the table, my six-year-old grandson could hardly wait to tell me what they were now doing at their dinner table every night. At first, I was a little confused when he said, it was about roses, thorns and buds. When his mother explained I was thrilled at what their parents were instilling in their children. Everybody took a turn and they had to look hard at their day and find a beautiful thing that had happened (a rose) then they were also allowed to share what had been not so good (a thorn) then to end with, to find a way to encourage something good to happen for the next day (the bud).

The Lord allows us to do exactly that when we talk to him. We can converse with him honestly about our day, but not to dwell on the thorns, but to find a beautiful thing to thank him for so we find that rose to rejoice with him and then if we have messed up in some way we can find a bud which we will strive to allow to bloom on the following day.

Paul is a wonderful example of rejoicing in the Lord whatever thorns he has in his life.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice.” (Philippians 4: 4)

When he is writing to the Philippians, he encourages them to rejoice and find roses to thank God for. This even more startling when Paul was writing from prison while in chains.  He doesn’t mention how terrible that must be, but rejoices that amid all his agony his witness for Christ has reached the palace guard and not only that, this witnessing has encouraged other Christians to be bolder in how they share the good news;

“Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.” (Philippians 1: 14)

Philippians is a letter filled with joy and Paul wanted to convey this to the believers so that the joy of knowing Christ would also fill their lives and in the opening chapter he tells them that he prays for them with joy;

“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.” (Philippians 1: 4)

Again, a wonderful example for us to follow to pray with joy for our families, our friends our church family

When we start the day rejoicing, it has an amazing affect on the rest of the day and at the end of the day we will have plenty of roses to thank God for.