Day 152: Loose Grip on Plans

I recently watched a sermon by one of my favorite speakers, Judah Smith, and something he said changed my perspective on a very familiar scripture, Proverbs 16:9 which reads:

A man’s heart plans his way,

But the Lord directs his steps.

He said, “You are only as surrendered as your next step.” He then goes on to expand on that statement by saying,

“God if this is where you want me to go then this is where I’m going...What if this next step isn’t what I want. What if it’s the loss of what I want to do.” Then he says something amazing, “One of the best things that might happen is we don’t get what we want but what God wants.”

As human beings, and as products of the new generation we have been taught to always have a plan, a plan on where you’re going and you’re going to get there, and I don’t just mean in life. We are told to have backup plans just in case the first one doesn’t work out. We plan out our entire lives, with our schedules and reminders to do things, We make plans with friends and we have to figure out, where we’re meeting, but before that we have to figure out where we’re going, who’s going, and how many are going just in case someone is late. Then we figure out how we’re going to get there and the times we want to meet. Sometimes we go as far as to figure out who will get there first just in case we need to save seats or order appetizers. Then it’s set in stone, we are going to Applebee’s at 7 pm on Friday, one group will get there a 6 in case it’s crowded, and then we will figure out the rest of the night at dinner. We might not have the entire night planned but we have enough to get it started. The rest just might be on impulse, who knows what will happen.

Things go as planned for me about 50% of the time, if that. But I must say that the best and most memorable moments I’ve had is when things don’t go as planned or they just happen spontaneously. My friends and I plan stuff about 25% percent of the time, other times it’s just spontaneous. The thing is when we do make plans and they don’t go how we thought we’re usually cool with it because we weren’t holding so tight to our plans that we objected to them changing.  We might plan to go to Applebee's but end up at the park with pizza and blankets, and end up having a great time. I think you can figure out where I’m going with this.

That’s how it is with God, we make plans and He interrupts them but He will always interrupt them for the better. Now sometimes He will throw an interference when we’re out here planning to do things we know we shouldn’t be doing. But that’s another devo for another day. What I’m saying here is that wherever we are going God directs our steps for us to get there. You ever make a plan and didn’t know where to start, you know where you’re going but you don’t know how you’re going to get there? It’s a great plan but where do you start? God show us those steps, and the path may not look like what we thought it would, where we end up may not be on the vision board, but it will be greater than we ever imagined. God will take us further than we’d ever thought we’d go. We just have to trust the steps He’s telling us to take. We have to know that wherever our foot lands, it’s exactly where God wants us to be.

This doesn't mean that we give up dreaming, or we give up our plans, it means we hold them loosely. It means that we know that things could change and that is okay. Often we end up stagnate or traveling in circles because we are afraid of change. Sometimes interrupted plans are better than the original. We just have to be willing to go with the flow. It’s hard to swim against the current because it’ll keep pushing us back to where we are trying to get away from. It’s pushing us in the direction that it is going in and when we fight against that all we do is exhaust ourselves and end up right back where we started. When God is telling us to go one way and we are set on going the other direction because it’s our plan trust me, we will always end up right where we started going where He originally told us. Sometimes we have to give up our plans, to follow God.

At the end of the day, I want you to know that there is nothing wrong with making plans. There is something wrong with holding on so tight to those plans that not even God can move us. Make plans but grip them loosely and don’t be afraid of change. Don’t write them in ink.

Reflection

1. Do you have plans for where you want your life to go?
2. How tight are you holding on to those plans?
3. If God wanted to erase them and write a new plan, would you be willing to go with it? Really think about this question before answering.

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Talk to Him about your plans and be willing to give them up if He tells you to take a step in the opposite direction.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening, be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 153!

Day 151: The Value of God's Word

Psalms 119:72

The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces

Psalms 119:105

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalms 119:127

Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold.

Psalms 119:130

The unfolding of your word gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

Psalms 119:160

The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

Psalms 119:165

Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.

