Easy For You To Say!

 Rejoice in the lord always. Philippians 4:4

This is a great verse for a coffee mug with pretty cursive font. It would be a perfect refrigerator magnet or on a greeting card. It makes you sound spiritual if you tell your friends, rejoice in the Lord always!' 

Who wrote that verse anyway? Do you always rejoice in the Lord? The apostle Paul wrote that verse from all places in prison. But did he rejoice when he was in prison? He did! 

Can you picture him? Thrown into prison on the cold, hard ground with open wounds. Maybe he had a broken nose or a couple of broken ribs. No doctor, nurse, band-aids, or ibuprofen. What did he do? He rejoiced!

Paul was praising God for The Who not the what. There wasn't any "what" he could point to but his God was still good. He wasn't praising God for the what. He was praising God for The WHO and can do that too. 

Paul was praising God BEFORE He showed up. Acts 16:26. He didn't praise God because he showed up, God showed up because he praised him. When we praise him he will show up.