Joy Comes With the Morning
Waking up this morning, I am discovering something. I like my place in the Lord. I don't mean first place, or second-not like that. I like where God has me, if that makes sense. I am beginning to overcome comparing what He has shown me to what He is showing others, and being at peace with it. I am trusting what I believe, regardless of what others believe, and that is a good thing. I am resting in the truth, as I know it, and it feels good.
Another thing I'm discovering is that I am not feeling fearful for others I know who I see going over the cliff in their beliefs. Reminds me of something my mother once said, and at the time, I thought it insensitive, but now I get it. She said, "I'm not going to let my children's problems steal my joy." And nothing really should. David said, "Restore unto me the joy of my salvation, and uphold me with they sweet spirit." Hey, if we don't have joy in the midst of all the negatives, devastation can set in. Then we can lose hope and then where are we?
It's funny for me to be talking about joy, because as I've shared before, I am one who is more melancholy and serious minded. But I feel joy today, and I'm going to milk it for what it's worth. I'm going to ride that bus until the end of the line. Is this what the joy of my salvation feels like?
It could be I'm excited about having a little get together with believers at our house tonight, and that's what I'm feeling. It has been sooooooooo long since we've done that. As I've mentioned in my past posts, we don't go to an institutional church, since 8 years back, and we live out in the country, so isolation can become a problem.
I saw someone a few weeks ago who I hadn't seen in years, and she remarked that I needed the fellowship of believers. I knew that was from the Lord. So tonight just a few people are coming, bringing a snack, and sharing anything they may have to share from the Lord. I'm really looking forward to this.
But really I'm hoping this joy is more than that. I'm hoping it is something the Lord is bringing to life in me as a fruit of His Spirit. Just like it's the season for strawberries or apples or oranges; maybe it's the season of joy in my life. That would be awesome!
I mean do some people feel joy at all times in their lives? I never have, so I really don't know. I do know that we can't muster it up; not the real kind. I know we can put on a happy face, and try to cheer up, but those things for sure are passing. That is just pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, and are things we have learned how to do to try and keep ourselves strong and self-assured. I'm learning to get away from such frail supports. I remember a line in a Lutheran hymn I used to sing-"The arm of flesh will fail you; you must not trust your own." Yep, that's true. Self-dependence and reliance and strength will indeed fail you. Only depending on and trusting God will last.
So, here I am with my joy, relishing it, and hoping that it lasts. Then I will know that it is of God! Only things imparted from Him endure through all time and circumstances. If we abide in Him, overtime His fruits will be developed in us. They can do no other, as what is in the vine will eventually go to the branches. Christ is more joyful above all His fellows the Word says, and as He is in us, so are we.
Below is a quote from another website on the subject of Christ's joy. I'll end with that:
'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth (v.21). Jesus knew that God was his heavenly Father. His joy was rooted in his trust in God. He kept trusting in God through thick and thin. He had total peace about this reality, that he could look into the smiling face of the God of the universe and call him ‘Abba Father.’ He knew with confidence that he was God’s holy child, and we can know that too. 'I praise you;' I, so small and insignificant, with my brief life, who spring up in the morning, mature by noon and die by nightfall: God, measureless in power and grace, without rivals, without beginning or end of days, limited only by his own will to do anything, Creator and Sustainer of all we see (and vast recesses of the cosmos that we cannot see and struggle to imagine), all have been made by him. Yet I, a speck, can address the Almighty and call him my Father praising and rejoicing in him, and he hears me! He is pleased with my delight! That is the foundation of joy; no joy without that.
- Geoff Thomas
HE IS PLEASED WITH OUR DELIGHT! I like that. "The Joy of the Lord is Our Strength."
Another thing I'm discovering is that I am not feeling fearful for others I know who I see going over the cliff in their beliefs. Reminds me of something my mother once said, and at the time, I thought it insensitive, but now I get it. She said, "I'm not going to let my children's problems steal my joy." And nothing really should. David said, "Restore unto me the joy of my salvation, and uphold me with they sweet spirit." Hey, if we don't have joy in the midst of all the negatives, devastation can set in. Then we can lose hope and then where are we?
It's funny for me to be talking about joy, because as I've shared before, I am one who is more melancholy and serious minded. But I feel joy today, and I'm going to milk it for what it's worth. I'm going to ride that bus until the end of the line. Is this what the joy of my salvation feels like?
It could be I'm excited about having a little get together with believers at our house tonight, and that's what I'm feeling. It has been sooooooooo long since we've done that. As I've mentioned in my past posts, we don't go to an institutional church, since 8 years back, and we live out in the country, so isolation can become a problem.
I saw someone a few weeks ago who I hadn't seen in years, and she remarked that I needed the fellowship of believers. I knew that was from the Lord. So tonight just a few people are coming, bringing a snack, and sharing anything they may have to share from the Lord. I'm really looking forward to this.
But really I'm hoping this joy is more than that. I'm hoping it is something the Lord is bringing to life in me as a fruit of His Spirit. Just like it's the season for strawberries or apples or oranges; maybe it's the season of joy in my life. That would be awesome!
I mean do some people feel joy at all times in their lives? I never have, so I really don't know. I do know that we can't muster it up; not the real kind. I know we can put on a happy face, and try to cheer up, but those things for sure are passing. That is just pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, and are things we have learned how to do to try and keep ourselves strong and self-assured. I'm learning to get away from such frail supports. I remember a line in a Lutheran hymn I used to sing-"The arm of flesh will fail you; you must not trust your own." Yep, that's true. Self-dependence and reliance and strength will indeed fail you. Only depending on and trusting God will last.
So, here I am with my joy, relishing it, and hoping that it lasts. Then I will know that it is of God! Only things imparted from Him endure through all time and circumstances. If we abide in Him, overtime His fruits will be developed in us. They can do no other, as what is in the vine will eventually go to the branches. Christ is more joyful above all His fellows the Word says, and as He is in us, so are we.
Below is a quote from another website on the subject of Christ's joy. I'll end with that:
'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth (v.21). Jesus knew that God was his heavenly Father. His joy was rooted in his trust in God. He kept trusting in God through thick and thin. He had total peace about this reality, that he could look into the smiling face of the God of the universe and call him ‘Abba Father.’ He knew with confidence that he was God’s holy child, and we can know that too. 'I praise you;' I, so small and insignificant, with my brief life, who spring up in the morning, mature by noon and die by nightfall: God, measureless in power and grace, without rivals, without beginning or end of days, limited only by his own will to do anything, Creator and Sustainer of all we see (and vast recesses of the cosmos that we cannot see and struggle to imagine), all have been made by him. Yet I, a speck, can address the Almighty and call him my Father praising and rejoicing in him, and he hears me! He is pleased with my delight! That is the foundation of joy; no joy without that.
- Geoff Thomas
HE IS PLEASED WITH OUR DELIGHT! I like that. "The Joy of the Lord is Our Strength."
posted by Patti Blount @ 5:43 AM
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