Power of Joy

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

...neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

Nehemiah 8:10b

Too many of us are walking around with "dry bones". We have no joy. We are full of sorrows. We are weak in our hearts. And our spirits are broken down.

Yet the word of God tells us that it in joy that we become strong in our spirits. So, how do we get joy?

As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you,

that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

John 15:9-11

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

1 John 1:3, 4

When you abide in the love of God by keeping His commands, His joy stays with you. Meditating on the promises of God can only bring more joy! Seeing all that God has for you, knowing how much He loves and cares about you, will only increase the amount of joy in your life.

Joy also shows up when you fellowship with other saints who are also strong in the Lord. Hearing their testimonies of the goodness of the Lord, learning from their walk with the Father, and having them pray for and encourage you will keep your joy levels on FULL!

So, today, determine to strengthen yourself in the joy of the Lord. Let the joy of the Lord minister health and well-being to your spirit and mind. You don't have to be weary, run down or sorrowful, in any situation, your joy can be FULL!

No Set Mold

When Jesus walked the earth, He kicked it with some folks and did some things that the upstanding religious people of the day frowned upon. Jesus went to parties with tax collectors and publicans, He actually paid attention and cared for the poor, He healed on the Sabbath... All of these things were not what the "esteemed" people of the day did.
Yet Jesus did them.

Today, many upstanding religious people have their "standards" of what good Christians are to do. They have rules of how they should and shouldn't look... where they should and shouldn't go... and who they should and shouldn't hang around.

I'm so glad that our Father doesn't look on the outward appearance but instead looks at the heart! Jesus told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Somebody's going to have to go to the "off limit" places and shine the light of Christ. Someone's going to have to go and touch the "untouchable" and guide them to the joy of the Lord.

Once these people are introduced to God, they may not dress or act the way traditional Christians think they should. Yet, the important part is that they offer up their lives to Christ. Once they allow His love to permeate through them and inward change will come that will far outweigh any outward action they could make.

So, don't be so quick to judge a person's Christianity by their outward appearance. Many of us are going to be surprised to see who's worshipping at God's feet when we get to heaven!

Verse of the Day: ...for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:17

Push Me!

I'm a competitve person. I hate, hate, HATE to lose! I have friends who are the same way, and we always have fun talking trash when we play games against each other. We like to push each other to be the best to ensure the best possible scenario of a win. It's always a sweeter victory when you know that everyone involved brought their A Game.

In this game of life, we should be doing the same thing. We should always encourage others to be the best they could possibly be. Why go through life just coasting along or folding at every challenge? Just by being born, we were declared winners! We've been winning since our inception, why stop there?

This philosophy takes on more credibility when one considers our faith. We should be working as hard as we can to be the best Christians that we can be in order to please our Heavenly Father. He already gave us His best by sending His Son, so the least we can do is live our lives before Him as holy as possible.

And as Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we should be pushing each other to be upright before the Lord. With our encouragement to each other, we can all lead more fulfilled and prosperous lives.

So, as we go about our day today, let's take time and push the others around us to be better people! Together, we can make this world a beautiful place.

Verse of the Day:And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works... Hebrews 10:24