"Rejoice in the Lord always.  Again I will say, rejoice!" (Phil. 4:4).

Paul was talking to the Philippians, but Christ in and through Paul as Paul is talking to every Christian today.  There are seven (7) key things that Paul attempts to bring to their attention and subsequently to ours today.  The first step or key is rejoice in the Lord always. 

The focus here is clearly in the Lord.  While many rejoice at the things in this life, Paul is encouraging us to keep our focus and rejoicing in the Lord.  Did he say some of the time?  No, we should rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS!

Rejoice is joy over and over and over again.  Our joy should be in the Lord.  Nehemiah clearly told us, "the joy of the Lord is your strength" (Neh. 8:10).  This is a great truth, in and of itself.  Consider Christ, God's only begotten Son who came and died for your sins for the Father.  The Holy Spirit then came to reveal Christ and His finished work to you. When that Holy Spirit breathed Word of Christ came to you, you simply believed and confessed Jesus Christ as your risen Lord, and were Spirit birthed into the family of God.  Christ now lives in you through His Person (Gal. 2:20); His Spirit (Rom. 8:9); His Seed (I Pet. 1:23); His Divine Nature (II Pet. 1:4); and His Eternal Life (I John 5:11-12). More than just the joy OF the Lord, we can joy IN the Lord, and who He now is living in and through us as us.  That is even a much deeper joy and rejoicing.

We need to put Christ first in all things.  Then our family and others. We put ourselves last.  This eliminates all selfishness.   I like the JOY acronym that depicts the correct order of things for genuine JOY to take place.