We have a God encounter every time we rejoice when life is not going well.

One person said, “There have been some heavy, heavy years. But I have learned that pain is not suffering but actually a call for me to look to my strength.”

Another put it this way, “There are days when a praise comes out easy. Days when it takes all the strength I got.”

There are times we don’t feel capable of praising God. There are days when we don’t feel worthy enough to even talk with Him, let alone rejoice in Him.

Yet, this is where faith enters. We don’t feel like it, but we ask the Spirit’s strength to keep rejoicing anyways. This is where God, at least in mind, feels our praise even more. He knows what we’ve done. He knows how we feel. And yet we are still praising Him for who He is, what He has done and He can do.

This is the meaning of Phil. 4:4-7. We are to rejoice in Him always. And don’t forget. Keep rejoicing. Why? He is with us. Now that our head is focused in the right direction – His – by faith, we are to drop our various concerns into His lap. This way we can experience His peace and strength to keep going in ways we never thought possible. As we do, our faith in Him increases!

Faith based rejoicing changes our focus from the challenge itself, causing even more pain/struggle, to the One who can get us through that challenge victoriously – God. This faith step not only increases our rejoicing, but our faith as well.

Remember, when life gets hard, rejoice even more, which may require a faith step on your part.