Joy Always

Just think about this for a few moments, JOY ALWAYS, it is enough to lift our spirits in any trial. And this is the JOY Jesus had, even when He faced the Cross, James 1:2-3. I am sure He didn’t feel happy as the circumstances were dire in every area of His life; the Cross itself; leaving His Mother, who He knew would hurt so much; His closest friends would desert Him, and all the people, whom He loved so much would hate Him. 

But He had the bigger picture, of the ‘joy set before Him’. He encourages us to have the same eternal perspective in every situation, even when our hearts are breaking, Hebrews 12:2; Colossians 3:1-3

We may feel that we have no joy in our present tough situation but Jesus said in John 15:11 "These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." So His joy is available to us on a moment by moment basis. Just think of it - Jesus has put His own joy in our heart from the moment we were born again by the Spirit of God.

How do we put that force of joy to work in our life? Just like we put the force of salvation to work in our life, by faith.

First, we trust we have received it.

Then we speak it out with our mouth. (In other words, quit crying and start shouting "Hallelujah" instead!)

Then we start agreeing we have joy by doing it, praising Him, worshiping, His promises.

 The Holy Spirit will teach us how to develop Jesus’ joy., take time out to lay aside every thought, every weight, and every care and get your heart focused on Jesus.

No matter what our circumstances we can be full of joy.

We can be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

We can draw on the joy of the Holy Spirit within us and come out in victory!

We can just keep thinking about that and talking about it until the joy of the Lord starts to bubble up within us. Then we'll be strong enough to whip any kind of trouble that comes our way! 

  

 Paul desired for the disciples to be strengthened and invigorated with all power, according to HIS'  glorious might and to attain every kind of endurance and patience WITH joy, giving thanks to the Father. That's what Paul did, he certainly had trouble, he'd been stoned, and whipped and imprisoned, and ridiculed - and yet he was always rejoicing, never in self-pity. He kept re-energizing joy by drawing on the supply of the Holy Spirit within himself. Joy kept his attitude right. Joy kept him looking to God and flowing in Holy Spirit power. We can do the same, His power within us.

 Joy doesn't depend on our constantly fluctuating emotions.

Joy affects the mind, making it alive and receptive.

Joy makes the human will vibrant and yielded to God.

Joy even affects the body. 'A joyful, cheerful heart brings healing to both body and soul. But the one whose heart is crushed strugles with sickness and depression' Proverbs 17:22 TPT

Just over a week ago I got a call at 5am asking me to return home for a serious family health situation. According to Google I was 3hrs 12 minutes away. While packing my case I put the situation into Father's hands and had a deep sense that He was working this situation out and I could trust Him. I certainly wasn't happy with this situation but all the time while driving home in the bucketing rain, I had a deep seated joy.  So when any anxious thought came I just kept praising. All I could remember to focus on was the Lord's prayer, 'thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven' and there is no death in Heaven. His joy was overwhelming at times. If I had not been driving I probably would be jumping up and twirling around. The outcome was just as the Father had promised me.

 

Each of the fruit of the Holy Spirit supports the others. It takes them all, working together, to make us complete. Joy is not just a state of mind. Joy is a very real force. The devil doesn't have anything that can stand up against faith, joy, love, peace,  longsuffering, goodness or self-control. Discouragement, disappointment, disaster, disorder, disputes, divisions, doubts,  all have to yield to joy. We dont need to stir ourselves up to be overcome by JOY just allow the Holy Spirit to have His way in us. Go for it BE JOYFILLED and the world will see JESUS.

 

Unity in Diversity Part 2

So as we made the point in Part 1 if we are believers in Jesus Christ, we are all born of the same Holy Spirit, so united in our spirit and all part of the Body of Christ

 But we are also very unique, being made in His image, making us the person He wants us to be. We can celebrate our individuality. God doesn't want us to be like everyone else so why do we kick against His pricks to copy those we admire, or feel inferior because we are not the same.

