"Teach Me Your (JOYful) Decrees"

Have you had your JOY JUICE today?  It’s a great way to start the New Year!

            None of us knows what this year will bring.  Hopefully, we’ll have many happy times, filled with laughter and joy.  Odds are, we will experience some tough times, too.  Some “bumps in the road” and difficult times when we are stressed and stretched.

            Regardless of what the new year brings, I whole-hearted believe that we’ll get through the hard times much better if we’ll rely on the Lord and ask for His guidance.  If you’ve not already done so, a good New Year’s resolution would be to lean more heavily on God and less on yourself.  Listen to the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 119:33-37.

Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end.

Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.

Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.

Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.

Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.

            Let’s determine to be diligent about making this our prayer throughout the new year. We might be really amazed by the difference it will make in our lives. The closer we are to God, the sweeter that JOY JUICE becomes.  And the great thing about the JOY JUICE that comes from “joy in the Lord”….it has NO CALORIES!  So no New Year’s resolution needed about cutting back on that glorious treat!

           My prayer for you is that God will give you abundant joy in this new year….even in the midst of troubling times….because of your growing relationship with Him.