Good morning girls! This devotion hurt a little this morning and I'll explain why but let's pray!
Jesus, thank you for life. Thank you for the undeserving breathe in our lungs that give us another day. Your mercy is so great. Help us with this particular fruit Lord. It's a hard one to grasp and a hard one to obtain. I pray that the Holy Spirit reveals to us what is hindering us from being joyful in Christ and that we make the individual decision to fight against that hindrance and work to find that joy! We love you Jesus and we thank you for your great mercy! Amen!
Pray through Psalm 16 today!
Read your devotion right here at www.shereadstruth.com
I always picture a joyful woman as someone who joyfully sang around the house as she did another load of dishes, wiped pee of another toilet seat or cleaned another "accident" in the middle of the night. Doing another load of laundry while singing and praising God. But my question is this....is it still considered joyful praise IF even while we are weeping in doing these things we utter with all of our strength praise and thanks to God for these mundane, overlooked, unappreciated jobs? Because the Bible tells us to Rejoice always (Philippians 4:4) but then it also says "blessed are those who mourn" during the Sermon on the Mount! My answer to this is always what is in your heart. Do you have a joyful/thankful heart or is joy/thanks impossible to find?
Joy is always possible with thanks! (Ann Voskamp 1,000 gifts)
Here is a quote from the Fruitful Life by Jerry Bridges, "It is a contradiction for a Christian who professes to be a child of the one and only God - who created the universe and who governs it for His glory and the good of His people - to wear a gloomy countenance. John W. Sanderson says, "it's practical atheism, for it ignores God and his attributes."
Look at these practical hindrances to joy.
1. Sin in our lives or sinful attitudes of the HEART. Christian joy is essentially the enjoyment of God, the fruit of communion with Him. Sin obviously breaks that communion and the enjoyment of His presence. All sin, be it attitude or action, must be dealt with if we are to display the virtue of joy in our lives.
2. Misplaced confidence. Paul told the Philippian Christians to "rejoice in the Lord" (3:1). He then made it clear that the opposite of rejoicing in the Lord is to put confidence in the flesh - in our good works or religious attainment. If the source of our confidence is anything other than Jesus Christ and His grace, it is a false and oft-interrupted joy.
3. Chastening or discipline that God often administers to His children. Discipline is never a joyful experience; it is not meant to be, else it would not accomplish its intended results.
4. Experiencing trials of faith. Trials differ from discipline in that their purpose is to exercise faith, not deal with sin in our lives. In His infinite wisdom, God allows trials in order to develop perseverance in us and cause us to fix our hopes on the glory that is yet to be revealed!
Questions: answer all or pick and choose which one really challenges you!
1. How are you currently up against one or more of these hindrances to joy? Sin, Discipline from God, Trials, A melancholy temperament
2. What is an area in your life that you are struggling to find joy in?
3. What reasons do you have to be joyful/thankful?
Listen to this last quote! I LOVE it!
"Perhaps you don't feel you have much to show for your life. Maybe you haven't written a book, or seen scores come to Christ through your witness, or done anything else that seems significant. But is your name written in heaven? If it is, you have as much reasons to rejoice as the most well-known and "successful" Christian. Nothing you or I will ever do can possibly compare with having our names written in heaven. The most humble Christian as well as the most famous Christian stand together on that common ground." YES!
Again....would LOVE some discussion!!!!!
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