We pray this in order that
you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing
fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened
with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great
endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has
qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of
light. Colossians 1:10-12
I know that there is
nothing better for us than to be happy and do good while we live. Ecclesiastes 3:12
Someone once told me that there is no such thing as an 'unhappy
Christian' because we are definitely on the winning team in the battle between
Good and Evil…Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection have already
conquered evil for the rest of eternity.
Galatians 5: 22 But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.
We think of joy as an emotion but in fact joy is a choice we make.
We choose to either see the glass half full or half empty … on a trip, we are
halfway from the start or halfway from our destination. Always remember that
hope is right around the corner. If we have hope and experience the presence of
Jesus Christ in our life, then we have chosen joy!
Don’t forget that joy is not merely a suggestion. Joy is God’s will for us all of the
time – including in the place and time of great and difficult trials. This
raises the important question: how can we rejoice when the darkness of our
circumstances or our trials will not go away? As with every other battle of the
Christian life, we cannot win the fight for joy in our own strength. Joy is a
supernatural fruit of the Spirit. It will grow more and more as we ask God to
help us conquer our fears and overcome our difficult times. We need to rely
totally upon Jesus.
Father, above all else today, we choose to be joyful. We also
commit ourselves to pray throughout the day with Jesus by our side. And Father,
today I will deliberately be conscious of giving you thanks in all my
circumstances. Please help us to do this, we pray in Jesus Name. AMEN
Everything that we
do…needs to be preceded, supported, and followed up by prayer.
The
issue is NOT so much…when we pray, how we pray, what
we pray for…instead it is WHY we pray. The reason we pray should always be
based on our love for God or on our love for each other. What we ask for should
NEVER be based on pride, revenge, hatred, jealousy, etc.
REMEMBER: If you do not have
the time to pray quietly at least 30 minutes everyday, then you should pray for
at least 1 hr every day.
The
greatest joy in the world is to know that you are
right with God…that your sins are forgiven and that your sins have been washed
away by the blood shed by Jesus. Please close your eyes and join me in this
small prayer. Please put your hand on your heart.
You can pass out of darkness
into light, out of death into life by simply making Jesus the Lord of your
life. Oh God, I know that I need you. I know I am a sinner and without Jesus I
am lost. Jesus, I want you to come into my heart and I want you to save me. Right
now, I make you the Lord of my life.
“All things
work together for good for those who love God and trust in Him."
God's
plan for you may involve some difficult moments and
experiences, you need to be very patient, you need to trust that God loves you
and wants the best for you and that eventually, all things will work out for
the best (no matter how bad things seem to be at the moment). God wants us to surrender to Jesus, our Savior.
"Be
still and know that I am God" ... "My ways are not your ways"
We trust and believe that God's plan (His will) will bring about
the best for all of our lives. Let's decide to choose God's plan ... we need to
put our plans aside ... loosen our grip and break free of 'old' ways ... then,
we need to get ready for many great and wonderful things from our loving
Father...in the Name of Jesus Christ.
"The
truth will set you free."
“The truth
will bring you peace and joy”
GOD HEARS YOUR PRAYER
God definitely hears
your cry!
No more suffering!
It has been too long,
your time of joy has come.
God wants you to be full of joy and peace.
As you give yourself over to Him,
He will fill you with so much joy
that it will be running over in your life.
The greatest joy in the world is not
the joy of acceptance or having possessions.
These things are only temporary
and eventually, they bring us right back
to where we started.
The greatest joy in the world is realizing
that you are truly loved by God,
no matter what you have ever done
and no matter what you will ever do.
In the same way that we trim away
dead or unhealthy branches from a tree
so it can grow to be strong, beautiful and healthy,
God does the same with us.
The trimming will be very painful,
extremely sad, unexplainable at times
and very disappointing, but eventually,
the end result is amazing and your health
and beauty (inside and out) will overflow
with so much joy and peace.
IMAGINE THIS . . .
Imagine you are in the ocean fighting the waves and in
danger of drowning.
Imagine someone comes in a lifeboat to save you and to pull you
out to safety.
Imagine ocean creatures that have a hold on you, won't let go and
keep pulling you down.
Imagine you are holding a very heavy bag of 'treasures', that
makes it impossible to pull you out of the water but you won't let go of it.
WHAT IS PULLING YOU DOWN THAT WON'T LET
GO OF YOU?
"...and deliver us from
evil..."
WHAT 'TREASURES' ARE YOU HOLDING ON TO?
"resist evil and it will
depart"
WHAT WOULD EVER ENTICE YOU TO DIVE BACK
INTO THAT DANGEROUS OCEAN?
"...lead us not into
temptation..."
Father, above all else today, we choose to be joyful. We also
commit ourselves to pray throughout the day with Jesus by our side. And Father,
today I will deliberately be conscious of giving you thanks in all my
circumstances. Please help us to do this, we pray in Jesus name. AMEN
Faith is being sure of what we
hope for and certain of what we do not see.
We live by faith not by sight.
"So if GOD TELLS US he's
working everything out for our good, and we see everything go wrong, our faith will grow when we stand firm on God's Word and promises. We must thank Him and trust Him about everything that is
happening."