"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" Philippians 4:4. Throughout the Bible, God instructs people to be filled with joy and rejoice. Anytime that God tells us twice to do something, as Paul instructed the Philippians, we need to pay real close attention to what he is saying. There is power available to help people who are imprisoned by and shackled with depression. Rejoicing can release so much power just by smiling, laughing and having a good time, and often it can make problems go totally away. When people get depressed, they go for counselling, they start taking medication, but they don't rejoice. If they could just begin to smile, the depression will start to lift and their circumstances would begin to change. Change is often the result of a simple adjustment in how we respond in a given situation, and if we can do this as soon as we feel the beginnings of a depression then it won't have chance to move in. If you are saved, the Holy Spirit dwells within you. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, and the Spirit is in you, therefore joy is in you and you need to tap into it. We don't need to go searching for joy, it's already there, we just need to learn how to release it. In order for the joy of the Lord to be your strength, you must be joined with God which provokes joy in your life. But when you are not used to expressing joy it can feel like such hard work trying to be joyful and you may not feel like it is doing any good, but if you keep it up you will soon start to feel the joy. To clarify, joyful doesn't mean laughing hysterically, bouncing around, it is usually much more subtle and often silent. We rejoice by being glad and calmly happy or even simply living in a state of calm delight.
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