Even Paul and Barnabas had their differences of opinion 'Tempers flared, and they ended up going their separate ways.....' Acts 15:37-41. They were both working for the Kingdom of God, but they saw, at that time, what they felt the Holy Spirit was leading them into individually and they did not agree. They differed on how to go about it. Paul wanted to take Silas but Barnabas 'full of the Holy Spirit and faith' (Acts 11:24), wanted to take John. But according to Paul 'he wasn't about to take along a quitter who as soon as the going got tough, had jumped ship on them in Pamphylia' Acts 15:39 msg. I am sure Paul and Barnabas had not meant to fall out or hurt each other. They had been through so many challenging  experiences together, pointing people to Jesus, setting up churches, surviving persecution. Now they chose to recognise this was not a close friendship at this time but to let it go and move on. Both their priorities was to not hold up God's Kingdom work, but to constantly keep the eternal goal in front of them.

Even Mary and Martha had their differences and built up resentment against each other. Martha even getting Jesus involved in the conflict, (Luke 10:40) but dear Martha, was put in her place very lovingly by Jesus. This hasn't seemed to cause her to change her behaviour at this time,  'There is only one thing worth being concerned about, Mary has discovered it......' Luke 10:42. After Lazarus died and Jesus, Who had waited on God's timing to go to the sisters, Martha is going out to meet Him, but Mary stayed in the house. John 11:20. So had Martha's priorities changed, and was she now thinking like her sister?

As believers we are called to love one another whatever we feel. I can feel wrong and do what is right then I can walk in the Holy Spirit. Then the world knows that Jesus is real and relevant for today. We are even asked to love our enemies and pray for those who spitefully use us, (Matthew 5:44) this is so different from the world, and helps to bring us into unity.

So in the light of what the Holy Spirit is saying to us let us really ask Him to show us where we are NOT united in His way and what He wants us to do about it? We are told if we look into the Word and then do nothing we are fooling ourselves..........James 1:22-25, 

Remember Jesus, He had Judas in His team, He didn't go 'I am not going to hang around with you lot because of that traitor Judas'. He didn't even gossip to His closest disciples about Judas putting his hand into the money purse. He didn't even try to show Judas up by trying to trap him. There must have been so many opportunities for Him to expose Judas's corruption and yet right to the end, He was washing Judas's feet, and sharing the Passover meal, our amazing merciful Jesus gave Judas lots of opportunities to repent. How did Jesus love him so much? He gave us the most amazing example of how to walk in His footsteps on the earth and to have a heart of love for all people, even willing to lay down our time, reputation, money for those we don't even like, just to show Jesus to the world. We can only do that by walking in the Holy Spirit.

Romans 5:5 NLT 'For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love' So let us be proactive in loving with His love and bringing about unity for His Name's sake.
 

Unity in Diversity Part 1.

 All through my Christian life I have felt challenged about the Bible's instructions about being 'united'. I can understand in a small way being 'united with Christ' (Ephesians 1:11) but that is my personal relationship with Jesus that He bought for all people at the Cross. But 'all believers were united in heart and mind.' (Acts 4:32) that is a whole different picture.

What does that look like in my relationships? I recognise that I am the clay and He is the potter (Isaiah 64:8). I understand that our Father chose to make every person unique, He gives me His love for each person He made and wants me to show that love to all. As a parent He wants His children to love one another as He has loved us, John 15:9.

How can we be united in the church, for example, when we can see people across the room who we know haven't talked for months because of an offense. How can we be united when I know someone has judged, I have forgiven them but they find me difficult to be around?

This week when talking to Father about this I was so thrilled to realise that all born again believers are born of the same Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4). Without Him we are not born again or a child of God. It is the Father Who draws us (John 6:44) and it is the Holy Spirit, Who raised Jesus from the dead, Who comes to live in us (Romans 8:11) So we all come under the same Name. But just like children in the same family have the same surname, but can be very different, or like peas in a pod, so it is similar in the Body of Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul describes the variety in Christ's Body so well. 'God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us............. We are one body with many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body....... we all share the same Spirit'.

