Maintaining Joy

How do you feel today?

Are you JOYful?

Sad?

Tired?

Full of expectation?

Does the promise of a new week excite you?

Make you anxious?

Depressed?

The Holy Bible says that God wants

to give us JOY unspeakable,

even in the midst of our

day-to-day problems. (1 Peter 7:8)

I like the way The Message translation of the Holy Bible explains it:

^“I know how great this makes you feel,

even though you have to put up with every kind

 of aggravation in the meantime.

Pure gold put in the fire comes out

of it proved pure; genuine faith

put through this suffering comes out proved genuine.

 When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold,

that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.

You never saw him, yet you love him.

You still don't see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing.

Because you kept on believing,

 you'll get what you're looking forward to: total salvation.”

But with all of life’s pressures,

how do we maintain our

JOY, our laughter, our singing?

The Apostle Paul told the Ephesians that

one way was to keep themselves from excess,

stay full of the spirit, and speak to yourself

in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual songs.

(Ephesians 5:18-20)

And another way is to let the word of God

dwell in your hearts – meaning think about

God’s word, let it soak in your spirit etc.

And also, the Apostle Pauls says

 “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.” 

(Colossians 3:15-17)

And Jesus himself gave a clear path to joy in John 16:23-24:

“...Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall

 ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name:

ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”

But how does all this translate to our lives in a practical sense?

Starting every day with prayer and Bible reading

will lay a good JOY foundation. I usually read

my Bible while having my morning coffee and

then spend at least 30 minutes talking and praying

to God.  Worshipping Him, inviting Him

into my day, and telling Him about my concerns.

But sometimes, despite our best efforts, circumstances

crash into our lives that threaten to steal our JOY.

Whenever, I am going through a particularly stressful

time at work I write out a JOY Scripture, or

some other verse from the Bible that speaks to my struggle,

 and put it in a prominent place on my desk.

This simple act of meditating on God’s word, nourishes

my spirit and feeds my JOY because every time I look

at it I am reminded of God and His promises.

I also have a JOY Playlist on my Ipod

that I use frequently at work.

Listening to upbeat worship songs helps me

to focus on the greatness of God and this in turns

feeds my JOY as I realize that there is nothing

in my life too big for God to handle. (Jeremiah 32:7)

The words I use also determine my level of JOY.

The Holy Bible says that death and life are

in the power of the tongue. (Proverbs 18:21)

But The Message translation of this verse sums it best:

“Words kill, words give life;
they're either poison or fruit—you choose.”

So as you can see, there are many ways to maintain our JOY.

I’ve offered a few JOY MAINTAINERS

that work for me, but would like to

hear how you maintain your JOY

on a day-to-day basis.

Leave a comment and join the conversation

so that all our JOY may be full. 

Many gods or ONE?

A friend of mine just returned from her spiritual pilgrimage to New Delhi, India. 

She told me of her journey of pain up to four different

 high places to appease four different gods.

 At one point she hiked 18 miles.

She said that some carry others up the steep

 inclines piggy-back style;

some are carried in chairs,

but most climb on their own. 

 “The point is to suffer,” she said.

 “I was one of the few that made it to the top of all four.”

 She was proud of her accomplishment,

 and I was touched that she felt

 comfortable enough to share her experience with me.

 We have been friends for a few years, and we learned long ago to

 respect each others religious beliefs. I learn from her and she learns from me.

We rejoice in our commonalities, and discuss our differences.

 I am a passionate follower of Jesus Christ and

believe He alone is the door to salvation. 

 She believes all gods are doors

 that take you to the same destination.

 We respect each other’s right to follow their

own belief and so our friendship remains.

 But her suffering and climbing mountains to

appease various gods made me so sad.

If only she knew Jesus. How much He loves her.

How He is the one who created her.

 And that He would never, ever ask

 her to suffer just to appease his anger.

 I almost told her so today when we spoke,

 but I don’t think she’s ready to hear

 me say those words to her yet.

 So until then, I will keep praying to Jesus for her.

And I will ask Him to prepare her heart

 and mind to receive the truths

of His unconditional love and mercy.

 Jesus says:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour

and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

 In fact, Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice when

He allowed himself to be crucified on the cross so

 that the rest of us could have freedom and forgiveness

 for all the wrong things we have done. (Read Hebrews 9:21-23)

 And if we as Christ followers do suffer or have

 hard times in our lives we are promised

by Jesus that He will never allow

us to go through more than we can handle

(I Corinthians 10:13)

and that everything –

 even the bad things will work towards

 a good outcome for us. (Romans 8:28)  

 “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond

the course of what others have had to face.

All you need to remember is that God will never

let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your

 limit; he'll always be there to help you

come through it.”(I Corinthians 10:13, The Message)

 ^“Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting,

God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along.

 If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter.

He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out

of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.

He knows us far better than we know ourselves,

knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us

 present before God. That's why we can be

so sure that every detail in our lives of love for

God is worked into something good.”

(Romans 8:28 The Message)

 The Holy Bible tells us that the prophet Elijah

lived in a time when many people served other gods.

Elijah wanted to prove to them that Jehovah was the

only true and most powerful God so he challenged the prophets

of Baal to a showdown. You can read the full Biblical account in

1 Kings 18:24-39. Here is how The Message

translation explains what happened:

“Then Elijah said,

"I'm the only prophet of God left in Israel;

and there are 450 prophets of Baal.

