“Rejoice always” is not a command just for those who feel happy! Bill Johnson teaches that the key to emotional health is to rejoice always. Rejoicing and choosing joy creates a momentum that sets us up for hope for the future, and keeps our heart healthy. Choosing joy establishes our trust in who God is, what He has done for us, and what He will continue to do to fulfill His purpose in our lives.

he didn’t say shout for joy

all you extroverts

[Laughter]

and and all you introverts you just

think happy thoughts i’m good

i’m good

just feel warm and fuzzy about me i’m

fine i’ll work with that

it didn’t say that he says shout for joy

shout for joy period

there’s something about the expression

that changes

our capacity to experience what god is

doing and what he’s about to do

rejoice always pray without ceasing

everything give things so as i’m laying

there

i start having this sense

that the key then to emotional health

is rejoicing always

the key to emotional health

here’s the strange thing about in fact

let me give reference to thanksgiving

because it’ll be more uh

more visual

um

i’m i’m not a great golfer i

it’s been here since i’ve gone

i have some funny stories about my

golfing expertise but anyway

i

i use this as an analogy the ball’s here

you’ve got a back swing

you meet the ball it goes on

this

is yesterday

this is today

the momentum shows you where you’re

going tomorrow

i don’t know if that made sense you’ve

got your back swing

you meet the ball

your club doesn’t go that way

it goes that way there’s a momentum

created when you are thankful god you

provided for me when i didn’t deserve it

i blew i made dumb decisions financially

you covered me anyway you provided you

healed my body here god you use a doctor

there

i was in crisis here i expected you to

show up in a certain way you didn’t but

you never left me and you walked me

through that into triumph and you go

through all these things what’s

happening is you are reviewing your

yesterday and god’s faithfulness and you

automatically pick up a sense of where

you’re going

does that make sense you automatically

pick up a sense this is my tomorrow why

because before there’s a problem he

creates a solution

one of the most astonishing uh things in

scripture from to me

is where it says jesus was crucified

from before the foundations of the world

jesus was crucified

before the foundations of the world so

before there was all this created

including humans

he was crucified

the point is before there was sin there

was a savior

before there was a problem there was a

solution

so what is it that you could come up

with in your life that he didn’t already

have a solution for

the reason for thankfulness is is really

quite astonishing thankfulness is what

helps to create hope and you know what

hope is hope hope is where

the best definition i’ve seen of

biblical hope not not of the the

cultural word hope

the best definition that i know of is

the joyful anticipation of good

joyful it’s

excited now for what’s about to happen

what that means then is that hope

actually gives us the opportunity to

enjoy the emotional

benefit of a miracle before the miracle

happens

that we actually have the opportunity

to explore the emotion of victory before

the victory actually happens

it actually we actually get to feed from

the emotion of victory hope gives us

access to that and it’s thanksgiving

that creates that momentum so here we

have this issue rejoicing

is the key to emotional health

rejoicing in any situation every

situation

i i believe strongly

that these kinds of expressions require

physical response

it requires physical response

he didn’t say shout for joy

all you extroverts

[Laughter]

and all you introverts you just think

happy thoughts i’m good

i’m good

just feel warm and fuzzy about me i’m

fine i’ll work with that

he didn’t say that he says shout for joy

shout for joy period

there’s something about the expression

that changes

our capacity to experience what god is

doing and what he’s about to do there’s

something that is transformed in us

through the physical outward obedience

sometimes it’s kneeling sometimes it’s

laying on your face sometimes it’s

raising hands sometimes it’s a dance

sometimes

goodness i’ll never forget first time i

i danced before the lord i was alone

in a house

and i i was worshiping

and i felt like the lord said dance

i was so embarrassed

i was i was embarrassed this could be

i made sure all the curtains were closed

because i knew that all the news

networks were there they were wanting to

film

this great event that was about to

happen

i did i actually i went i made sure all

the curtains were closed

everything and i’m the only one in the

house the lights are very dim you can

hardly see

and i’m in this house and i go

and

i have to admit i actually felt

kind of good inside so i did it again

and again and again and eventually you

don’t care what anybody thinks but at

that time

it it it really mattered it mattered to

me there there had to be some sort of a

physical response

i like wigglesworth says

my body doesn’t tell me how it’s feeling

since i tell my body how it’s feeling

[Applause]

and there are times where there’s just

they’re they’re not monumental things

they’re not

you know

they’re not god commanding us to do some

impossible thing sometimes it’s a simple

thing

raise your hand

sometimes it’s lift

your voice

sometimes it’s give

what’s in your pocket to that person in

need

it’s just it’s

there

none of them are a huge noble task but

they all require some sort of external

obedience and rejoicing is just like

that i think rejoicing takes great faith

i think it’s easier to hang your head

and sing a song about god’s word than it

is to celebrate his worth

because you actually have to have some

sense of confidence that you are

accepted to rejoice

and he says rejoice always yeah i’m so

glad that you uh watch this video i do

pray that it’s a great great strength

and encouragement to you and i’ve got a

verse that it really is my cry for all

of us and it’s psalms 20 it’s verse 4

may he grant you your heart’s desire and

fulfill all your plans

that’s my prayer that’s my prayers that

this would be the season of rich rich

fulfillment

thanks for joining us