Rejoice

Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice!

During our men's bible study time last night, we went over Philippians 4:4 which is shown above. Here especially, it is hard to always rejoice because we are always going and doing. Yes, we are doing it all for God, and we pray to Him for people to respond, yet we still worry about it. I, personally, needed to hear this part of Philippians. It goes on to say "do not be anxious" which, for me, is hard to follow. I worry about what to say to questions. I worry that I am not doing enough here. I worry that the people I share with will not be able understand what I am saying. And, of course, I will pray that I will have answers and that I will do enough and they people will understand. But even after I pray, I still worry, which is unnecessary. I have given God my prayers, and he will handle them. It is crazy to think about, but to rejoice is just as much of a command as any other you will read in Genesis thru Revelation. Two days ago, I met a guy here named Filippo. Bo, the project director, and I were sitting down doing an activity called Solarium, and he literally showed up out of nowhere next to me and wanted to participate. We went through Solarium and I found out that he believed there was a God and knew about Jesus and the Bible. He had studies Christianity before, and it did show to an extent. We got lunch with him and then some coffee. Over coffee we learned that he was studying philosophy. We asked about his favorite philosophers and what their views on God were. He then turned the tables and asked what we believed. Naturally, we told him. We shared the gospel on a piece of paper and then went through some verses in the Bible that explain the gospel quite well. When we told him that all we did was believe and had faith and we were saved by the grace of God(Ep. 2:8-9) and he told us that "We were lucky" and they he wished it was "that simple." We told him that it was exactly that simple. Our conversation was cut short because his friend kept calling him because Filippo had to return something, but I know we got through to him. I think he just had a hard time believing it was that easy for him to know God on a personal level. We are meeting with him next week because he is studying this week. Pray that God will work on his heart, and reveal to him that, it is that easy. Pray for me that, in this last week and a half, I will finish strong. Pray that I will leave nothing to chance, and have full confidence in God and just be able to rejoice in him. God is Great. God Bless! Ciao