Be Joy-Full

Baby steps towards the better leads towards your best. Press through in Joy and see the beauty of its finished purpose. Rest in His love as you move, and do not give into fear. Flow in His peace and rejoice in the details that are forming. 

Closer and closer you are moving towards your time of exposure and ministry. Stay close to Him in the mundane and He will fill your heart with love and purpose. Enjoy the journey and savor the minutes of this miracle life you live. 

Savor and see the people through the eyes of His love.  Speak ‘sincere love’ over their dry ground and see the life come forth!  You are a life-giving vessel, created to expand His glory and bring LIGHT and LIFE to those trapped in darkness and lies. 

[Troi Nelson Cockayne]

2 Corinthians 3:18 ... But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Ephesians 5:8 ... For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: ❤

"Treasure"

Where your pleasure is, there is your treasure; Where your treasure is, there is your heart; Where your heart is, there is your happiness. 

[Augustine]

Matthew 6:19-21 ... Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

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"The Joy"

When the Christian has passed the valley of life, and is done with mortal care and grief, the Savior will welcome him home to glory with this joyful invitation, "Enter into the joy of your Lord." Then begins the heavenly joy of the believer. He rests with Jesus and enters into the joy of his Lord. And what is this joy? What is there about it that is so attractive? It is a joy unspeakable and full of glory. The pen cannot describe it, nor the tongue declare it. It is the joy of being with Christ, the joy of possessing the heavenly inheritance, a fullness of joy. 

The joy of heaven is full, satisfying, and eternal. It is ecstatic joy. It transports the ransomed soul with ineffable delights! This joy is to be found in the blissful presence of Christ. Blessed Jesus! You are the source and center of heavenly joy. Enable me to fix my heart upon you. Bestow upon me, your unworthy servant, the joys of your salvation. Let me not wander one moment from the path of life. Guide me safely through the wilderness, over Jordan, until, landed on Canaan's happy shores, I see you face to face, and in your presence, taste, through eternal ages, the joys of a redeemed soul. "In your presence," cries the Psalmist, "is fullness of joy." 

There is an abundance to lift every soul. There will be no lack of joy in heaven. The saints will always "be joyful in glory." How ravishing will be the joys of the redeemed in the mansions of glory! What ineffable joy will fill the soul of the believer, when he sits down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of God when he reigns with Immanuel on his throne when he views all heaven's bliss as his! Amid such joys as these, surely his enraptured soul must be lost in wonder, love, and praise. 

But the joy of the glorified saint in the presence of Christ is beyond human comprehension or knowledge. 

[David Harsha] 

Psalm 16:11 ... Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

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The Joy of Our Soul.

Christ became to us the Joy of Our Souls. Home, friends, health, wealth, comforts all lost their 'luster' that day when He saved us, just as stars are hidden by the light of the sun. 

 [Charles H. Spurgeon]

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Nehemiah 8:10 ... Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Isaiah 61:3 ... To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

1 Thessalonians 1:6 ... And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost. ❤

But Rejoice!!

The deeper our troubles, the louder our thanks to God ought to be. Our hardships cannot destroy the melody of our praise; we count them to be the bass harmony of our life’s song, “He has done great things for us, and we are glad."

[Charles Spurgeon]

1 Peter 4:13 ... But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. ❤

Rejoice!!

Rejoice, Rejoice, Rejoice.

Luke 1:41-44 ... And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:  And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.  And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. ❤

Supernatural Wings

Set apart unto Him your fears and concerns. Cast them into His hands and He will give you His perfect peace. Release the worm-like ways of man and soak in the Supernatural wisdom that only comes from His Spirit. Come away from the current of the world and the madness of natural man that has lost its Shepherd. See the Supernatural details of what the LORD will show you. Follow His lead and He will highlight the next steps. Flow with wide open confidence that He loves you and see your needs. Allow Him to show you what’s truly important and release your fears. Never leave the light of worship and thanksgiving, and your Joy will be full. 

[Troi Nelson Cockayne] 

Philippians 4:6-7 ... Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Psalm 100:4 ...  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. ❤

New Joy!!

John 2:3 ... And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.

This incident is a very fitting illustration of the failure of all this world's joys. The wine ran out at a wedding-feast. There was not enough of it to last through to the end of the feast. It is just so with all earth's pleasures. It comes in cups not in fountains; and the supply is limited and soon exhausted. It is especially so with sin's pleasures. The prodigal son soon ran out of money, and began to be in need.   A poet compared the pleasures of sin to a snowflake on the river, "a moment white then gone forever!" 

