JesusWalk Bible Study Forum: Q1. Rejoicing -- Passive or Active? - JesusWalk Bible Study Forum

Q1. (4:4-5) Is rejoicing in the Lord a feeling or an action? How should you seek to fulfill this command if you don't feel like it? What is the effect of rejoicing?

Rejoicing in the Lord can be either a feeling or an action, or combination. Sometimes you feel so full of joy in Him that you think you might burst! But many times that feeling isn’t there at all.

Almost 6 years ago, I faced the deepest, darkest time of my life when my daughter was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. There was nothing in that experience that felt or looked like joy as she faced the doctor’s predictions of a very serious future. At the beginning, I realized I was either going to operate by fear or by faith. I chose faith and simply started praising the Lord. In the times when I couldn’t find my own words, I used some from Scripture. I decided to stand on Phil.4:4-7, as a matter of fact! I rejoiced in who God is and what He could do. I began to thank Him that He was taking care of my daughter according to His good and perfect will. And the Lord proved to me that He truly does inhabit the praises of His people.

That was my “secret” of finding joy. The more I praised, the more joy I felt. And He led us all the way – even to a new doctor with a different outlook! We went through a couple of very difficult years, but I can honestly say that the joy of the Lord was my strength and His peace was my comfort. (All praise to Him…She is now healthy and married with 2 beautiful little daughters of her own!)

Rejoicing in the Lord keeps your focus on His goodness, mercy, faithfulness, and sovereignty. It helps keep your mind set on the upward call, fills your heart with peace, and draws you into a deeper relationship with Christ. Rejoicing is a sign of maturing faith.

To Pastor Ralph: Thank you for your side article on Spirit Baptism. I've never believed Scripture teaches a secondary baptism of the Spirit, but never knew how to explain such a so-called experience. May we all be flooded with the presence and power of the Spirit!

Q1. (4:4-5) Is rejoicing in the Lord a feeling or an action?
Rejoicing is both feeling and action in us that love the Lord. The love we have for him will cause us to rejoice inwardly and outwardly. It is a time of love between you and Jesus to express the joy you have in knowing him.

How should you seek to fulfill this command if you don't feel like it?
Yes we should always seek to fulfill and the commands give to us in the word. This one is such a blessing to the one that is rejoicing. It is a blessing to those around you to see you have such great love for the Lord Jesus Christ and that you feel him love in you and rejoice in this love. The Joy of the Lord is our strength.


What is the effect of rejoicing?
Joys effects all the things you do and feel. It is rejoicing that let you enter into the presence of the Lord. Enter his gates with thanksgiving in your hearts enter his courts with praise. When we go before the Lord he wants praise and joy to be part of what we come to do with him. This is a personal walk with Jesus and to rejoice in Jesus just makes all things seem to be easier to take and understand. Praise him all ye people, Praise him in the morning praise him in the noon time, Praise him when the sun goes down. It is just like pray without ceasing it is rejoice without ceasing. Praise your Holy name Jesus you are worthy of all Praise Honor and Glory. Hallelujah, Jesus our Prince of Peace, Faithful and True you are who we live to rejoice in. Thank you so much for your Joy.

J is for Jesus for he has first place.
O is for others we meet face to face.
Y is for you and what ever you do put yourself last and spell JOY.

It is manifest in both. Joy is a passionate response that springs forth from our new heart. It flows through us and is expressed in our actions. “I will clothe its priests with salvation, and its godly people will shout for joy.” (Psa 132:16)

Do you remember Christmas morning as a child, when your wonderment turned to delight as you awoke? Like the children Jesus call us to be, when the Holy Spirit awakens our heart, we are filled with the inexpressible joy of the Lord's love for us—a love we hardly deserve—yet it is unbounded with the promise of eternal life with Jesus. It is a fruit of the spirit (Gal 5:22)

But we all have occasions where the physical world burdens us with tragedy and discomfort—and our light burns dimly. This is when we need the joy of the Lord the most and we should seek his comfort in prayer, through his word and through the fellowship of other saints.

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will triumph in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!” (Hab 3:17-18)

Rejoicing glorifies our Lord, and gladdens the heart. Hallelujah!

Rejoicing in the Lord is an action accompanied by feeling. I think the will is the first operative. We do it as commanded, knowing the benefits. If the feelings are not there originally, they do arrive when we are in the act of rejoicing. In thanksgiving and rejoicing we come into contact with our God.

If I don't feel like it I remember that my feelings are useful information to me but are not my motivating and driving force. My will has that position in my life. And my will is submitted to God.

The effect of rejoicing is coming again in touch with Elohim, the Eternal, the Omega and the Alpha, the Christ. The effect is to be swept away into the heavenlies whence we operate on this earth. The effect is to remember who we are in the Blood of the Redeemer. Our mood is transformed into His likeness!

