"Joy to the World" is a popular song for this time of year. Jesus was born and with his birth came 'joy to the world'.

And when Jesus becomes part of our lives, He brings with Him..........His joy.

Philippians 4:4 says, "Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice!"

This was written by Paul to the church in Philippi.

My Bible Commentary says, "It seems strange that a  man in prison would be telling a church to be joyful. But Paul's attitude serves to teach us an important lesson--our inner attitudes do not have to reflect our outward circumstances. Paul was full of joy because he knew that no matter what happened to him, Jesus Christ was with him. Several times in this letter, Paul urges the Philippians to be joyful, probably because they needed to hear this. It's easy to get discouraged about unpleasant circumstances or to take unimportant events too seriously. If you haven't been joyful lately, you may not be looking at life from the right perspective. Ultimate joy comes Christ dwelling within us."

I heard a Christian speaker (Joyce Meyer) say several weeks ago that she has been in Paul's prison cell. It is a small, dingy cave. And at the time, he wrote telling 'us' to always rejoice, the city sewer ran through the prison and he was probably standing knee-deep in raw sewage.

Do you suppose that sometimes we can't rejoice because 'things aren't going the way we like'.

Can't rejoice? Or do we 'choose' not to?