Attaining God's Peace (4)

Philippians 4:4 NASB95

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

Let God be the Source of Your Happiness.

As much as Paul wanted to let the church be his joy, he knew the church would disappoint. In v. 1 he said that they were his joy and crown. But in the next two verses, had the church been the source of Paul’s joy, they would have let him down.

In v.2, there’s two women who need to get along and in sync with God’s purpose for the church. And in v.3, some people are doing the work of ministry while others stand around and do nothing.

So if Paul depended upon the church for his source of joy, he’d be pretty miserable. The church will let you down. I’ll let you down and you will let me down from time to Time.That’s why he emphasized making God your source of happiness because He’ll never let you down!

That’s why he says, “Rejoice in the Lord! Again I say rejoice!!!

Flip the prepositional phrase and place it to the front of v.4. It would read, “In the Lord, you rejoice.” That tells you the object of your happiness is in the sphere of, or the presence of God. When God is the source of happiness, He’ll always show up and never let us down! And if you feel like God has let you down, the problem isn’t God, the problem is within. God is both with us and in us. So we should always be happy because we can draw from the well of God’s presence whenever we want. We can approach His throne 24/7/356, and can potentially be happy 24/7/365. When was the last time you were truly happy in God’s presence? Today? This week? Last week? Maybe it’s been a while since you’ve been happy.

Let me encourage you today to drop whatever you thought it was that makes you happy (family, friends, spouse, church members),and redirect your focus on the true source of happiness, the Lord Jesus.