It is a good thing to “rejoice in the Lord.” Perhaps you have tried it but seemed to fail at first. Don’t give it a second thought, and forge ahead. Even when you cannot feel any joy, there is no spring in your step, nor any comfort or encouragement in your life, continue to rejoice and “consider it pure joy” (James 1:2). “Whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2), regard it as joy, delight in it, and God will reward your faith. Do you believe that your heavenly Father will let you carry the banner of His victory and joy to the very front of the battle, only to calmly withdraw to see you captured or beaten back by the enemy? NEVER! His Holy Spirit will sustain you in your bold advance and fill your heart with gladness and praise. You will find that your heart is exhilarated and refreshed by the fullness within.

Lord, teach me to rejoice in You—to “be always joyful” (1 Thessalonians 5:16 WNT).

The weakest saint may Satan rout, Who meets him with a praiseful shout.

“Be filled with the Spirit. . . . Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:18–19). In these verses, the apostle Paul urges us to use singing as inspiration in our spiritual life. He warns his readers to seek motivation not through the body but through the spirit, not by stimulating the flesh but by exalting the soul.

Sometimes a light surprises The Christian while he sings. Let us sing even when we do not feel like it, for in this way we give wings to heavy feet and turn weariness into strength. JOHN HENRY JOWETT

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25).

O Paul, what a wonderful example you are to us! You gloried in the fact that you “bear on [your] body the marks of Jesus” (Galatians 6:17). You bore the marks from nearly being stoned to death, from three times being “beaten with rods” (2 Corinthians 11:25), from receiving 195 lashes from the Jews, and from being bloodily beaten in the Philippian jail. Surely the grace that enabled you to sing praises while enduring such suffering is sufficient for us. J. ROACH

Oh, let us rejoice in the Lord, evermore, When darts of the Tempter are flying, For Satan still dreads, as he oft did before, Our singing much more than our crying.

No matter the source of the evil confronting you, if you are in God and thereby completely surrounded by Him, you must realize that it has first passed through Him before coming to you. Because of this, you can thank Him for everything that comes your way. This does not mean thanking Him for the sin that accompanies evil, but offering thanks for what He will bring out of it and through it. May God make our life one of continual thanksgiving and praise, so He will then make everything a blessing.

I once saw a man draw some black dots on a piece of paper. Several of us looked at it yet saw nothing but an irregular arrangement of dots. Then he also drew a few lines, put in a few rests, and added a treble clef at the beginning. Suddenly we realized that the dots were musical notes, and as we began to sound them out, we were singing, Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below.

Each of us has many black dots or spots in our life, and we cannot understand why they are there or why God permitted them. But when we allow Him into our life to adjust the dots in the proper way, to draw the lines He desires, and to put rests at the proper places to separate us from certain things, then from the black dots and spots He will compose a glorious harmony.

So let us not hinder Him in His glorious work! C. H. P.

Would we know that the major chords were sweet, If there were no minor key? Would the painter’s work be fair to our eyes, Without shade on land or sea? Would we know the meaning of happiness, Would we feel that the day was bright, If we’d never known what it was to grieve, Nor gazed on the dark of night?

Many people owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties. CHARLES H. SPURGEON

When an organist presses the black keys of a great organ, the notes are just as beautiful as when he presses the white ones. Yet to fully demonstrate the capabilities of the instrument, he must press them all. SELECTED

I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.

Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.—Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord : and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

Praise ye the Lord : for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God.

I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder; and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.

He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.

The joy of the Lord is your strength.—The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.—Be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

By him . . . let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord , I will joy in the God of my salvation.—Sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing.—We glory in tribulations also.

I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord : the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.—The Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.—Bless the Lord , O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Is any merry? let him sing psalms.—Be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord ; giving thanks always for all things.—Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.—Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again, I say, Rejoice.