Let the Baal prophets bring up two oxen;

 let them pick one, butcher it, and lay it out

on an altar on firewood—but don't ignite it.

I'll take the other ox, cut it up, and lay it on t

he wood. But neither will I light the fire.

Then you pray to your gods and I'll pray to God.

The god who answers with fire will prove to be, in fact, God."

All the people agreed: "A good plan—do it!"

Elijah told the Baal prophets,

"Choose your ox and prepare it.

You go first, you're the majority.

Then pray to your god, but don't light the fire."

So they took the ox he had given them,

prepared it for the altar, then prayed to Baal.

They prayed all morning long, "O Baal, answer us!"

But nothing happened—

not so much as a whisper of breeze.

Desperate, they jumped and stomped on the altar they had made.

By noon, Elijah had started making fun of them, taunting,

"Call a little louder—he is a god, after all.

Maybe he's off meditating somewhere or other,

or maybe he's gotten involved in a project,

or maybe he's on vacation. You don't suppose

he's overslept, do you, and needs to be waked up?"

They prayed louder and louder,

cutting themselves with swords and knives

—a ritual common to them—

until they were covered with blood.

This went on until well past noon.

They used every religious trick and strategy they knew to

 make something happen on the altar, but nothing happened

—not so much as a whisper, not a flicker of response.

Then Elijah told the people, "Enough of that

—it's my turn. Gather around." And they gathered.

 He then put the altar back together for by

now it was in ruins. Elijah took twelve stones,

one for each of the tribes of Jacob, the same

Jacob to whom God had said,

"From now on yourname is Israel."

He built the stones into the altar in honor of God.

Then Elijah dug a fairly wide trench around the altar.

He laid firewood on the altar, cut up the ox,

 put it on the wood,and said,

"Fill four buckets with water and drench

 both the ox and the firewood."

Then he said, "Do it again,"

and they did it. Then he said,

"Do it a third time,"

and they did it a third time.

The altar was drenched and the trench was filled with water.

When it was time for the sacrifice to be offered,

Elijah the prophet came up and prayed,

 "O God, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,

make it known right now that you are God in Israel,

that I am your servant, and that I'm doing what

I'm doing under your orders.

Answer me, God;

O answer me and reveal to this

people that you are God,

the true God, and that you are giving

these people another chance at repentance."

Immediately the fire of God fell and burned

up the offering, the wood, the stones,

the dirt, and even the water in the trench.

All the people saw it happen and fell on their faces

in awed worship, exclaiming,

"God is the true God! God is the true God!"

What about you?

Do you believe in Jehovah God whose name is Jesus?

Do you serve another god, or perhaps no god at all?

What role do your religious beliefs play in your life?

Do you have friends of other faiths? How do you interact with them?

Let's talk.

Leave a POST and keep the conversation going.

Saying Less - Praying More

Saying less and praying more can be a powerful tool in navigating  workplace relationships.

Sometimes in my professional career an internal angst rises up in me.

The source of agigitation could be an organizational  decision;

the distributing of responsibility, or just plain personality conflicts.

Whatever the trigger point was; in the past, 
I  expended alot of energy talking about it.

I talked about it with my friends. 

I talked about it with my husband. 

Once, I even talked about it with my pastor. 

And with each retelling the problem grew bigger,
and bigger
and BIGGER.  

Until the problem was so enormous
that even the smallest disagreement 
seemed like a world war.

Has anything like that ever happened to you?

You see your manager speaking in hushed tones,
and your imagination whirs wondering if you might be in trouble.

Paranoia? 

Perhaps.   

But in today's volatile economy,
with job loss so rampant,
fear sets in.  

Your heart flutters.

Your palms sweat.

And before you know it you've
 convinced yourself that castastrophe awaits.

Ridiculous right? 

Especially so when the whole thing turns out to be nothing.  

This type of scenario has happened
to me more times thatI care to share.

I have learned that if we are not careful,
our imagination and overactive mouth, can turn  

a small and usually incorrect presumption
into an emotional minefield.

And when that happens, the enemy of our soul
does the happy dance because that was what he was
trying to accomplish in us which was why he planted the
seed of worry or fear or doubt in us to begin with.

I wonder if that's the kind of presumptous sins that the
Psalmist was talking about in Psalm 19:13 that says:

"Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright,
and I shall be innocent from the great transgression."

Maybe we would be able to say less and pray more if
 we should started praying that prayer more often.  

"God, help me not to presume anything.
Teach me to look to YOU the author
and finisher of my faith. To rest in the
comfort that your promises are yea and Amen
and that you will always watch over me
and go before me in any and all of my life situations."

I have learned from my own hard experiences,
that praying more and saying less brings much
more peace, joy and contentment in my life.

What about you?

How do you handle things when life's presumptions come
crashing down on your imagination?

Again, the Holy Bible equips us with
an appropiateresponse to the wild ruminating
we are sometimes prone to:

"Casting down imaginations,
and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and
bringing into captivity every thought
 to the obedience of Christ;"
(2 Corinthians 10:5)

I particularly like the way The Message translation
explains the meaning of the above verse:

"The world is unprincipled.
It's dog-eat-dog out there!
The world doesn't fight fair.
 But we don't live or fight our battles that way
—never have and never will.
The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation,
but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture.
We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies,
tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God,
fitting every loose thought and emotion and
impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.
Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground
 of every obstruction and building
 lives of obedience into maturity."

What are your 'go to' scriptures when
life's imaginations
threaten to dominate your mind?