All tagged joy
Does our life get in the way of our praying? Do the hardships we face each day stifle our inward enthusiasm for prayer, or do we redouble our effort in it as we bring those trials before the Lord? Often, when faced by incredible hardship or suffering we attempt to fix those things first and pray for them second. The pitfall in this strategy is frustration, depression, and a loss of hope. This inevitably leads to difficulty in prayer.
"Prayer Brings Comfort" is more than just the title for this morning's devotional message, it is a declaration of the benefit that speaking with God brings. My morning reading in E.M. Bounds puts it this way... "Prayer in times of trouble brings comfort, help, hope, and blessings that, while not making the trouble disappear, enables the saint to handle it better and to submit to the will of God." If we are not careful in prayer we will simply dwell on finding relief from troubles, and miss the greater benefits. Prayer is indeed a time of seeking God's intervention and help in our distresses, but our prayers go beyond removing the discomfort, they have a deeper purpose. Prayer also reaffirms our belief, reinforces our humility before God, and communicates His will to us. Prayer does more than asking for help, it teaches us from whence that help comes.
Are you a serious person? By this I mean, do you present yourself in faith as a stuffy, academically aloof, or “better than you” Christian? If you are like this or are more interested in appearing righteous than actually being righteous, then it is time to wake up. Jesus was born a carpenter’s son and lived a common life, despite being anything but common.
Has Jesus given you a joy like His, or do you anticipate that you will one day have a heavenly joy like the one that He speaks of? Well, I am going to burst your bubble and then give you a new hope regarding this scriptural joy. Our desire should never be to have a joy like Jesus' because we won't have one like His, but don’t let this news disappoint you… read on, because there is much more to this story.
Do you know the peace of Jesus Christ? When your life is being torn apart by calamity do you find rest and peace in Him? In Christ we are meant to find a peace unlike any other; not the carefree blue sky feeling of being trouble free, but the deep and abiding peace given in the midst of death and chaos. A peace that defies all understanding.
How many times have we experienced sorrow in our lives? We would be unable to count them. Sorrow is a fact of life, and the result of caring, loving, and regret. God uses sorrow for His purposes, and we should see His hand there. In our sorrow God teaches us of Himself.
Today let’s contemplate how we can remain joyful in God while in the midst of our daily distresses. Let’s seek the source of our victory, certainty, and amazement during the trials and tribulations we face. Let’s try to understand how it is possible to feel comfort and joy in Jesus even when we are in the grips of staggering loss, or struggling through painful problems and dire crises.
How simple and trusting is our faith? My devotional reading this morning was focused on the simplicity of faith, and as I studied the truth of this concept I uncovered the depth of my similar belief. Yet, I began to see how I often followed the mantra I hear in commercials on television as they sing... "I want it now!" (NFL), or "It's mine!" (Diet Coke), or perhaps "I want it all!" (Dr. Pepper). I could see that I was applying this urgency to my relationship with the Lord, and wanted every truth in a scripture, every revelation of God, instantly... now!
There are times when we will feel alone in our faith, and even among our brothers and sister in Christ we will feel this way. In these times we will be separated, and walk alone with God, or Jesus Christ. As we read the Bible stories regarding the great men of God we find that at some point in each of their lives of faith they were separated, and sent into isolation. But, in our time in the desert, on the mountain, in prisons, or banished to Patmos, we are never truly alone. We are with God, and in these seemingly lonely places He has our undivided attention. Do we know what it is like to be alone with God? Even in a crowd of people have we felt isolated from the world, and in such times didn’t He come to us? Hasn’t Jesus met us on the road to Emmaus and walked us through the scripture? Was His presence enough for us?
It’s Tuesday, and we are drawing closer to the day when we will celebrate a national day of Thanksgiving in the United States of America, but thanking God is not something that should be particular to any certain country or people, but to all the earth. Believers should be letting not only their families and neighbors know what God has done for them, but sharing this with all people everywhere. Today let’s sing praises to the Lord, and do so loudly enough for the whole world to hear, so that our voices will invite every man woman and child to join us in faith.
The mourners gather and hearts break when a loved one passes from this life to the next, but when the deceased is a Christian believer, and the mourners take possession of the victory that has been won, then although their hearts might be sad, their souls rejoice as they share in the victory claimed in that triumphant moment. We mourn for a season, but claim victory in the promise of eternity.
Have we ever taken on a duty that is distasteful, or shouldered a hardship, or responsibility, that weighed us down, but, out of necessity, we had to bear? Were our labors meant to help someone in need? There are many things in life that we do simply because they must be done, not because we enjoy doing them. But, if we are doing them out of kindness to someone, and we do these things with a good Christian heart, something wonderful happens as we work at them… we develop a taste for the distasteful, and the burdens we bear for others become light to us, and often a pleasure. If we approach such situations with the caring, and the love of Christ, we find that our love and kindness will reward us. Can we remember such times in our lives?
Do we only pray, I mean really pray, in times of trouble? In the other times of life, when things are good, and we are happy, or complacent in our lives, what is the nature of our prayers? We pray fervently, and without ceasing when confronted by danger, and reach out to the Lord with all our might in our troubles, but when all is well, or our circumstances are filled with happiness, we find that our prayers become light and airy, and we only pray them as we find a spare moment, or during our appointed times of prayer. Our prayers of thanksgiving seem to be eclipsed by those we pray in the midst of suffering, and anxiousness. Is this how we should pray? Should we only thank him once we get what we want? No, God should be lifted up and glorified in all things, and His joy is meant to be be found in us because of His presence there.
What will our reaction be when we see Jesus face to face? Will we fall to our knees because we are unworthy? Will we fall to our knees and praise Him? Will we kiss his face, or maybe we will wash his feet with our tears? Any of these might happen, but there is always the possibility that we will be so overcome with emotion that we will faint, or that we might not recognize Him at first. How do you think you will react, and will it be in shame, tears, joy, or utter disbelief that He has come to you at last?
We serve a living God, and His Son Jesus is alive too, He is no longer in the grave, but has risen!!! He has defeated death by His resurrection just as He defeated sin by His dying. Easter Morning is so near, and like that first glorious Easter His tomb remains empty! Hallelujah, shout Hallelujah!! This is the day of the Lamb; the Prince of Peace is alive, and He is preparing to come for our bodies, and to bring us, fully resurrected, before the Father! Are we celebrating His resurrected life every day? Do we know that He lives? Are we living our lives in daily anticipation as we await the trumpet’s sound, or are we blind to what has happened, what was promised, and find ourselves mourning, and perplexed, outside an empty tomb? No, God forbid, because “HE IS RISEN!”, and our Savior is coming again! “HALLELUJAH!! Will you say HALLELUJAH!!! with me? JESUS IS ALIVE!!!