Where to Find Joy
Tell us how you spend your time with God: http://talk.thelife.com/2006/06/22/where-to-find-joy/
Summer will bring changes of some kind for most of us. Life’s changes can be challenging and fun. They can also be demanding and can sometimes deplete our strength. Did you ever notice that when your strength fades often your joy goes with it? Lately I’ve asked God to show me, in a new way, just how His Word works when it says “the joy of the Lord is my strength???. It can sound so trite and religious and I wanted a fresh application of both His joy and His strength in the changes and demands of life.
God usually answers my questions for more understanding right from His Word. I read an old verse and the impact of it hit me with a freshness.
“You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence??? (Psalm 16:11).
Suddenly it was very clear. In God’s presence is where I find joy. Yes, I knew it to be true… but the fresh perspective that I needed was the reminder that this is the very oxygen of my life and must be a high priority.
Spending time in God’s presence… it’s more than the quick nod we often give Him as we hurry on with our day. If I take the time to be with God, His joy will fill me and strengthen me for whatever lay ahead in each new day and new challenge. How does it happen?
God reminded me that just as I scheduled in all my other appointments I needed to schedule in specific times with Him.
In those scheduled times
* I take my coffee and my worship music and often listen to a whole CD… just letting the words of the songs become my prayers and till up the ground in my heart that has become hardened by my busyness.
* I open my Bible and often a devotional book and I ask God to speak to my heart. Being unhurried is so important. Then I listen to the still, small voice in my heart.
* I write down the impressions I receive and I pray. This is not the time I bring all the other requests to God. I pray for me… for forgiveness for the hardened parts I found in my heart, the attitudes or motives that need to go; I pray for the items on my “to do??? list and ask God’s help with them; I talk honestly to Him and tell Him where I feel overwhelmed or insecure and I ask for His strength in my weak areas. I ask for a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit.
Schedule some specific times with God beyond your quick daily devotion. We make time for what is important to us. As you do this you will find the strength you need in your life and new joy will come. Don’t try to live without it!
~Father God,
Thank You for reminding me where I need to go to find strength and new joy. Help me to be determined and tenacious in keeping my times with You protected and high priority. I need You, Lord. I ask this in Jesus’ powerful name, amen.
About the Author
This devotional was written by Gail Rodgers. Learn more about Gail: http://www.talk.thelife.com/authors/gail-rodgers/
Questions
Do I need to schedule some specific time with God to refresh my heart?
What specifics will work for me personally?
Ask God to create such a hunger in your soul for Him that you will be drawn to make the time to be with Him.
Comments
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Related Article
God’s orchard:
http://www.christianwomentoday.com/growth/spiritualfruit.html
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I find joy each Morning when I awake with the Lord nudging me to continue on and to never give up or give in. You see I have a 21 year old son over in Iraq right now and the feeling of having a child there is absoulty undescribable. I have seen on the news so many lives that have been taken and all of the broken homes and I asked the Lord where is the joy in this and he says just trust in me. I then make a choice to surrender to that nudge. I know that as a mother your heart will ache and that is a natural feeling but when God asked you to give it to him and you make the choice to give it to him this is where you will find the peace and joy like I have on so many occassions what an awsome feeling. The Lord showed me some awsome thigs that we take too many things for granted in this country and that I need to count it all a blessing and that he has everything in control. If I will only believe. The Lord also nudges me not to carry that cross of worry, fear and anixiety because its not for me to carry. He died for me so I wouldn’t have to carry all of the crosses (bondage)that we carry. I need to pick up my cross and follow him and I need to carry all of my burdens to him and leave them there and he will do what he promises(take him at his word). God showed me that I need a renewing of my mind and that I should stand on his promises that he has promised us a life and life more abundantly and to count all things as a blessings in the good and the bad!! God revealed something that gave me more Joy and peace Imagineable these soldiers are sacrificeing there lives to free the people and that is exactly what Jesus did for us sacrificed his all to free us from sin and bondage. Ask me where I find my Joy and I will say in the secret hiding place of the Lord all he asked us to do is trust in him. I have to count it all Joy and blessing even though things may come that I don’t understand he says in his word to lean not on your own understanding but trust in him and it is a choice that I make to either trust him or try to do it own my own. I pray that he continues to strengthen me and all the other families that have a family member in Iraq until the Lord says it is enough. The media always plays out how awful it is over there and then I know that this was a sign from God that showed me a diffrent side of the story and it was pictures on an e-mail I received it was just beautiful soliers huddled together praying and holding small children and crying and petting a cat and holding the Iraqi children in there arms smiling and playing with them. I am proud that my son is serving our country and most of all God because he is doing what God has called him to do serve and to free the people. The media will never show these type pictures but God will reveal it in time he is pulling this nation together under God and I will continue to Trust and believe in him. I count it all a joy and where do I find Joy in I my Lord Jesus Christ whom Shed his blood on a cross for me and you. The Lord is my Joy. Be thankful in the good and bad times and he will always give you Joy!! The Lord is my strengh and my hightower in him I will rest and knowing he is in control makes me have all kinds of Joy!! Most of all he God revealed to me that my son is actually his son and he would protect him and guide him because he is his child and also promises me that I am his child and that he loves me and my son and will never leave or forsake me. I don’t know how anyone can go without joy of all that the Lord has done for us and all he continues to do. Just keep on praising him and thanking him even in the bad times.