Psalms 119:103-104

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.

I wish I could just copy all of Psalms 119 and leave it there, but it’s very long and I won’t do that to you. But it is so profound, the person writing this psalms values the word of God and longs to live in it.

Throughout the Psalms you read statements like:

“According to your word”

“Teach me…”

“Lead me…”

“Give me…”

“Incline my heart.”

“Turn my eyes”

“For I trust in your word”

“Meditate on your statutes”

“I promise to keep your words”

“Teach me your statutes”

“I hope in your word”

“All your commandments are true”

The word of God holds so much value, and I believe the author of this Psalm knew that they knew that God’s word is the most valuable thing on this earth. It sustains us, it gives us life, and it shows us how to live. God has given us His word to live by and lean on and to learn how to live. God’s word is so powerful and we know this from the beginning of time. He literally spoke everything into existence.  

There are many creation accounts from different religions, but the Bible has the only account where a God (Our God) speaks things into existence. He spoke the light and the water, the animals, the sea, land, everything was made by the word of God. The only thing made in God’s image was man, He created man in His image. In the New Testament Jesus’ spoke healing, it was by His word that people were healed and forgiven of sin.

One thing I’ve learned from reading Psalm 119 is that there is so much value in the word of God, It is so important to live by the word of God and stand firm on His promises but when we choose to see the value of it and the need for it. We must choose to live for Christ and obey His word.

Creation hasn’t moved since he spoke it into existence

Response/Reflection

There is so much I can say, but I would rather you read it. While reading this passage, I learned so much and had a revelation about the value of God’s word. Today’s devo is a response to what I read. So for today’s reflection I want you to take the time and read Psalms 119 and respond. Then take the time to pray about what you learned.

Day 150: Family Matters

Proverbs 6:20

My son, keep your father’s command

and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

1 John 4:20

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

Psalms 133:31

How good and pleasant it is

when God’s people live together in unity!

Ephesians 6:4

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

I cannot stress how important family is, and how important it should be to us. God values family and he has given us the family we have for a reason. Trust me, I know that many of our families are far from perfect. My family is very far from perfect, but no matter how much we argue or how much they get on my nerves, and sometimes I’d rather not be around some of them, I love them. We are called to love, and the first people we should experience love from is our family. We learn love from our family, and we are brought into the world of chaos and placed into the loving and protecting arms of the parents that God chose for us, that is when we experience love for the first time.

The Scripture tells us over and over to honor our father and mother. It tells us to hold on to the teachings of our mothers and fathers and not to forsake them. The scripture tells our parents to raise us right, to chastise us and teach us how to live. It tells our parents to lead us by example and raise of to basically be good God-fearing people.

I remember going through a time where I abandoned my family to latch on to my “church family”. I neglected my family because I thought I had found something better with my church family. When they all hurt me and abandoned me I turned back to the family that God gave me. I turned to the mother that raised me. I realized that God has given me the family that I have for a reason. He has given me people that will love me unconditionally and wouldn’t walk out on me even when I walked out on them. He gave me a family that will still be there even when I disrespect them. I had to apologize to my family and realize that what I had was enough. I was trying to create this idea of a perfect family and being embarrassed by who I was and who I came from. I learned to love them and realize that God gave me them on purpose.

Today is Memorial day and as many families come together to celebrate or honor a fallen soldier. I want to stress the importance of family and how we must love them beyond all faults. It is a beautiful thing when family comes together as one. God instructs us to love our neighbor, our neighbor is our blood brother and sister, our first and second cousins. We are called to love our family as ourselves as well. As Christians, we often look outside of our family and home base for people to love, but they are right in the next room. They are the families we were born into.

I know that many of us are born into situations that we cannot control and some of us do not have the best life at home. Some of us don’t have the parents to lead and guide us. However, I truly believe that even in that, God is sovereign. God loves you beyond what a parent can and beyond what your family can, and wherever there is a void He will fill it.