When I was working as a volunteer in a women's prison doing 'Joy for Life', a lovely girl came up to me prior to the start of class and said she had just become a Christian. She explained that the other Christians, who I knew were about to attend the 'Joy for Life' time, had told her that she couldn't be a Christian as she was a lesbian. After a quick arrow prayer I gave my sister in Christ a big hug and just said to her 'welcome, 

you lesbian, me proud'. We all have stuff to deal with. She went on after six months of attending class to tell me she had broken off her relationship, and after a further six months, to say Father God had shown her she was no longer a lesbian.

Do we expect the believers we mix with to be all in the same mold and anyone slightly different in their beliefs, or actions, or the way they pray, we keep away from? I am learning to not be judgmental of believers who have different ways of doing things or opinions to me. I pray that Father shows me how He sees them and bring my thoughts into line with His love. This is all so exciting, not that we feel so great when seeing people we are not drawn to, but the wonderful Holy Spirit will show us how to love every other person in His Body with His power not our own natural reactions, 1 John 4:7

In Summary - 'Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves His children too' 1 John 5:1

For further study https://www.joyforlife.org/index.php/real-love/

Perfect LOVE drives out fear

A week ago I took a very precious friend to a nearby hospital to have her monthly eye injections following all the guidelines for being a volunteer driver. Having dropped her off I wait in the car park for a couple of hours. I needed a comfort break so walked into the hospital where staff check your temperature and you say your business. I felt as if I was hit by a wall of fear, it was tangible in people's mannerisms and their eyes when we can't see smiles. Even when in the Eastern Block in the Cold War I didn't feel this. I wanted to stop and talk to people about God's amazing love and I felt so sad and more determined than ever to talk about the amazing LOVE we all have poured into our hearts when we choose Jesus as number one.

Fear causes us to say things like 'I could never....... do that,..... go there,..... speak to them..... be any good at......' and the rest! Think about what you declare with your mouth, is it a truth or a lie?

It is hard to talk about LOVE and focus on 'fear' and yet that is the very powerful force that limits love working in our lives and is often at the root of many problems we have.

1 John 4:18-19 'There is no fear in LOVE (dread does not exist). But perfect (complete, full grown) LOVE drives out fear, because fear involves (the expectation of Divine) punishment, so the one who is afraid (of God's Judgement) is not perfected in LOVE (has not grown into a sufficient understanding of God's LOVE). We love, because He first Loved us.'

Fear can be so deep rooted that we respond to situations and don't even know why we react like that. Of course there is the fight or flight automatic reaction which saves us from many dangers. Recently I was about to fall over and the first word out of my mouth was 'Jesus' (not as a swear word) and as I landed on the concrete slabs nothing at all was damaged much to the surprise of all around me. So let us have His Name forefront in our talk.

Fear is a very massive response in most situations today as the TV News is full of horror stories, as is the multimedia. We are in danger of our mind picking up these stories if we do not protect ourselves by speaking His Word out of our mouth as a weapon in this war for our spirit.

FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. So when we get symptoms in our body which we often accept, not recognising them as false evidence from the enemy, then we have a battle on our hands.

But let us focus on His LOVE as the Word says that this is what deals with 'fear'. This LOVE is not a happy feeling it is GOD Himself. Our love is very varied. We use the same word for our children and chocolate. There is no comparison but I believe this verse is not calling for a head response, a knowledge that we have lots of verses to back up that Father loves us. It is not an intellectual relationship, using our brains to prove the point. It is receiving His heart into our heart and allowing Him to give us a new heart and put a new spirit within us. He takes away our heart of stone and we let Him give us a new heart of flesh, that is responsive to His touch. Ezekiel 11:19.

