Choose to be Glad!  By James Lantz

      We have been given the precious privilege to choose to be glad! Think about that, we have the choice to believe that God has cleansed us from all our sin and has made us his own through the Lord Jesus Christ. As a child of God we have our Heavenly Father’s love and care, He said, Ask me and I will give what you need. His goodness and his grace is so much beyond what we could think up or imagine. Not only does God want to meet our every need, but our every (righteous) desire.  John 15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.  Mt. 7:7  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.   This asking, is referring to us asking our heavenly Father, as confirmed in a following verse.  Mt. 7:11  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?  Interpretation of the scriptures is to be done within the context of God’s character and the context in which it is spoken. The character and nature of God is that he is good to all and will grant every one of his children the blessings he has provided through his Son, Jesus. God is a respecter of Jesus sacrificial offering of himself on our behalf and a respecter of faith. I remember Bro. Hagin recounting the time a lady in the church wanted him to pray all night for her. She wanted him to pray that God would give her someone else’s husband to be her husband and she already had a husband of her own. Bro. Hagin said we don’t have to pray about that because we already have the word of God telling us not to covet our neighbor’s husband. We are to love our own husband or wife as the scriptures teaches.  Gal. 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.  Some of God’s people are praying, just as foolishly as this lady, for things against the will of God. There is no joy for the christian who determines that his standards are more important than God’s. The rich young ruler that came running to Jesus wanting eternal life went away sad when Jesus standard required him to lay aside his own agenda.  Mark 10:22  And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.  The blessing of God will work on our behalf as we put the building of God’s house first place in our lives. We can choose to be glad within the confines of God’s word and enjoy every good thing God has provided for us. The rich young ruler went away sad because he valued temporal things greater than the things of God. We will be glad, if we wholly embrace the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives. If we want to enjoy life, we are going to have to walk by faith and not by sight, trusting in our God, to work everything for our good. Trusting in God’s goodness and what he said he is going to do for us will cause us to rejoice and be glad. Our desire and ability to follow God’s instructions will determine how quickly we can move from being sad to being glad, from unbelief to believing, from complaining to rejoicing.  Our relationship with our Father in heaven is a relationship of faith. We walk by faith and not by sight. Faith is believing in the unseen, before we see it. God’s grace is made available to us as a gift and must be received by faith. When we ask God for those things which we desire, we must believe that we receive (take) them when we pray.  Believing that we have what we asked God for, before we actually feel it, see it, drive it, or live in it, means that we rejoice and are glad the moment we prayed and continue to thank God for it.  Mark 11:24  Therefore I say unto you, what things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and ye shall have them.  If we want to know if we are in faith, we just need to check up on our joy level. If we are expecting the things that we prayed about to manifest at any moment we will be excited. Just like we expect that specific thing in which we asked God for to manifest in our life, we are to expect God’s blessing’s and favor to show up in our lives every day. Knowing the many good things that God has planned for us, puts us in position to be glad. Believing that God is working good for us right now will cause us to be glad. We have to choose to believe, thereby choosing to be glad. To stay in faith and maintain gladness we must continue to choose to think about the goodness of God or we will find ourselves thinking and speaking something else. Jesus explained how the heart of a man was like different types of soil. The four categories he listed includes the hard heart, the shallow heart, the distracted and covetous heart, and the good and honest heart. The first type of person heard the word of God but placed no value on the word, thus Satan stole the word out of their heart immediately. The second type of person heard the word of God and embraced it with gladness and joy, but not being rooted and grounded in truth they had no idea how to fight the good fight of faith and were easily overcome.  Mark 4:16&17  .  .  .  who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.  The third type of person started out walking with God, but apparently did not understand the law of association, how to put the kingdom first, nor the law of displacement. They gave their hearts to worry and fear and the love of the things of this world and ended up being without power and without any fruit.  Luke 8:14  And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.  Thank God for those who opened their heart to God, were diligent to become rooted and grounded in truth, kept their eye single, guarded their heart, persevered in faith, and expanded the kingdom of God in the earth.  Mt. 13:8  But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.  Luke 8:15  But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.  If we will be honest, we will acknowledge that there are areas of our life that are not fruitful or not as fruitful as they should be and this needs to change. We need to not only receive God’s word with gladness, but maintain our joy and gladness by faith, for the long haul. Let us be reminded of what we are to be glad about. We have been redeemed from the curse (spiritual death, sickness, and poverty) of the law by our good God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus bore our punishment, the just for the unjust, suffering for us so we could go free.  2 Cor. 5:21  For he (God) hath made him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.  God did much more for us than place our punishment on the Lord Jesus Christ, but also imparted the life of God to all who make Jesus Christ their Lord, through his resurrection from the dead.  Eph. 2:4-7  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love where with he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.  The life of God was imparted to us (the redeemed) through Christ resurrection from the dead. Jesus said that he came to give us abundant life (the God kind of life). The law of sin and death was activated by Adam’s transgression, causing God to be separated from the people that he loves. God brought us back to himself through the death, suffering, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s mighty work of raising us up from the dead through Jesus resurrection and life far outweighs what was lost through sin and death.  Rom. 5:17  For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.  We are made sons of God through him. We are not in a lesser position than Adam was, but we are seated together with Christ at the right hand of our Father in heaven. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. From being headed for hell to sitting on the throne is grace abounding!  1 Cor. 6:17  But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.  The natural man does not receive us as being made one with Christ, but God calls us Christ, and we have the mind of Christ.  2 Cor. 6:15  And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?  Eph. 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.  Jesus thinks of us (his body) as being himself, so much so, that he rebuked Saul on the road to Damascus, saying, why are you persecuting me.   Acts 9:4  .  .  .  Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?  Beloved, we are the sons of God right now! Let us rejoice and be glad for this is the day that the Lord has made.  Ps. 118:22-24  The stone which the builders refused is become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Ps. 68:3(amp.)  But let the [uncompromisingly] righteous be glad; let them be in high spirits and glory before God, yes, let them [jubilantly] rejoice!