Time For Some Real "R and R"

Some time back, I got a pretty good nudge from the Holy Spirit. I ran across something that got me to thinking. We all like the idea of some "R and R". As a matter of fact, we probably think we need more than we get! Well, this "R and R" isn't "Rest and Relaxation." This "R and R" is "Remembering and Rejoicing".

2009 was a difficult year for many of us, and we may still be feeling the effects of that. The word "recession" was a big word for the year. Yet, I want to present to you the need for some real "R and R". "Remembering and Rejoicing."

Do you remember how HE took care of the children of Israel as they wandered through the wilderness for 40 years? Deuteronomy 2:7 in the Good News Bible says, "Remember how the LORD your God has blessed you in everything that you have done. He has taken care of you as you wandered through this vast desert. He has been with you these forty years, and you have had everything you needed." God provided for them every single day. Day after day!

Do you remember how HE took care of the prophet Elijah during a drought and a famine? In 1 Kings 17, God sent ravens with food to him, then later sent him to a widow woman's house to provide for him. God took care of the widow the whole time she was taking care of the prophet also!

Do you remember how HE took care of the four lepers in Samaria during a famine in 2 Kings 7? They decided they didn't want to sit there and die, so they got up and headed to the camp of the enemy. When they got there, the enemy had ran off and left everything they had! Food, clothes, silver, gold, horses, everything!

Do you remember how HE took care of the 5000 men, plus women and children, and fed them all with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish in Matthew 14?

Now I want you to remember how HE promised to take care of you and I. HE said HE would never leave us or forsake us! That He would supply our every need.

This brings us to the second part of this, the Rejoicing! See, when you and I are rejoicing in God, we are saying that our confidence and faith are in Him. That HE is bigger than our problems and fears. It doesn't do us any good to complain and worry. That just gets us in trouble. A minister friend of mine used to say, "When the gain is more important than the pain, you will refrain from the complain!" Let me encourage you to read Matthew 6:25-34. It talks about how important we are to God. We must rejoice in our God. Purposeful rejoicing increases and raises our faith! That is true and real faith! It shows that our heart is trusting God and His faithfulness! In Psalms 118:15, the Good News Bible says, " Listen to the glad shouts of victory in the tents of God's people: "The LORD's mighty power has done it!"

"Remembering and Rejoicing"! That's the real "R and R"!!!