Without a doubt this has been the biggest change in my life this last year. The light bulb moment of recognising that lots of good things I have said about God's love has now dropped from my head to my heart. I no longer need to be driven by activity for acceptance and approval. I can just rest in my LOVE relationship with Him alone and KNOW that just the way I am is just right for HIM and this overwhelms me. All the wasted years striving and manipulating to be loved when I am totally unconditionally loved from the beginning of time. I love the Word far more, I want to spend more time just enjoying Jesus and obey His leading as this is the most exciting life.

The Father's Love Letter says it all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsBhvSMQUk4

If you want to study further look at 'Real Love' in Joy for Life Bible studies looking at the book of 1 John 

Disappointment, Loss and Grief

I went on a course recently about these subjects and was a bit concerned as I am truly feeling so blessed, so happy, so settled and thankful in Jesus. I didn't want anything to upset my equilibrium. On the course we covered most of the manifestations of grief that I experienced, in the form of confusion; unbelief, lots of tears; mood swings; sleeplessness and overwhelming tiredness and a sense of failure. 

We looked at the vicious circle of feeling alone and so withdrawing because of not being sure anyone understands and I can't face anymore hurt. 

Our loss affects us on so many different levels as every one's grief is unique and we need to respect other people's journey. Physically we can have all sorts of symptoms as our body has to express our loss, especially if we are unable to vocalise it. There are so many emotions that I experienced with loss, sadness, regret, anger, disappointment and guilt. People talked to me a lot about finding a new 'normal'. I didn't want any life without Dave. That wasn't 'normal' from my perspective. 

People can say lots of well meaning words and we can so easily get offended. I realised whatever people say can be wrong from my perspective, but I need to see their hearts. I much preferred that to people crossing over the road because they didn't know what to say. When we lost our baby the greatest conversation was with a friend who came and sat in silence beside me and cried. In 2 Corinthians 1:4 'Jesus always comes alongside us to comfort us in every suffering so that we can come alongside those who are in any painful trial. We can bring them this same comfort that God has poured out upon us.' That was definitely my friend's story.

All the disappointments and losses we go through as we give them to Jesus and 'let go' of them daily, allowing Him to heal the deep wounds and turn them for our good. Then Father uses us to comfort others going through a similar situation.

Anyway towards the end of the day on the course we were asked to comment on anything that we had found helpful. A lady made a comment saying that she always 'stood on the Word of God' and she suggested if we did the same then we wouldn't get upset by loss. Well I felt quite offended in my heart and was feeling quite thankful that she wasn't my counsellor. I then started to think that has been my kind of reaction to others pain so often, and I felt convicted by my judgemental, and critical attitude to myself and others. 

The teacher allowed two other guests to share their points. She then picked up on the point given, of the answer is 'to stand on the Word of God'. She pointed out that many can have a very cognitive relationship with God where it is more a cerebral, than a heart relationship. I had this amazing eye watering moment when I realised most of my relationship with Father God had been in my head and studying, not in my heart, so compassion was so far from me when others were suffering. It has also been so hard for me to believe I am loved as I don't match up in my head to my standard of perfection that I see in the Word.

I know a lot of Bible verses but unless I allow these truths to go to the core of my being and let them satisfy my soul, feed me, strengthen me and guide my life they stay in my head. Now I need to have such a close intimate relationship with my Heavenly Father, that as I read the Word it soaks me and transforms me. God has changed my whole perspective on His Love, I can rest in His love.

How I picture this is running up to my Father, jumping on His knee and receiving a wrap around blanket cuddle as He fills my heart with ALL I need. Where all the emptiness has been, He fills me up with Himself and heals all the brokenness. Check out the Japanese art form of mending broken pottery with gold, 'Kintsugi'. and making it more beautiful and valuable than before it was broken. See www.kintsugihope.com in the UK striving to make a difference to peoples mental wellbeing. 

I know this is a journey to walk like Jesus empowered by the Holy Spirit, but I do hope sharing has helped a few people to be really honest about where they stand with Him.

'I hate growing old......'

So many lovely people that I know and don't know have made this comment to me, including my Mum. Since I met Jesus I have always been challenged about how I speak about situations, I haven't always talked right but I am becoming more aware. 

