Month: August 2012

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Joy’s Fountain

A Classic Devotional from D.L. Moody

“Happiness is caused by things that happen around me, and circumstances will mar it; but joy flows right on through trouble; joy flows on through the dark; joy flows in the night as well as in the day; joy flows all through persecution and opposition.  It is an unceasing fountain bubbling up in the hearts; a secret spring the world can’t see and doesn’t know anything about. The Lord gives his people perpetual joy when they walk in obedience to him.

Joy is love exalted peace; peace is love in repose; long-suffering is love enduring; gentleness is love in society; goodness is love in action; faith is love on the battlefield; meekness is love in school; and temperance is love in training.  The world does not understand theology or dogma, but it understands love and sympathy.”

God, thank you for the joy that transcends all situations, problems, conditions.  Help me this day Lord to walk more closely with you, and be a Joy foundation filling up all those empty vessels with Your everlasting joy.  Amen

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Wait on the Lord

Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote the following passage, ” It may seem an easy thing to wait, but it is one of the postures which a Christian soldier learns not without years of teaching.  Marching and quick-marching are much easier to God’s warriors than standing still.  There are hours of perplexity when the most willing spirit, anxiously desires to serve the Lord, knows not what part to take.  Then what shall it do? Vex itself by despair? Fly back in cowardice, turn to the right hand in fear, or rush forward in presumption?  No, but simply wait.

Wait in prayer, however. Call upon God, and spread the case before him; tell him your difficulty, and plead his promise of aid.  In dilemmas between one duty and another, it is sweet to be humble as a child, and with the simplicity of soul upon the Lord. It is sure to be well with us when we feel and know our own folly, and are heartily willing to be guided by the will of God.  But wait in Faith.  Express your unstaggering confidence in him…”

Psalm 27:14 [NJKV] “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your Heart; Wait, I say again, on the Lord.

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Friendship

A sudden call in the middle of the night; a moan; a cry of disbelief, and then the slow walk into the “valley of the shadow of death” echoed through the room.  Reality and shadow merged, and the question why is uttered.   The sudden lost of a friend hits hard, and when it does your spirit and soul seeks a place of refuge.  A place that makes sense when the floor beneath your feet feels like sinking sand.  As news of the sudden passing of our friend came, the community that knew him gathered to comfort and console one another.  There were memories of past days of fellowship, fun and friendship.  Conversations that began with  “remember when he; remember when we;  remember, remember, remember…. The inevitable sighs, and strained moments of laughter amidst the reality of lost, and what will be never be again.  Then tears, sadness, and pleas to gather more frequently, to share and celebrate our lives together.   

Friendship is a powerful thing that connects and unites us to another human being or circle of individuals.  It is mutual values, experiences, common interests, or special ties which creates a bond sometimes stronger than family relationships. Friendship generates community; a sense of belonging to something or someone.  Friendship forms love.  

The abundant life includes friends whose purpose it is to share their life with you and I.  Yes, friendships are a wonderful thing, but even more they are blessings from God.     

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No Greater Joy

Stormie Omartian wrote, “Lord,there is no source of greater joy for me than worshiping You.  I come into Your presence with thanksgiving and bow before You this day.  I exalt Your name for you are great and worthy to be praised.”

Psalm 100 encourages us to make a joyful noise, serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing.  We are to enter into His gates with Thanksgiving, and His courts with praise.     These assignments are simple, but have a profound impact.   Joy changes the whole environment.  It transforms hearts and minds.  Spirits are lifted up, and thinking is clearer.  Laughter fills the air, smiles upon faces, and songs are sung.   This is not reserved for a church building, or program.  Our joy should accompany us into the homes, businesses, the marketplace, the political arena, and every place the soles of our feet touch.

How much joy have you shared today?   Was there a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and on your lips?  Did your arrival change the environment, or was it the same old, same old?

Let the world know we are sons and daughters of God, and they can be too.  Share the incredible joy we have because of Him.   Tell others about the gift of eternal life, goodness and mercy.  Explain how we experience His amazing grace and mercy every day, despite all our challenges.

Show them how to rejoice and be glad, for there is no greater joy than knowing our Lord!!!  Each day holds the possibility of miracles both great and small.  The greatest is the gift of salvation.   From that we experience a God who will never leave or forsake us.  We see evidence that His promises are true every day.  O’ yes, there is so much.

Show someone the great joy you have in your heart.  The day is not over.  Go ahead, there is still time.  Tell someone there is no greater joy than knowing Christ.  It is a small miracle that holds the promise of No Greater Joy.

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Worn Out

Feeling worn out?  Tired, exhausted, depleted?  Lots of time and effort goes into our ministries, communities activities, along all those personal and professional obligations.  We feel scattered from jumping from one thing to the next.  It seems like the more we have to do, the less we strength we have.  More is going out than is coming in, and we are enjoying our lives less.  Several friends have shared with me, they just want to sit down or lay down somewhere and sleep for days.  Hoping, of course that when they awake, they will be refreshed, ready to tackle the next items on the proverbial “things to do list”.

But take courage.  God is saying to us, don’t give up in doing well.  He knows you want to please him, and live in the fullness of His presence.  God knows you want to experience Him at higher heights.  He knows the enemy is trying to wear you down. But take courage.  Our God will never, ever forsake us.  You will be victorious. Seek Him during this time and be prepared for a miracle.

