Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. Matthew 6:16

I worked with a Christian girl who was gloomy most of the time. It was as if she had her own dark cloud hovering over her. If you didn’t know she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, she’d tell you. Yet she had her worship music in her car, and something tells me that, on the first beat, she was in full hand-raising mode. I’ve seen this played out many times in church too, from my perch on stage playing the bass.

My thought here is, If you truly are a worshipper, the figurative hand-raising happens all the time, through thick and thin.

I know this thought doesn’t equate to giving, or praying, or fasting to be seen by men, but it’s perhaps the flip side. If men see you rejoicing and praising in the worst of times, they’ll know you’ve got something incredible within.

Although you can worship in your prayer closet, the joy that comes from God’s control of our lives is uncontainable.