Make a Choice to Rejoice!

Greetings in His Name,
 
Have you ever witnessed the downward spiral of the backslider's life?  It doesn't happen at once, and the end results seems so removed from the beginning of the process we usually fail to connect the two.  Satan realizes that if he can invade that life with enough negative and pessimistic thoughts, the soul will become discontent, and joy will be stolen.  That dissatisfied soul, many times, will begin to look for fulfillment and pleasures in areas away from God.
 
Whatever else you lose, do not lose your joy. Keep the spirit of spring. Rejoice evermore and again I say, rejoice.
 
The loss of Canaan began in the spirit of murmuring. "When the people murmured, they displeased the Lord."  The first break in their fellowship, the first falter in their advance, came when they began to doubt and grieve and fret.
 
Keep your heart from the perforations of depression, discouragement, distrust and gloom, for Satan cannot crush a rejoicing and praising soul.
 
Be on your guard against the beginning of sin. Don't let the first touch of evil be harbored. It is the first step that loses all. Let us keep so encased in the Holy Spirit and in the very life of Jesus that the evil cannot reach us!
 
The little fly on the inside of the windowpane may be attacked by the little bird on the outside, and it may seem to him that he is caught.  But that thin pane of glass keeps him safely from all danger as certainly as if it were a mighty wall of iron.  Let the joy of the Lord be your shield, your protection, your strength.
 
Rejoice evermore—1 Thessalonians 5:16

Praise Him today, be blessed, and know that you are loved!!!
 
Henry