But it is true in a sense also of pure earthly pleasures. Even the sweetness of human love is but a cupful, which will not last forever. The joy which so fills us today, tomorrow is changed to sorrow. Amid the gladness of the marriage altar there is the knell of the end, in the words "until death do us part." One of every two friends must hold the other's hand in farewell at the edge of the valley of the shadow of death and must stand by the other's grave, and walk alone for part of the way. The best wine of earthly life and of love, will fail. If there were nothing better in this world, how sad it would be! But it is here that we see the glory of Christ's gospel. When earth's wine fails Jesus comes, and gives Heaven's wine to supply the lack. 

How beautiful and how true is the picture here: the failing wine, and then Jesus coming with power and supplying the need! That is what He is doing continually. He takes lives which have drained their last drop of earthly gladness and He satisfies them with spiritual good and blessing, so that they need nothing more. When human joy fails Jesus gives new joy, better than the world's, and in unfailing abundance! How sad it is for those who have not taken Christ into their lives, and who have nothing but the empty cup when earth's wine runs out! 

[J. R. Miller] 

Psalm 145:16 ... Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

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Growing Process

You have been in a season of learning and growing. He has been preparing you for what is to come. Your ability to effectively communicate the message He is sending you to speak comes from His Spirit, but is sanctified, clarified and matured by a growing process. See and understand the process and be encouraged by the beautiful pieces. 

Just like fruit on a tree that forms, it is best picked when the time is ripe and the fruit is ready and mature. Your time is set apart and protected. Your divine design is unique. You have much to be encouraged by. Continue growing in the excellent direction the LORD is calling you in. Stay in the creative pocket of His presence. You are His creative hands, and just as Noah and his family moved in their purpose, continue to move in yours. 

As He has said before, ‘When it’s time, I will send water’. Surround yourself with encouraging thoughts, they make better life companions. Never start your day without your heart being filled with encouragement, vision, Joy and Hope. 

[Troi Nelson Cockayne]

Genesis 1:11 ... And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

John 15:8 ...  Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

John 15:15 ... Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. ❤

Return To God!

When we find ourselves depressed, down, irritated, annoyed, or otherwise unhappy, we need to return to the source of our joy, and then we will see those circumstances that are sapping our joy in perspective. The circumstances of this life will pale into insignificance when compared to that which we have received from God. 

 [R.C. Sproul]

 

Zechariah 1:3 ... Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.

Joel 2:13 ...  And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

1 Peter 2:25 ... For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.❤ 

Christian Life.

God intends the Christian life to be a life of joy not drudgery. The idea that holiness is associated with a dour disposition is a caricature of the worst sort. In fact, just the opposite is true. Only those who walk in holiness experience true joy. 

[Jerry Bridges]

Romans 6:22 ...  But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

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The Religion of Joy

The religion of Christ is the religion of joy. Christ came to take away our sins, to roll off our curse, to unbind our chains, to open our prison house, to cancel our debt; in a word, to give us the" oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." Is not this joy? Where can we find a joy so real, so deep, so pure, so lasting? There is every element of joy, deep, ecstatic, satisfying, sanctifying joy in the gospel of Christ. The believer in Jesus is essentially a happy man.

The child of God is, from necessity, a joyful man. His sins are forgiven, his soul is justified, his person is adopted, his trials are blessings, his conflicts are victories, his death is immortality, his future is a heaven of inconceivable, unthought-of, untold, and endless blessedness. With such a God, such a Savior, and such a hope, is he not, ought he not, to be a joyful man?

[Octavius Winslow ]

Psalm 5:11 ... But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. ❤

Glory...

Glory follows afflictions, not as the day follows the night but as the spring follows the winter; for the winter prepares the earth for the spring, so do afflictions sanctified prepare the soul for glory.

[Richard Sibbes]

1 Peter 4:13 ...  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

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Rejoicing Hope.

Hope fills the afflicted soul with such inward joy and consolation, that it can laugh while tears are in the eye, sigh and sing all in a breath; it is called "The rejoicing of hope."

[William Gurnall]

Romans 15:13 ... Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. ❤

Grateful Heart

The grateful heart that springs forth in joy is not acquired in a moment; it is the fruit of a thousand choices.

[Nancy Leigh DeMoss]

 

Psalm 138:1 ... I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee. ❤

Our Source

When we find ourselves depressed, down, irritated, annoyed, or otherwise unhappy, we need to return to the source of our joy, and then we will see those circumstances that are sapping our joy in perspective. The circumstances of this life will pale into insignificance when compared to that which we have received from God.

