Devotional Thought
|
|
|
God Is Joy
John 15:11 “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” If I were to ask you to list some words that describe God, what words would you say? Would you say He is strong? Powerful? All-knowing? Justice-seeking? What about joyful? Would you say that God exemplifies joy? Unfortunately, most of us don’t initially think of joy as a word to describe God. On the contrary, many people think God is sitting up in heaven waiting to punish them. Just as soon as you make a mistake, there He is about to thump you on the head and getting you for messing up! In the Old Testament book, Zephaniah, God encourages us saying, “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17). The word “delight” in that verse literally means to jump up and down. Think about this, God is a God of joy, so much so that He is jumping up and down, ecstatic, elated, excited that we are His children. The Lord models joy for us in this way and so many other ways as well, so let us make the decision to be joyful as He has shown us. Remember, joy doesn’t come from your circumstances. Joy is an inside job! Think about it; It comes from knowing that God is over your circumstances. In grief, there’s God. In loss, there is the Lord. In suffering, there is the Savior. Happiness gets its root meaning from happening, if the right things aren’t happening, then there is no happiness. Happiness is outward while Joy is inward. Again Joy is an inside job. He lives inside us. So let’s all rejoice! 🙏 Dear Lord, thank you for modeling what it looks like to be joyful. How grateful I am that you are so filled with joy and excitement by the fact that I am your child. Help me to see you as a joy- filled God, rather than a God who is waiting for me to make a mistake. I pray that your grace and mercy would be something I would never take for granted. I love you and I’m thankful today that you love me. [In Jesus name,] Amen. ~ Bro Curtis Looking Forward Titus 2:14 Finally got [it finished]. We had some type of hiccup and trying to get this "Devotional Thought" was a real chore. But, finally, here it is. Enjoy. Be Joyful. |
