Dear Precious Friends,
On this start of a new day and a new week, this Magnificent Monday because God has given us a new day because He has a purpose for us and work for us to do, I pray you started your day seeking the Lord, finding wisdom from His word, time with Him in prayer and are armored up for the new day and week ahead.
So often we hear and talk about the difference between happiness and joy. We know happiness is circumstancial but joy is knowing Jesus is in control of everything and no matter what we face, we are more than overcomers through Him who loves us. The victory has been won and we can "have joy" despite circumstances that seem hopeless.
Paul is always my "go to" guy when I am wondering how to have joy in the darkness we are experiencing. God's word through Paul inspires me and helps pull me out of any pit I fall into. Paul has been through so much and reminds us "To live is Christ, to die is gain".... and he truly lives this out after being a murderer of Christians... his encounter with Jesus changes everything. He knows he is forgiven and he has limited time on earth and every single breath he takes is for one purpose.. to bring others to Christ... WOW... So..
I came across great wisdom and want to share...
I am wanting to share this wisdom From John Eldredge's book "Desire":
There is a widespread belief in the church that to be a Christian somehow satisfies our every desire. As one camp song has it, “I’m inright, outright, upright, downright happy all day long.” What complete nonsense! Augustine emphasized, “The whole life of the good Christian is a holy longing. What you desire ardently, as yet you do not see.” So, “let us long because we are to be filled . . . That is our life, to be exercised by longing.” There’s the mystery again. Longing leads to fullness somewhere down the road. Meanwhile, being content is not the same thing as being full.
Paul said he had “learned the secret of being content” (Phil. 4:12), and many Christians assume he no longer experienced the thirst of his soul. But earlier in the same epistle, the old saint said that he had not obtained his soul’s desire, or “already been made perfect.” Quite the contrary. He described himself as pressing on, “straining toward what is ahead” (3:12–14). These are not the words of a man who no longer experienced longing because he had arrived. They are the account of a man propelled on his life quest by his desire.
Contentment is not freedom *from* desire, but freedom *of* desire. Being content is not pretending that everything is the way you wish it would be; it is not acting as though you have no wishes. Rather, it is no longer being *ruled* by your desires.
OH MY FRIENDS, what great wisdom as we begin a new week.. Remember to armor yourself up, we live in selfie world, and as Christians, we know it's not about us, its all about Jesus...
As we give Him our lives and our circumstances may we remember the wisdom shared above as we seek joy in all circumstances.
James teaches us, Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
James was teaching us as believers to have an intelligent Christian philosophy and attitude toward the trials that face us. He needs to understand God’s permissive will in allowing adverse experiences (Job 42:5; Psalm 38:3; 39:9; Matthew 6:13; Romans 8:28). These trials (sickness, persecution, poverty, or tragedy) are sent by the devil to tempt a man to sin, or only to trouble him. They are to test his walk with the Lord.
The believer can actually be joyful under such circumstances for he “know(s) that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). According to the eternal purpose of God, all things (good and bad) contribute to the well-being of those who love Him. Instead of hindering the Christian’s walk with God, these hardships push him forward. Therefore, at every step, the believer is to submit to the hands of God for he is fulfilling His divine purpose. And nothing can touch the believer except by God’s permission (Job 1:12; 2:6).
If God allows pain and trouble to come upon the believer, it is not to break him but to cleanse him (Romans 8:17). The trials and discouragements of this life reveal to man his weak condition and cause him to fully depend on God. And they also cleanse his character as by fire.
WOW WOW WOW. Have a blessed Monday my friends knowing the truth of God's word and living it.
AMEN!
