Blog post August 21, 2026

Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again-rejoice. Philippians 4:4

Have you ever thought about the difference between joy and rejoice. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 says "rejoice always." That's it, just two words.

State vs Action: For the Christian, joy is the underlying condition of our soul. It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. While rejoicing is the outward action we take.

Passive vs Active: Joy serves as a constant anchor but rejoicing is practiced as a daily obedience.

Expression: when our joy feels hidden by hard times, we use rejoicing to wake our heart back up to God's presence.

We talked about choices earlier this week. Rejoicing is one of those choices. The joy the Holy Spirit produces seemingly can lay dormant and it is rejoicing, which means making the mental choice to praise God, that wakes up joy.

Betsie Ten Boom was a rejoicing kind of person which often frustrated her sister Corrie. Corrie often let her circumstances cause her to be a grumbler, but Betsie always wanted to thank God, even for things like lice! That was over the top for Corrie and she refused to join Betsie, then one day she realized that the guards at Ravensbrueck refused to come into their dorm because of all the lice and fleas. As a result Betsie and Corrie could freely hold Bible studies with the other women using a little Bible they had smuggled in. Corrie realized Bestie was right, they should rejoice in all things.

Perhaps today we should make a list of all the things we see as problems or reasons to complain and turn that into our list for rejoicing.

Heavenly Father I pray that today You would help us to be rejoicers not grumblers. Help us to make the choice to rejoice and thank You for all things, even if the feeling of joy isn't there. May we wake up to the joy the Holy Spirit is producing in us and let it be infectious that others might want what we have. I pray in Jesus name AMEN AMEN.