A new season is upon us.  On the Jewish Calendar it is Elul [August 19 – September, 16, 2012].  “As the last month of the Jewish year, Elul is  traditionally a time of introspection and stocktaking—a time to review one’s  deeds and spiritual progress over the past year, and prepare for the upcoming “Days of Awe” of Rosh  Hashanah and Yom  Kippur.   As the month of divine  mercy and forgiveness, Elul is a most opportune time for teshuvah (“return” to God), prayer, charity, and increased ahavat Yisrael (love for a fellow Jew and [others]), in the quest for  self-improvement and coming closer to God.”

I encourage you to seek God with intentionality.  Draw strength from His inexhaustible power.  Lean on Him more for guidance and directions for all those things, you feel you must do.  Just as Jesus did, so should we.  Jesus went to the Father for strength, as well as rest as He went about His earthly ministry.  The source of power never diminished.  Jesus tapped into the Almighty Source, and was able to do all things exceedingly well.

So stop walking around drained, tired, exhausted, worn out.  Plug up your holes (mind, body and spirit) with the strength of the Holy Spirit.  No more being worn out, and you will experience His joy, His grace, His mercy and His strength.

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The Mercy of God

The mercy of God is not a little thing.  God is not little, nor is His mercy small or puny.  It is a wondrous thing; full of light, life and love.  Meditate on God’s mercy.  It is so sweet and tender. It heals, and restores the broken heart.  His mercy changes the look and feel of our bodies. Oozing wounds are bound up.   It soothes our troubled minds, and bring joy to our souls.  Mercy puts a smile on the face, where moments before there was a frown.  God’s mercy is wide and infinite.  It can’t be measured or put in a bottle to be stored and saved for a rainy day.  It always ready, and available to everyone.   Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, the psalmist wrote.   Mercy brings us to the throne of Heaven so we can dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The mercy of God is ours.  Psalm 52:8

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Wisdom

Wisdom is a precious jewel given to us by God.  Wisdom is a priceless gift that points the way to life – God’s life.  In our world, we don’t seek nor prize wisdom.  Our clamoring and searching for the brass ring leads us to the deep pits of despair.  But wisdom gives us light, and peace and even more than, that it provides us a way to a blessed life.

Psalm 111:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth forever.”

James 1:5 , 6 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”

James 3:17 “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.”

Ecclesiastes 7:12 “For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.”

Read more: http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/15-wisdom-quotes-from-the-bible/#ixzz23cSnsq80

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The Spiritual Heart

“The spiritual heart of man is the Heart of the universe,and, finding that Heart, man finds the strength to accomplish all things. He finds there also Wisdom to see things as they are. He finds there the Peace that is divine. At the centre of mans’ being is the Music which orders the stars – the Eternal Harmony. He who would find Blessedness, let him find himself; let him abandon every discordant desire, every inharmonious thought, every unlovely habit and deed, and he will find that Grace and Beauty and Harmony which form the indestructible essence of his own being.  Men fly from creed to creed, and find – unrest; they travel in many lands, and discover – disappointment; they build themselves beautiful mansions, and plant pleasant gardens, and reap – ennui and discomfort. Not until a man falls back upon the truth within himself does he finds rest and satisfaction; not until he builds the inward Mansion of Faultless conduct does he find the endless and incorruptible Joy, and, having obtained that, he will infuse it into all his outward doings and possessions.

If a man would have peace, let him exercise the spirit of Peace; if he would find love, let him dwell in the spirit of Love; if he would escape suffering, let him cease to inflict it; if he would do noble things for humanity, let him cease to do ignoble things for himself. If he will but quarry the min of his own soul, he shall find there all the materials for building whatsoever he will, and he shall find there also the central Rock on which to build in safety.”  James Allen

Our spiritual hearts need to be right with God.  And not until we cease from carrying the weight of our sins; not until we cease from putting other things upon our heart’s throne will we become the men and women God designed us to be.  John 15:1-8

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The Promise

There is coming for those who believe a day like no other.  It is a day when all; the spirit, soul and flesh will behold the promise – the great light of Christ. (Isaiah 9:1)  No matter how dark the circumstances, how bleak the prognosis – the promise will come again. 

Christ is our lighthouse; a light wave blazing through the darkness of our souls; a glistening promise of new life. So bright is His light; so pure is His light that it lifts us out of the darkness of our sins. it radiates and cleanses; it restores and heals; it delivers and makes us whole again.  God’s Promise of our Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace is not to be taken lightly.  It should give us assurance; a blessed assurance that all will be made right today.  No matter how deep the pit – the promise can reach you.  We can rise up this day with shouts of joy and victory that the Promise has come, and will come again.

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The Rich

James Allen wrote, “if thou wilt be perfect, sell all that thou hast; but at these words the world turns away “sorrowful”, for it is very rich“; rich in money which it cannot keep; rich in fears which it cannot let go; rich in selfish loves to which it greedily clings; rich in grievous partings which it would fain escape; rich in seeking enjoyment; rich in pain and sorrow; rich in strife and suffering; rich in excitement and woe; rich in all thing which are not riches, but poor in riches themselves which are not to be found outside the Kingdom; rich in all things that pertain to darkness and death, but poor in those things which are Light and Life.”

Riches, true riches come when as we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.  Then our perfection, our purpose, our happiness, our heritage, our joy, inspiration, wisdom, compassion become solid gold – the real riches – the only ones we truly need.

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