**Play Restoration by Phillips, Craig & Dean*** (Click on the title on the playlist player to the right or use the > key at the top to scroll down to the title)***
Joy is a feeling, right? NO!!! Happiness is a "feeling" it is dependent on your circumstances (happenings) and can be very short lived. Joy is a deep, soul felt, multi-sensory reaction to a conscious decision to BE joyful. (Dot's definition). Joy is a gift from God, Jeremiah 8:10 ...for the joy of the Lord is your strength. He is the only real source of our Joy (1 Peter 1:8,9) Habakkuk 3:18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Joy is a choice God extends his hand to offer me the gift of another day to live. I have the CHOICE to take that gift and turn it into 24 hours of real life in Christ, or just let it become another 24 hours lived in a broken world. I can let things wittle me down to dust or I can stand, believe and walk sure steps with God in control. If I choose to transform these minutes and hours into life lived for and with my savior I have the opportunity to see God at work, enjoy his presence, wonder at His creation, appreciate the expression of His Beauty. I can love and touch the minds and hearts of my family and my child with His reality or I can drive them away. It is all about the choices you make, what feels good, what looks good now or doing what is proven to be God's Will and that promises eternal benefits. With all these choices, how can you say you feel "trapped" and without input in your life? How do you feel uninvolved in your own life and the lives of those who chose to include you in theirs? Could it be you "choose" to feel that way because you do not want to see that you are choosing to be uninvolved by not making things different? But, it is never too late to CHOOSE to do things differently, it is always a good time to do the RIGHT thing!!!
Life is hard, it is sometimes unfair, but we do not have to worry about the outcome, that is "In God's hands, He is in Control". (That phrase needs to roll of your lips and through your heart with every beat) that is the secret to an abundant life). When we choose to submit to God, there is only one decision to make and He takes care of everything. When we try to choose the easy, popular or most beneficial way that we can "see" to choose, there are more and more choices that have to be made as things fall apart and more struggles insue. The realization that He is with you in every moment, good or bad and that He is doing the battle not you. Think about the Israelites as they get into the Red Sea as Christ parted the waters for them. They heard their oppressors coming after them to take them back to the aweful conditions they were just released from. They were questioning and complaining about being released to be killed in the desert. (what gratitude, what faith, but God did not through up his hands and tell them forget it! He had had enough of their doubting and distrust, No! He lovingly got between them and the enemy, He protected them and He does the same for us) They still could see and hear the enemy, they could probably see the arrows flying over head, but it was to no avail, they were sealed, they were in Christ!! and so are we if we made that decision to give him our life--the temporary one that we would mess up and have to serve eternity away from Him and the Father in exchange He gave us a new life, full of hope and promise, full of purpose and with a future. Not only are we sealed, protected but we always have a companion, we are never alone and never on our own (for me this is a really good thing, when I smell the horses and hear the rumbling hooves, I panic, get all confused and cannot think straight, and I now have the security of knowing I only have to do one thing, STAND!! and call on God, I already have the Holy spirit to guide me, I received him at the time of salvation and he will never leave me, no matter what I do., and Christ is right beside me holding my right hand!!! He tells us this over and over in scripture, but one in particular makes it really simple, especially for the "literal" crowd Isaiah 41:13 "For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand, and says to you, Do not Fear; I will help you.)
That says it all!!! and if you choose to hold out your hand, and receive the help, you can have the Joy!! God really does make it easy, you have to trust Him, and talk with Him and Follow him, not others that are walking near by or others who tell you to come and walk with them, they have figured out the tricky part and can help you avoid some of the stumbling blocks ahead. When you are in contact with God, he will alert you to those things you need to be aware of, some of the stumbling blocks, are just opportunities to lift your leg a little higher, some will be blown out of your way. Knowledge, Understanding and Wisdom are all gifts from God, and He gives us all that we need, too much information just weighs us down. God is in control, He has the way for us to follow, He has overcome all the obsticles and can help us overcome them too.
Scriptures that I use, and have on index cards that I can carry with me to remind me of God's promises and of all the resources I have at my disposal.
1 Peter 3:13-15
Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear (anxious worry, terror) what they fear (anxious worry, terror), do not be frightened." But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord and give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.(respect)
Isaiah 41:13
For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand, and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.
Proverbs 18:10
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
Genesis 4:7
If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But, if you do not do what is right, Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it. (The choice is yours!!!)
Hebrew 13:5-6
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; (Not conditional!! NEVER means NEVER) Never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" (so if you "feel" alone, you choose to feel that way, or you moved, God is who he says He is and Does what He says He will do, without fail, call on His name and He will answer!!!)
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