Monday, June 18, 2007

Joy, Part 1: "Be joyful always"

At the Ladies Retreat this past weekend, us girls were encouraged to pursue Joy Inexpressible. We learned that not only does our joy serve everyone around us, but, more importantly, it reflects the Gospel with brilliance! Since I am freshly inspired to pursue joy, I thought I'd re-post a five-part series of thoughts I wrote about a year ago on the subject. Here's Part 1.

"Be joyful always." Those are the words we find from the Apostle Paul in I Thessalonians 5:16. It's one of those straightforward commands in Scripture that leave no room for misunderstanding. It's also one that most of us woudn't mind obeying consistently. Who wouldn't want to be joyful all the time?

It's not always that easy. When it comes down to real life and when circumstances don't go our way they can immediately rob us of our joy.
Though fighting for joy is one of the main battles we face as Christians, we've got to remember that we are commanded to be joyful. Obeying takes hard work, but it's rewarding work, and it's worthy of our effort.

Proverbs 17:22 says "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty appealing to me! To have such a joyful heart that it's as "medicine" to my soul and brings glory to God? I want some of that!

-Amber-

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree Amber. Showing joy in difficult circumstances is also an excellent testimony as well.

Jenn Romanski said...

I'm definitely bummed out I missed the conference....but the CD's are supposed to be available soon!

I'm reminded of the steps I walk the children I babysit through.
1. When are you supposed to obey?
The First Time
3. And how do we obey?
With a happy heart!!!!
This often needs to be the conversation between me and God. I should obey fully and immediately the first time, but with JOY!!!

I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of your thoughts on joy!

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