Rejoice and Celebrate Daily

"Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, take pleasure in Him]; again I will say, rejoice!" (Phil. 4:4, Amp).

Here we are at the holiday season once again! There is the bustling of shopping, meal prepping, nostalgia, fun, gifts, service projects, wrapping, decorating,... and the list goes on. We get caught up in the traditions we have created with our families and friends.. But do we stop to really realize and reflect about why Christmas is so special? Who put the "Christ" in Christmas? Is there true celebration, rejoicing, praise, and worship to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ happening? This really got me to thinking, why should the celebrating or rejoicing stop on December 26th? Why don't we celebrate Jesus Christ every single day?!?

Let's take notice that Scripture reminds us to rejoice repeatedly. "Rejoice always and delight in your faith;  be unceasing and persistent in prayer; in every situation [no matter what the circumstances] be thankful and continually give thanks to God; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus"

(1 Thes. 5:16-18, Amp).

"Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not even see Him now, you believe and trust in Him and you greatly rejoice and delight with inexpressible and glorious joy"

(1 Pet. 1:8, Amp).

"I will rejoice and exult in you; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High" (Ps. 9:2, Amp).

"But I have trusted and relied on and been confident in Your lovingkindness and faithfulness; My heart shall rejoice and delight in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me" (Ps.13:5-6, Amp).

"I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has covered me with a robe of righteousness.." (Is. 61:10, Amp).

Continual and non-stop rejoicing and celebrating our Lord is repeated throughout Scripture. So why is it that many people just celebrate once a year? We should celebrate our Savior each and every day. He is certainly worthy of our praising and rejoicing on a daily basis!

 “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16, Amp). Now there is the true reason to rejoice and celebrate!

May you join me in celebrating, praising, and rejoicing our precious gift, Jesus, not just during this holiday season, but every day! Let's celebrate with prayer and reading of scripture, thanking God for all of His mercies and gifts He has freely given. Let us live out His teachings by making our lives reflect His glory through our actions, not just our words. May we remain connected with a family of believers so our faith can continue to grow stronger. After all, celebrating and rejoicing in Jesus daily moves our faith from a yearly event to a continuous, life-transforming, real-life truth.

"For this day in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord (the Messiah)" ( Luke 2:11, Amp). Let's celebrate and rejoice over this personal gift that God gave to each one of us every day from now on!

Father, we praise and rejoice in You! May we celebrate daily Your gift, Jesus. Your mercies are new every morning, so our rejoicing should be as well. Please help to strengthen our faith when we are weak. May we glorify You in all that we think, say, and do each day. In Christ we pray, Amen.