Lesson 8 Q 1
(a) Is rejoicing in the Lord a feeling or an action?
Rejoicing in the Lord is an action. Ultimate joy comes from Christ dwelling within us. Therefore, if Christ is in us, we should be full of joy (like Paul) no matter what situations we are in and our actions should show this.

(b) How should you seek to fulfill this command if you don't feel like it?
Ask the Lord to fill you with this joy and follow His leading.

© What is the effect of rejoicing?
Joy, Joy, Joy. If Christ dwells within us, no matter what happens, Jesus Christ is with us. It is an attitude of mind in the Lord and towards the Lord.

Is rejoicing in the Lord a feeling or an action?

It can be both but sometimes it begins out of action because we will it when we don't feel like it.

How should you seek to fulfill this command if you don't feel like it?

I don't know if there is one specific answer for everyone on every occassion.
We need to pray and I find turning to the Psalms or a couple other books in the Bible and also hymns can help.

What is the effect of rejoicing?

It gets you out of the negative and focuses on the joy of our Lord. But it also is appropriate because of all that He has done for us. I remember an old cross stitch sampler I had that said "Faith can break the sky in two and let the face of God shine through". That shows on our face and then it spreads. Its contagious!!

God Bless!
Jen
Jude: 20,21

I think that rejoicing is a strong feeling of joy that can’t be contained and has to be expressed in some outward manner. We are told that the angels “rejoice” over one sinner who repents, somehow this doesn’t bring to mind a group of angels just standing or sitting around. I envision them laughing, jumping, singing because their joy is so great they just can’t hold it in.
God answers prayer, if we are in some circumstances that we find difficult and feel as though we just can’t rejoice, we need to ask God for help. There was a time when my step-children were very young and we were going through a custody battle with their biological mother. It is a long story but she was a drug addict, prostitute, she tried to sell her 10 her old daughter in bar for some coke. She abused the kids, left them on their own for several days at a time, just a bad, bad way for them to live. The courts being what they are in Michigan said that they needed more proof, because everything looked ok when the people from protective services visited the home. We had been to court one of many during this 4 year time and we were sure that the judge just had to rule for the kids, but he didn’t and they had to go back with her after the summer. I was very upset and discouraged. I didn’t want to go to church that day, not that I was mad at God, I just didn’t want to face the questions. But we went and I remember feeling so broken during worship service that I didn’t even want to stand up, let alone sing or raise my hands. I started crying and I told God that I didn’t feel like praising Him, but I was going to do it anyway. I did, and sang and lifted my hands and began to worship Him like there was nothing wrong in my life. You know after service that day the Pastor’s wife came up to me and told me that God told her the children would be given to us, she didn’t know why the judge sent them back but she knew that someday they would be with us. The next year we were given custody. God does come through.
The effect of rejoicing is that it pleases God and He will give us peace.

It's both. Sometimes I rejoice in the Lord without feeleing but with the action of singing and boom, I'm emotionally rejoicing. If I feel like rejoicing then it is followed by action. Once, upon driving to a service I thought "I don't want to sing, I just want to hear the message" and that very day the Lord showed me that there's a lot to rejoicing in Him. I became tearful and emotional and realized I was being preached to and healed through the songs we sang that day. I never thought that way again. So I sing whether I feel like it or not and true rejoicing soon follows. Although now I have to sing since I was asked to join the choir.

Q1. (4:4-5) Is rejoicing in the Lord a feeling or an action? How should you seek to fulfill this command if you don't feel like it? What is the effect of rejoicing?

When you rejoice in the Lord you have a feeling of joy; rejoicing is an action; though an inward one, that produces the feeling of joy.

I find one way to fulfill this command is to do what the old fashioned song says, Count your many blessings. Also reminding myself of what Christ did for me on Calvary and remembering all the times in the past that God has been there for me.

Rejoicing brings joy, and a sense of fellowship with Christ.

Rejoicing - comes from within - - rejoicing is a feeling that most of the time in glad rejoicing comes out in some form of expression. The key is rejoicing always in the good times and bad - - rejoicing that God is in control and loving you - - even when things on earthly measurement are not so good.

Rejoicing is a decisive action, we need to decide that we are going to rejoice no matter what. It is not just feelings!

We must find joy in God loves us, Christ died for us, our names are written down in Heaven. We must think on Godly things.

Rejoicing will bring blessings and power from on high.

I'm very sorry that my reply is a bit late.