Terra … although my baby is now 24 years old, I distinctly remember being so overwhelmed during those first few weeks! Then my mother came to visit (she lived about 4 hours away from me back then) .. she cleaned, she cooked .. I got to have a shower! lol … and then she told me something that changed the way I looked at things … I was so consumed with getting “everything done” .. and she told me … “hon, this tiny wee child needs you – all of you, not the part that’s left over after all the cleaning!” So I focused more on spending time with this sweet child whom God had sent to me. We are the same .. we get too busy with ‘life’ things, when we need to stop, rest, and spend more time on God things! I always say … when the dust bunnies have babies, then worry about it! until then .. spend time with that precious baby!
Wow! This message really spoke to me. This morning started off like they have for the last six weeks since having my first child, multitasking just to get things done, including my devotions. I have been so busy feeding, cleaning, changing diapers ( I’m sure a lot of you have been there) that I had lost my joy in the Lord and have let the stresses of this life take over. Thank you for giving me a kick in the rump, and to remember what really matters, the Lord. When we strip away everything else He is still there, and that can give us all joy.
Thank you Gail for this awesome reminder of what we need to intentionally do….to schedule that alone time with God apart from the hurried ‘quiet time’, devotional reading, or even intercessory prayer list…all of which are good in themselves, but which do not allow for that long uninterrupted time with the Lord. The idea of listening to an entire worship CD with your coffee is something I want to put into my schedule! ;-) What a great idea!
“The joy of the Lord is my strength” is what I woke up thinking and praying this morning. I must of thought/repeatedly said it 25 times! Wow, this is confirmation that I need to daily start with the thoughts and words of the bible! My husband told me of changes that will be coming in the next few weeks and months. Last night at church the service was about destiny and God’s plans and purposes for our life. I think about the strength that I need to stay the course, and the joy that I have when I make the choices that are godly! God is so faithful to ME! We are all growing and in some sort of way we are being challenged to be joyful in the changes! God will not give us more than we can handle! Be joyful!
God Bless You Today!
Bema how awesome I praise God for your message. I have been a Christian for 20 years now. I went to bible school for the last 2 years. I have learned so much. One thing I have learned is that you must have balance. Though I was in school and in His word I was searching for an answer to a question for a class. I need to be in His word for questions regarding my life. It like fast food prayers we make them quick and go on. No we need to be still and know He is God. The one and only. I love to do Beth Moore studies that woman get you into the word and your so blessed by it. I also pray for a thrist for His word and sitting with Him. There is nothing like it. I know we all get so busy but a friend of mine said something that change my thinking.
Being Under Satan’s Yoke that is what busy stand for. So I have taken a hard look and said it ALL ABOUT JESUS.
Today’s devotional was right on point. I was just thanking God last night for giving me the joy in my life that I have today. Regardless of my circumstances and the challenges I face in my daily walk I realized none of them can take away the joy that the Lord has given me. The way my joy was found was by spending time with the Lord. Just as Judy said “whenever I find myself slipping away from spending ‘on purpose’ time with God, reading, praying….then things will start to unravel, feeling the effects of stress on the body, mind and spirit.” That is what usually happens to me when I am disconnected from God. I become anxious trying to fix and do everything in my own strength and that is when it seems like my world has turned upside down; however, once I get back in communion with God he restores my life back to order and that is when I realize He is the only one who can help me. Being with God and spending time with Him is the only way you will have true joy regardless what the circumstances are you will have a real peace. So make a commitment and spend time with the Lord; even when I don’t feel like it I do it, you can do it too.
This was what the Lord was saying to me in my own quiet time today. I had been challenged yesterday by thirst of a new Christian to want so much more of the Lord. Had I let my time with Him be another thing crossed off my “to do ” list? I asked him to again make me thirsty for him. To want him with all my being. To worship him again who is my all in all. To go to Him the Rock who is higher than I. There is no better place to be.
What a great reminder … that we need to stop, refresh and find that joy within … just like we exercise our bodies, watch what we eat, we need to exercise our faith. I’ve learned that there are patterns … whenever I find myself slipping away from spending ‘on purpose’ time with God, reading, journalling … then things will start to unravel, feeling the effects of stress on body, mind and spirit. Finding joy is feeling that special connection, to know that the solutions lie in asking for His help and guidance, not trying to figure things out on our own. When you truly know in your heart, in the depths of your being, that He is the only one who can help you solve the problems of your day, if you are prepared to do as He asks .. is reassuring. We don’t always get a simple or easy answer, but it will always be the right one!