Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Paul says to let Joy continually flow out of your life and the context of the chapter reveals how we do that…
1. Your internal thought life
Paul says in Philippians 4:8 …whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
The importance of the mind can never be overstated. It is the gateway to your heart and soul. Your thought-life determines your emotional world in the immediate, and your mental well-being.
Your emotional world can be very helpful to you. It will reveal "red flags". For example, if you find yourself getting angry when you are driving; or getting impatient or short-tempered with family members; or critical and complaining towards your church, your pastor or even your boss – these are all red flags that something is not right deep down in your heart.
And the source of all that emotional frustration is your negative thought life!
The solution is to start meditating upon Scripture that is the exact opposite to your emotional outbursts or the negative feelings you are carrying. Don’t try to self-medicate or fix yourself up, meditate upon the Word of God so the Holy Spirit Himself can fix you up – He will do a complete and perfect work in you.
2. What you give voice to in your life
Paul says… I will say it again, rejoice!
As human beings, we seem to have a natural default to voice the negative, rather than the positive. The negative seems to effortlessly flow out of our lips and it makes us feel so good doesn’t it?!
The reason why is because we are satisfying the desires of our flesh. It wants to argue, to get angry; to complain or to be entertained or satisfied with ungodly things. That’s why a person, even a Christian, can become very irritable when they first hear the Word of God. The flesh opposes the Word of God and does not want to surrender to it.
But one of the ways we crucify the flesh (Galatians 5:24) is by giving voice to the Word of God. Whatever you are giving voice to in your life, is what becomes rooted in your life.
The way the devil enslaves people is through sowing negative thoughts into their minds and when they start voicing these thoughts, that’s when they take root in a person’s life. You cannot stop the devil from sowing negative, accusing thoughts in your mind, but you can choose not to give voice to them.
Only give voice to the Word of Christ and it will not be long before you are releasing this joy of the Lord in your life.