I do think that rejoicing in the Lord is an action. Our feelings is based on our situations; if things are going good, then we are happy; if things are going not so well then we feel sad or discourage. But when we rejoice, it doesn't matter what the situation is. We can be sad, but we are still rejoicing in our heart. Our attitude determines whether we are rejoicing or whether we are just feeling a certain way. That was the reason why Paul had to tell the Philippian church to 'Rejoice in the Lord Always'; even when things were not going their way. So even when things are not going our way, we ought to always have that possitive Christlike attitude.

The only thing that can help us to keep this command of rejoicing always is to stay in God's word. Stay in communication with God through his word and prayer. Satan uses our circumstances to determine our feeling, but if we continue to remind ourselves of God's promises we will find it very easy to keep this command.

The effect of rejoicing is a positive mind and a spirit of contentment.

Is rejoicing in the Lord a feeling or an action? How should you seek to fulfill this command if you don't feel like it?
it starts as a feeling and spreads out to other things. you fell great about GOD,yourself, everything..so you want to share your feelings. which makes you take action. this takes form in several ways. by telling of your feeling and experience, by wanting to help those who may be in the prediciment you were or still are in
or anything else you can do. especially being a disciple of GOD.

What is the effect of rejoicing?
hopefully it will spread like a grape vine continueing and producing fruit of life.

Quote

[color=blue]1a.) Rejoicing in the Lord is an action of faith in appreciation for the gift of salvation.[/color]
1b.) (4:4-5) How should you seek to fulfill this command if you don't feel like it?
[color=blue]1b.) By remembering "[/color][color=purple]as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you[/color][color=blue]. (Isaiah 62:5b)[/color]
1c.) (4:4-5) What is the effect of rejoicing?
[color=blue]1c.) "[/color][color=purple]Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory[/color][color=blue]!" (Revelation 19:7) You are giving God glory, exalting Him.[/color]

Both! You feel love for God and other people and show it by your actions. Think on heavenly things rather than earthly things that are eating at you. THINK JESUS!
It is infectious! When you see someone rejoicing in the Lord you tend to think different and seek more of the Lord to find it. You look at people different and feel different because of it. There are some things that you can not change so give them to God. Pray and let God be God!

[color=purple]I think that rejoicing in the Lord is a little bit of both, feeling and action. To be in a state of happiness and well-being. What is that? It is an inward feeeling of joy that is overflowing just waiting to burst outward. Nothing wrong with a real loud "PRAISE THE LORD!!!" as far as I am concerned. Rejoicing is a state of mind as well as an action or feeling.

Rejoicing 24/7/365 is very hard if not impossible to do. When I feel down in the pits and rejoicing is the farthest thing from my mind I employ what I call "Fake it til' ya' make it." Not to deceive anyone except for my own mind. I will fake the joy, the rejoicing, the whole attitdue of salvation until my mind and body are filled with the true desire to rejoice always. The joy becomes real. It is like willing yourself to be well. You wouldn't believe the results and how close it can bring you to Christ.

You gain more love for the Lord, more love for others, more love for yourself. Rejoicing can effect the body, mind and spirit. It uplifts the sick. It uplifts the church. It uplifts God. The list could go on, and on, and on. Rejoicing makes you want to rejoice, jump up and down and bask in the light of the SON.[/color]

[color=green]JESUS LOVES YOU, HE ABSOLUTELY, PASSIONATELY LOVES YOU!!![/color]

Q1. (4:4-5) Is rejoicing in the Lord a feeling or an action? How should you seek to fulfill this command if you don't feel like it? What is the effect of rejoicing?

Q1. (4:4-5) Is rejoicing in the Lord a feeling or an action?

It is both a feeling and a action. When you are rejoicing it spills out into all we do.

How should you seek to fulfill this command if you don't feel like it?

When we don't feel like it. We just have to remember his love and makes it easier to rejoice. How can we not rejoice after he gave his life for us?

What is the effect of rejoicing?

It brings sweet peace

Q1. (4:4-5) Is rejoicing in the Lord a feeling or an action?
I think for some, including me, it’s both. The feeling is there, but the important thing is are you showing the Love of Jesus by your actions. Are you reflecting ON Jesus or are you reflecting Jesus.

How should you seek to fulfill this command if you don't feel like it?
Just like you would do with any problem, go to God in Prayer.

What is the effect of rejoicing?
Rejoicing brings joy to your heart, and keeps your focus on Him.

Rejoicing is primarily a spiritual thing. However, because we rejoice in the Lord, we display outward traits that are evident to others, in addition to our joyful worship by singing, raising of hands, dancing and etc.
At times when we don’t really feel like rejoicing in the Lord, we often must remind ourselves to give thanks in all circumstances, and put aside any physical and/or discomfort and worship our Creator.
By rejoicing we can aid ourselves in a holistic treatment of ourselves, which ends us making us more mature in our approach to worshiping God.