Christ, Our Joyful Hope

            Have you had your Joy Juice today?  I HOPE you have! Hope and Joy are connected! 

            Most of us would admit that we have been through periods of time when we have experienced “hopelessness”.  It’s like being in a deep pit and you can’t see the way out.  Despair and anxiety are your constant companions.  It’s not a place we like to visit, much less stay for very long.  But the sad thing is…..many people live there!

            Do you?  Is your life in such turmoil that you stay discouraged and defeated?   How do we “leave that place”?  Even when unexpected, heart-breaking circumstances arise, we do have a choice about whether to “park” and stay there, or ask God to take the wheel and navigate us through, to the next place.

            The choice is between God’s way & our way.  Our way is often filled with hopelessness because we don’t have all the answers.  God’s way is ALWAYS filled with HOPE for HE is ALL KNOWING, ALL POWERFUL and HIS LOVE IS EVERLASTING!

            As the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 33:18:

“Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love”
            Choose today to leave the state of “Hopelessness” and come to live in the place of God’s love…a haven of HOPE and JOY!     
        This is Joyce Ashley of JoyJoy Ministries.  Leave “hopelessness” behind and move forward in Christ, our JOYful HOPE!   

           

Be a "Doer" of Joy in Jesus

            Have you had your Joy Juice today?  Let’s drink it in so that “it may go well with us”, as the Scripture says.

            How diligently do we search the scriptures?  Do we zip through our Bible reading just so that we can check it off our list of “things to do today”?  Or do we even consider that we should be faithful in reading it?  Many times we are distracted and we don’t remember what we’ve read.  There is a huge difference in simply reading the words and meditating on the truth of scripture.

           The Bible says, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15). And in James 1:22 we are admonished to: “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves”. 

            How can we understand and apply the truth of scripture so that we can be “doers of the word”?  First, as we read the Bible, we should consider the context of what we are reading.  Who is the author?  Who is he writing to?  What are the circumstances?

            Studying to show ourselves “approved unto God” involves more than simply learning the facts. Meditation on the text is an important step. We should allow the Holy Spirit to guide us as we study and show us how to apply God’s Word to our daily lives.

            Let’s drink in the Joy Juice of Jesus faithfully as we meditate on the Scripture and become “doers” of His Word.

 

Meditate on the Scriputures...Joyfully!

            Have you had your Joy Juice today?  It’s always fresh and ready.

            In an excellent article on the “Institute in Basic Life Principles” website, the unnamed author most definitely knew a thing or two about meditating on the Word of God.  The article states:

“The words of Scripture are living words. (See Hebrews 4:12.) They contain eternal wisdom held in the shell of human words. God wants us to ‘break open’ these human words and begin to discover the rich wealth of personal application and understanding that they hold. This goal can be accomplished as you memorize and meditate on Scripture.”

In Colossians 3:16, the Apostle Paul said, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom”.  The article lists several keys:

1.      Worship God in your spirit as you quote God’s Word back to Him.

2.      Personalize the passage; turn the Scripture into a first-person prayer back to God.

3.      Give attention to each word of each verse

4.      As you memorize and meditate on a passage, look for Biblical concepts and patterns.

5.      Meditate on God’s Word as you go to sleep each night.

6.      Respond to God as He teaches you. (That’s what leads to genuine joy)

Mediate upon the Scriptures with joy in your heart ….so that they may “dwell in you richly in all wisdom”.