CHOOSING JOY
Luke 1:46-47, "And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."
LUKE 1:39-56
Here, Mary makes a very clear distinction between her soul magnifying the Lord and her spirit rejoicing.
Our soul is the part of us that is considered to
be our personality. It is our intellect, emotions and will. Our spirit
is the part that gets changed at salvation and it is always operating in
"love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance" (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 5:22-23). That's true whether
our souls (feelings and emotions) "feel" it or not.
Many believers wait until their emotions feel
like praising the Lord before they enter in to worship. They think it's
hypocritical to act like they are rejoicing in the Lord if they don't
"feel" it. But our spirits are always rejoicing in the Lord. It's
actually hypocritical to go by our feelings and not magnify the Lord
with our souls when our born again spirits are already rejoicing.
Our born again spirits are always in tune with
the Lord and walking in the joy of the Lord. Our flesh is often
dominated by what it sees and feels.
Sometimes it doesn't feel like praising the
Lord, but the choice rests with our souls. If we choose to praise the
Lord, our emotions will follow.
The decision is yours (Dt. 30:19).
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