Rejoicing in the Lord!

Sigh, kids are sick so kept them from church today lest they spread the flu bug to the other kids. Well, the bright side to this is I have some free time now, so I thought I will blog for a bit... since I found this Sunday's sermon to be particularly relevant, and probably a good continuation on my posts on daring to be happy and God's 911.

The message today was on "Celebration", and it started with the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. A familiar story - a father has two sons. One asks for his inheritance and spends it foolishly, then returns home broke and repentent, and is received with a celebration. The other son, who doggedly stayed by his father's side got a bit upset that so much fuss was being made over his brother, and his father explains
"... we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." Luke 15:32

The word "celebrate" above is actually more like "rejoice" when translated from Greek - it indicates happiness and joy. Too often we are so occupied with the stresses/worries/issues/ambitions/desires of life that we simply forget to be happy. When we laspe into that, we are effectively allowing the devil to steal our peace, joy and happiness - the very blessings for which our God paid a terrible price.

So why do we celebrate/rejoice daily?

1. We celebrate liberation - God's kingdom is here! Jesus has come and proclaimed the Lord's favour upon us all.
   "The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
   "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
   because he has anointed me
   to preach good news to the poor.
   He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
   and recovery of sight for the blind,
   to release the oppressed,
   to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."" (Luke 4:17-20)
2. We celebrate salvation/forgivess for ourselves and for each new soul added to the Kingdom of God. Jesus says
   "... there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." (Luke 15:10)
   If even the angels rejoice over our salvation/forgiveness, how much more should we rejoice here on earth!
3. We celebrate restoration. God's kingdom is alredy here (see pt 1 above), and His will is established on earth (remember The Lord's Prayer?). His will is to restore us to the place He wants us to be. As a continuation of pt 1 - the time of the Lord's favour is already upon us,
   "This is what the LORD says:
   "In the time of my favor I will answer you,
   and in the day of salvation I will help you;
   I will keep you and will make you
   to be a covenant for the people,
   to restore the land
   and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
   to say to the captives, 'Come out,'
   and to those in darkness, 'Be free!'
   "They will feed beside the roads
   and find pasture on every barren hill.
   They will neither hunger nor thirst,
   nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them.
   He who has compassion on them will guide them
   and lead them beside springs of water. "" (Isaiah 49:8-10)
   The subject of restoration probably deserves a whole new post, but I believe that Jesus came not only to save us, but to RESTORE us to where God wants us to be, and we know from the Bible that He wants us to RESTORE us to good health (spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically - has Jesus ever turned even one sick person away when He was here on earth?), peace/joy, and all the good things we ask from Him (Matthew 7:9-11).
4. Lastly, we celebrate and rejoice out of the love that God has put in our hearts, that we may be a witness and a testimony to the world of His goodness and grace. Exuberance for the Lord can only be passed through action and not through words, so start celebrating today!

So, do you trust Him enough to choose to be happy?
"... But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15 )