[R.C. Sproul]

 

Philippians 4:7 ...  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.❤

Glory of A Christian

When a Christian can walk in the midst of fiery trials, without his garments being singed, and has comfort and joy in the midst of everything (when like Paul in the stocks he can sing, which wrought upon the jailor) it will convince men, when they see the power of grace in the midst of afflictions. When they can behave themselves in a gracious and holy manner in such afflictions as would make others roar: Oh, this is the glory of a Christian.

[Jeremiah Burroughs] 

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1 Peter 1:7 … That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

1 Peter 4:12-13 … Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

James 1:2-3 … My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.❤

Lasting Joy

The pleasure and sweetness which follow victory over sin, is a thousand times beyond that seeming sweetness which is in the gratifying of sin. The joy which attends the subduing of sin is a noble joy, a pure joy, a special joy, an increasing joy, and a lasting joy.

[Thomas Brooks]

1 Corinthians 15:57 … But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.❤

All Honey Would Harm Us!

Our mourning shall last but until morning.

God will turn our winter's night, into a summer's day, our sighing, into singing,

our grief, into gladness, our mourning, into music, our bitter, into sweet, our wilderness, into a paradise.

The life of a Christian is filled up with interchanges of sickness, and health, weakness, and strength, want, and wealth, disgrace, and honor,  crosses, and comforts, miseries, and mercies, joys, and sorrows, mirth, and mourning.

All honey would harm us, and all wormwood would undo us; a composition of both is the best way to keep our souls in a healthy constitution. It is best and most for the health of the soul that the warm south wind of mercy, and the cold north wind of adversity both blow upon it. And though every wind which blows, shall blow good to the saints; yet certainly their sins die most, and their graces thrive best, when they are under the frigid, drying, nipping north wind of calamity as well as under the warm, nourishing south wind of mercy and prosperity.

[Thomas Brooks]

Psalm 30:5 … For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.❤

Flood of Bliss

All at once I find myself in an unbounded flood of bliss, a spacious sea of glory lost in wonder amidst ineffable delights, and transported with the raptures of seraphic harmony! While all His saints rejoice in His excellent glory what ardor glows in every soul, and what rapture swells in every song! O the wondrous displays of His perfections the manifestations of His goodness, the outlettings of His love!

Here we received out of His fullness grace upon grace. and glory upon glory. Our heavenly possession is worthy of our liberal Giver. We have a kingdom which cannot be moved, an undefiled inheritance, which does not fade away, a city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God, garments of glory, a crown of righteousness, the tree of life to feed upon, the fountain of life to drink of, the garden of God to walk in, life above the reach of death, health secured from sickness, eternal pleasure without pain!

Our bodies are immortal, our souls are immaculate, our senses are sanctified, our conceptions are spiritualized, our faculties are enlarged, and our whole soul is glorious!  Our past bliss is with us in the sweet remembrance, our present bliss enchants us in the enjoyment, and our future bliss is present with us in the full assurance of our eternal felicity.   Thus we are forever blessed to the highest degree. We are above all fear, beyond anxiety and doubt, and fixed above all change!  Our service is sincere, our adorations are ardent, our knowledge is profound and satisfying.  Rapture rushes in at every part!

Our eyes are ravished with seeing the King in His beauty; our ears are ravished with hearing the songs of the inner temple; our nostrils are ravished with the fragrance of the Rose of Sharon, the plant of renown;  our feet are ravished with standing in His holy place;  our hands are ravished with handling of the word of life; and  our mouths are ravished with the wine of our Beloved, which goes down sweetly causing our souls to shout aloud, and our lips to sing and never cease.  Our experience of His fullness, our vision of His perfections and glory constitute our most exalted bliss, and are the heaven of heavens!

O what torrents of eternal love teem from the glorious throne into our souls! O the pleasure that is in His presence! O the exuberant rivers of joy that flow at His right hand!

O love! never to be forgotten which has brought me safely through so many winding labyrinths and crooked paths, in sight of so many enemies, in spite of a tempting devil, the accusations of my sins, the rebellion of my lusts, the carnality of my affections, and the weakness of all my graces to dwell at last forever in heavenly bliss!

O eternity! Once the comfort of our longing expectations now the transport of our enlarged souls! For we are forever with the Lord, beholding His unclouded face, wearing His divine name, drinking at the streams of His pleasures, eating of His hidden manna, sitting beneath the Tree of Life, basking under the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, singing hallelujahs to Him who loved us, who washed us from our sins in His blood, and brought us here to be with Him forever!

O state of complete happiness and consummate bliss!

[James Meikle]

Psalm 16:11 … Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

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