Rejoice In The Lord Always

In the Letter to the Philippians, it’s quite evident that Paul rejoices and treasures his friendship with the Church of Philippians more than any other church. He takes pleasure in boasting that he had never taken help from any man or any other Church before and it was from the Philippians alone that he greed to accept a gift. In this letter we see that Paul rejoices in the Lord in any given situation.

Paul gives exhortations that are both specific and general in nature.
We see in verses 1 – 3 Paul gives specific exhortations to individuals there at Philippi while in verse 4, we find the first of several exhortations which are certainly needful for all Christians: "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!"

The word Joy is a keyword in this letter. If not the word ‘Joy’ he uses a derivation of it which appears more than 16 times in this letter.
Here are a few examples of Paul who found Joy “Always”
1. In his prayers - Ph 1:4
2. In the proclamation of the gospel under adverse circumstances - Ph 1:18
3. In the unity of the saints - Ph 2:2
4. In the prospect of being a martyr for Christ - Ph 2:17
5. In the love of the brethren - Ph 4:10

It is definitely true that Paul rejoices in everything that he does and always.
This joy is humanly impossible to achieve.
Here are a few examples of the temporary and fake joy which humans achieve:
Money
Wrong relationships
Pride when given authority
Drinks, Drugs
Material Acquisition, etc.

However, the never ending and abundant joy which Paul is experiencing and speaking about is ONLY found in the Lord.

Paul also very practically gives advice and tells us how to avoid hindrances to abiding joy.

For e.g.: Memories of past failures etc
1. Such often leaves people in a state of discouragement or depression
2. Paul, however, provides the solution in Ph 3:12-14
a. Realize your imperfection, yet press on to better things!
b. Forget your past failures, reach forward to future successes!

Conclusion:
‘Rejoice in the Lord Always’ doesn’t mean to ignore the bad realities and problems in life.
It means that in spite of the presence of such problems we still hold on to the Lord and not let these problems over shadow the joy which we have in our life.

PS: As I was writing this assignment I just though of this saying:
Don’t tell Ur Problems how big the problems are; Tell your problems how big Our God is!!