"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:4-7

This is absurd... how does one rejoice always when he is in the midst of suffering? And yet the Apostle Paul says again "rejoice"... As this is a command to be joyful, or a "positive" command in the midst of all the "do not's", we tend to view it as an option. It is as if we believe that God is more worried about the things we do not do than what we invest our time doing. God desires for us not only to abstain from the things in this world, but to find our pleasure in Him. In complete and whole obedience we must also seek to "rejoice"... as strange as it seems.

Paul goes on to say "be anxious for nothing"... NOTHING. How do we reconcile the fact that so many of us know this verse by heart and yet worry about tomorrow's test, or our future? STOP WORRYING! He says this not in a reckless sense of disregarding everything, but entrusting it all to God. This is not blind faith, it is faith in God.

God, help us.