Throughout the New Testament, believers are given instructions on how to treat one another. Love one another. Honor one another. Serve one another. Pray for one another. In our flesh, we’re prone to do these things when we’re extended love, honor, and service. But scripture is clear: “As you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” Luke 6:31

It’s here that we reflect the heart of our Savior.

This year, we’re prayerfully considering this call to love as Christ does —to show His character in how we speak and extend grace in all our dealings and interactions.

Each month, we’ll highlight a “one another” of Scripture by providing an encouraging and practical article for your edification. We will also provide Bible verses that you can pray back to the Lord.

As we embark on this journey together, we ask that God use His Word to shape and refine our hearts, making them more like His. May we be a radiant reflection of Him as we extend love and grace to others.

 April 2026

“Rejoicing with those who rejoice.”

This month, our prayer focus is “rejoicing with those who rejoice”, to be truly happy for another person who is experiencing a good thing in their life, especially when the good they are receiving is something that we ourselves long for.

For me, God used ugly and negative emotions to open my eyes.

It started with an awful feeling I was experiencing. While I managed to be kind on the outside, I knew that the emotions and thoughts I was experiencing were not godly. I prayed about it, asking God to show me the root of this angst. Eventually, I ended up in conversation with my daughter. I described the circumstances around this issue and asked her, “What is it called when you are so unhappy and defensive because you want what someone else is experiencing?” Looking back, it seems obvious to me. But it wasn’t at the time. “Wouldn’t that be envy?”, she asked.

I went home and started looking up Scripture on envy and what God says about it. Envy tells us that we deserve something that someone else has, or that we would be truly happy if we only had what they have. Whether a physical item, a relationship, a circumstance or situation, we want to experience what they are experiencing. My friends, envy is insidious and ugly.  I repented and confessed my sin to Him. It was in becoming aware of my envy that God began to teach me why it is important to rejoice with others, to consider how the good gifts of God has blessed them.  

Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are in—divine love would have put you there. You are placed by God in the most suitable circumstances.” As I embraced the truth that God, in His sovereignty, only gives me what is good for me, when it is good for me, because of His great love for me and His commitment to change me into the likeness of Jesus, my heart began to rest.

The situations that once exposed my sinful heart now gave me the opportunity to truly be happy for the friends who were experiencing good gifts from God. A short while later, He let me rejoice with a beautiful young mama and the precious babe He had given her. As I held her sweet newborn baby, her soft little head tucked under my chin, I did shed tears thinking about the infant granddaughter I wouldn’t get to hold, but I was able to truly rejoice and thank God for the precious gift of life that He had blessed my friend with. God had done a great work in my heart-and that, in itself, was a good gift.

To truly rejoice when others receive what we long for is a heart-work that God loves to do in us. Let’s pray for each other to become more rooted in God’s love and perfect will for us. And that out of that confidence will grow a culture of building one another up and taking great joy in the good gifts that God bestows on another.

 Lord, please give us hearts that will truly be happy when good things happen to someone else. Remove any seed of envy or discontent in our hearts. Give us hearts that are eager for you to create opportunities where we get to rejoice in Your goodness to one another.