When I worked with Cardiac outpatients who had usually had a heart attack and were young, we always did one session about how they spoke about their heart, their life and their future.

If you say 'I am terrified I am going to have another attack' you become more fearful. Whereas if you say 'my heart is getting stronger each day as I exercise and maintain a healthy lifestyle'. You can help your mind to be more positive just speaking this truth. Proverbs 18:21 'Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who loves its use will eat its fruit' As one commentary says 'So those who enjoy talking, indulging in it, must "eat" its fruit, whether good or bad...... it means accepting the consequences of loving to talk.'

Growing old can be such a blessing, we have excuses for our bad, childish behaviour, we can make people happy by joining with us to laugh, even at ourselves. Last week I put a white load in my washing machine and after about 10 minutes I heard a banging noise in the machine went to check and saw my mobile phone smiling out of the door at me. It took me about another 10 minutes to work out how to open the machine when it is full, even thinking I would phone a friend but realised all my numbers are on the phone. But I remembered my emergency response is 'Praise Him', sung or shouted. So I just kept thanking my wonderful Father for my working phone. After drying it off taking the cover off and receiving the drips out of the orifices it came up with my great screen saver, Dave. I was more than thankful to see my mustard seed faith rewarded. So many got a laugh at my story.

Even when we are telling a story and forgotten the punch line or even worse a joke, why say 'Oh my mind is so slow/ forgetful or even worse, I am so stupid' We used to forget things when we were pregnant and say 'I have water on the brain' or when we were mega stressed at work. 

Let us grow a generation of joy full seniors who love life, have a fantastic listening ear and a heart full of praise, after all on the law of averages we are closer to heaven than the 'young' people around us. Therefore we have so much to be thankful for. Let us use everyday to tell EVERYONE about Almighty, All knowing, All powerful Jesus. All He has done for us recently, even if it is just we are dressed and walked across the room without falling. 

Then let us really work at storing up treasure in eternity. We can't take any of our 'stuff' with us but we can take people, and we can send prayers ahead. So while we are exciting everyone around us with the love of Jesus let us tell them what we have to be so thankful for today.

Does God really love ME?

I love the way the Bible really is living. So I can read something I have read many times before and there is something new. I often think about heaven as I realise that my thoughts are usually stuck in the mud of this world and not focused enough on eternity.

In order to look at the 'joy that is set before me' I love to look at the garden of Eden described in Genesis 2:8-14, as this is God's best plan so I am sure heaven will be something like it. What I saw in the reading this week is the amazing, phenomenal description, that after Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit and realised they were naked, Father God had still gone to meet with them in the garden in the evening breeze. They were hiding from God. Then one of the saddest verses in the Bible, 'God called to the Man: 'Where are you?' Genesis 3:9. God knew exactly where 

Adam and Eve were and what they had done, but He wanted them to own up to Him about their misdemeanor. He wanted to be with them and reassure them. 

But can you imagine God's enormous disappointment. His precious creation, Adam, and then His gift to him in Eve, had gone against the one rule He had asked them to adhere to. All His great plans blown out of the water by one slimy snake. But I am mega grateful that was not the end. BUT GOD knew this would happen so He had a plan which He mentioned in Genesis 3:15. 

The wonderful new point for me in this story is that God wanted to find them that day, and talk to them and fellowship with them. He did not leave them to wallow in their guilt and shame. He was so keen to restore the relationship, there would be consequences of their action, but He would still be there for them both. This is amazing LOVE.

Words cannot describe the enormity of God's reaction to Adam showing us the complete overwhelming unconditional LOVE of our Heavenly Father.

This is so very special for all of us, when we do wrong not only do we avoid facing God but also taking responsibility for the misdemeanor. We put off saying 'sorry', making right what we have done wrong. I must never forget that as soon as I have a wrong thought, action or word, I must run to Him and be completely open and ask for forgiveness and for the free flow of the Holy Spirit through me to return, so I can continue on in His strength which I need moment by moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llab0E7X-CI