One sunny Sunday morning, Henry Jones awoke to find his wife standing over him,shaking him by the shoulder.
"You have to get up," she urged. "We have to get ready for church.” "I don’t want to go to church," he replied. "I want to stay in bed.” Crossing her arms over her chest, his wife demanded,
"Give me three good reasons why you should stay in bed and not go to church."
"OK," he answered. "First, I don’t get anything out of the service. Second, I don’t like the people there. And third, no one there likes me.
Now can you give me three good reasons why I should go to church?"
His wife responded, "First, it will do you some good.
Second, there are people who really do like you, and they’ll miss you if you aren’t there. And third, you’re the minister!"
1. A Happy Heart Makes The Face Cheerful
Prov 15:13 A happy heart makes the face cheerful,
but heartache crushes the spirit.
Prov 12:25 An anxious heart weighs a man down,
but a kind word cheers him up.
2. The Cheerful Heart Has A Continual Feast
Prov 15:15 All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.
Dr. Smiley Blanton, eminent psychiatrist, once said,
"I’ve seldom been called on to help a person who had a sense of the ridiculous and I’ve never had to treat anyone who could really laugh at himself."
It is said that as Benjamin Franklin concluded a stirring speech on the guarantees of the Constitution, a heckler shouted, "Aw, them words don’t mean nothin’ at all. Where’s all the happiness you say it guarantees us?" Franklin smiled and replied, "My friend, the Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness; you have to catch it yourself."
3. A Cheerful Heart Is Good Medicine
Prov 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Prov 18:14 A man’s spirit sustains him in sickness,
but a crushed spirit who can bear?
Jeff Walling tells the story of an alien that sees a church building and peeks in and asked “what are they doing in there?” “They are worshiping”, His guide told him.
“Why are they worshipping?”, asked the alien. “Because they have been saved by the grace of God and they are going to go to heaven and live in paradise with God forever.” To which the Alien replied, “Do they know that?!”
Garrison Keillor, said in a presentation at Goshen College:
Some people think its difficult to be
a Christian and to laugh,
but I think its the other way around.
God writes a lot of comedy,
it’s just that he has so many bad actors.
****What Do I Have To Rejoice About?****
a. He Has Blessed You Beyond The Scope Of Your Imagination!
Deu 12:7 There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you.
This is most likely the scripture that most of us point to for why we say grace before we eat dinner.
Everything you have put your hand to is like saying what you have put your shoulder to.
****What Do I Have To Rejoice About?****
b. He Is My Protector!
Psa 5:11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
Ultimately this is the only protection we have. My family learned this very vividly this week. It does not matter what neighborhood you live in. It doesn’t matter hose good of a security system you have. It doesn’t matter who you are.
If the Lord is not your watchman then those who watch labor in vain.
(Psalms 127:1-2) "A song of ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. {2} In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat-- for he grants sleep to those he loves."
****What Do I Have To Rejoice About?****
c. Because Of Who He Is!
Psa 9:2 I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
Think about all that He is and all that He has done for you up to this point.
This is the Philippians 4:8 principal.
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."
****What Do I Have To Rejoice About?****
d. For How He Loves Me!
Psa 31:7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.
This is a wonderful verse because it explains that God not only loves us, but He loves in the particular way that benefits us the most. He sees your particular affliction and responds to the anguish of your soul. A psychologist or even a preacher may try to respond to your need but most often all they can do is respond to what they think your need is or how they have been able to interpret the need of others in the past.
But He knows each of individually and can respond the needs of our soul individually as well.
****What Do I Have To Rejoice About?****
e. He Has Changed My Heart!
Psa 51:10 "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
Psa 32:11 Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!
In the midst of David’s worst sin and the time that according to Psalms 32 he was so depressed that he felt like his bones were wasting away inside his body he acknowledges his sin and depression and then he asks the Lord to restore a steadfast spirit within him and then he rejoices in response to his faith that God will give him what he needs including a clan heart.
Rejoice Because
1. He Has Blessed You
2. He Is My Protector
3. Of Who He Is
4. Of How He Loves Me
5. He Has Changed My Heart
We have so much to rejoice over but some tend to focus on that which brings us down. Why is that? I guess because misery loves company. Because it seems more sensational. Perhaps it feels more real to us than knowledge we have of God’s blessings.
You can buy a thousand different books on keeping a Positive Mental Attitude as your key to success. Or you can just read your Bible and learn that the way to
a Positive Mental Attitude is by filling your life with the joy of cheerful heart because you know the God who has done so much for you.
Then you can experience success in life without having to waste all your time reading all those books.
- An anonymous friar in a Nebraska monastery wrote the following late in life:
If I had my life to live over again, I’d try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax, I would limber up, I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I would take more trips. I would be crazier. I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers, and watch more sunsets. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. If I had to do it over again I would go places, do things, and travel lighter. If I had my life to live over I would start barefooted earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would ride on more merry-go-rounds. I’d pick more daisies.
