Joy and Peace

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Romans 15:13 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/rom.15.13.ESV

As I was doing my devotional from the Youversion bible app on Phillipians- Choosing Joy, Loving God Greatly bible plan, I was particularly blessed by the following questions below that I have highlighted and answered.

1.What does it mean to rejoice in the Lord? Why is it important?

“Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—”

Philippians 3:1‭-‬3 ESV

https://bible.com/bible/59/php.3.1-3.ESV

When we rejoice in the Lord that means we are choosing Him and His Joy!

The defenition of rejoice from the internet.

re·joice 🤗😁😃

/rəˈjois/

verb

feel or show great joy or delight.

“he rejoiced in her spontaneity and directness”

synonyms:happiness, pleasure, joy, gladness, delight, elation, cheer, jubilation, euphoria, delirium, ecstasy, rapture, transports of delight, exuberance, exultation, glory, triumph, celebration, revelry, merrymaking, festivity, feasting.”

Many times the cares and distractions of life try to pull us away from choosing to praise and rejoice in the Lord. When we choose to rejoice and not complain it releases His manifest presence in our lives. When we choose to move in the opposite spirit, His kingdom comes!
Romans 14:17 New King James Version (NKJV)

“¹⁷ for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.“

2. What is the danger of having “confidence in the flesh’?

The flesh is not stable and often familar spirits that are not us can try to influence our flesh and it is not Holy Spirit! That is why we must anchor EVERYTHING in the Holy Spirit whose truth is found in the word. We must choose to take our thoughts captive and believe God no matter what!

Galatians 5:16-26 New King James Version (NKJV)

Walking in the Spirit

“16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: [a]adultery, [b]fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, [c]murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. 7 Don’t participate in the things these people do. 8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,

“Awake, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.” ”

4. What goal are we to press forward towards?

We are always to have the goal of having the mind and charachter of Christ which we press forward towards! We must believe Him for ourselves and not rely on others only to show us. We must make a choice that no matter what happens in my life, I am commited to His perfect love, life and ways living in me.

John 14:6 New International Version (NIV)

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

New International Version (NIV)

5. Explain what it means to have our citizenship in heaven. How should this impact the way we live? How should this impact what we teach the next generation?

We dont belong to this world. Our home, treasures, life, joy is not in this world but heaven! That means we are to live as we are in heaven now on this earth. We are called to be vessels for God! We must instill a relationship with the Lord first over any earthly career or care. If we seek the Lord and His kingdom in His word He says He will bring everything we need!