Meaty Minute: Make the Choice to Rejoice!

Do you ever struggle with jealousy and envy? Envy rots the soul, and my soul sometimes stinks to high heaven! I look around and focus on what others have that I want. If I allow my thoughts to linger on what my eyes desire, I quickly find myself in trouble with discontentment. There is no way I can rejoice for someone else if I’m busy feeling sorry for myself!

We have to make the choice to rejoice!

The best way I’ve found is to focus on gratitude.

How do we do this? Here is another little sneak peek at my new Bible study, 30 Days to Walk the Talk: Discovering Grace & Power for Genuine Christian Living One STEP at a Time. On the day we study Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with those who are rejoicing,” the Challenge for Today is to make a two-column list: in column one, "Who God Is," list ten things about God that never change, and in column two, "What He's Done for Me," write ten things He’s specifically done for you. When you find yourself needing help with rejoicing, refer back to this list!

Here’s mine:

Make a gratitude list of Who God is and what He's done, then use it to make the choice to rejoice!

Now make your own! If you need help with the “Who God Is” column, here are some of my favorite scriptures for discovering how rejoice-worthy our God is! There are immeasurably more, but this gives us a start:

  • Deuteronomy 26:11
  • Psalms 5:11, 13:5-6, 31:7, 63:7, 97:1 and 118:24
  • Joel 2:21
  • Luke 6:23 and 10:20
  • John 16:22
  • Acts 5:41, 11:23 and 15:30-31
  • Romans 5:2 and 11
  • 2 Corinthians 7:9
  • Philippians 1:18

Go ahead, my friend. Make the choice to rejoice!

Becoming Wholly His, on obedienceShauna Wallace