One thing I ask of you is, Dare to Love. Dare to love the family members that have abandoned you or hurt you. Dare to love the parent that has walked out on you. Dare to look past their faults and love them. I know I’m asking for a lot but trust me when you choose to love rather than hate you will feel so much better about this life, and the life you are living.

Let me tell you a little story:

There is one side of my family that never really treated my sister and I well. We never understood why all we know is that this is the way we have been treated our entire lives. As we got older we started to lack the ability to care, and slowly we got to a point where if they did not want to have anything to do with us we didn’t want to have anything to do with them. So that’s what we did, we treated them the way they treated us. Recently I have come to the conclusion that no matter how they treated me, I would love them. I decided to let go of everything they have done to me over the years and chose to love them. They ended up reaching out to my sister and I. We came to a conclusion that no matter what, we would love them. That doesn’t mean that we have a great relationship with them, but we are no longer holding anything against them.

What I realized is that, I cannot profess to love God and have a grudge against the people I’m supposed to love. All this to say, over the years God has taught me how important family is and how we neglect to cherish the very people God used to bring us into this world.

So today there will be no questions or prompts, just take the time to love on your family and pray for them. If you are estranged from them, take the srides to make it right. I know it takes time. If you’ve been hurt, ask God to help you with forgiveness. Just remember that God gave you the family He gave you for a reason.

I love you! Have an amazing day or evening and come back tomorrow for Day 151!

Day 149: What Went Down This Week

Now, Sundays are usually our recap days where we talk about what happened this week. We do a little recap in case you missed it or want to go over it again. But today things are going to be a bit different, we're actually not going to recap at all. This week was eye opening for me, I'm not sure if it was for anyone else but I can only speak for myself when I say, sometimes I can get so caught up in this life and what's going on and how hard things are that I forget to see the beauty in it. I have learned to look on the brighter side of things. I've learned to simply enjoy life, not worrying about things that I cannot change or fix. I've learned that as much as God wants us to live a life free of sin and bondage, He also wants us to enjoy every moment of it. So today, take the time to go back and reread whichever devo stood out or spoke to you the most, and then do something today that makes you happy. Whatever it is, if you want to go for a hike do it, have a jam session do it. Just enjoy your day, and be sure to come back tomorrow for day 150! I love you!

Day 148: Misconceptions (Part 6)- Life Is Good/Life is Beautiful

John 8:12

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

When we follow Christ we never have to walk in darkness, not only that but we never have to walk alone. Jesus is literally the light of our lives, we live because He did. We can walk this earth blameless and fearless because He did.

He took away the darkness.

He took away the blame.

He took away the shame.

He took away the fear.

He has given us freedom, peace, love, joy, understanding, courage, love, joy... He has become the light of our world and made our lives so much better. It’s like He came and gave us a makeover. Jesus has provided us with a good life.

The best days I have are the ones when I just sit and enjoy the goodness of God. Meaning that no matter what is going on in my life, no matter what situation I am in, there is always a peace I find in God. I always know that I will be alright because I serve a mighty and awesome God. I have made the choice to always look on the bright side. I give my attention to the good things that are happening in my life, I focus on that and have found that my life is much better than I ever thought. I've learned to see and understand the beauty of life. It is so beautiful that sometimes it seems surreal and brings tears to my eyes.

I am a busybody, I cannot physically sit still, I love adventures. I have a wanderer's heart, for me, there is always something beautiful to place my eyes on. There’s always a green patch of grass in the midst of the desert. This is how I have chosen to view life because I believe it to be true. There is always something good about life. Just because we have bad days and periods of struggling does not mean we have a hard or bad life. I know many of us could fall into that category, I could definitely fall into that category, but why sit in darkness when God has given us light. Why live in fear when God has given us courage. Why sit in our mess and worry about things that we cannot change. Why worry if we are going to pray. Life will pass us by if we sit waiting for things to get better. Things will get better but if we cannot live and enjoy life while we’re in the valley, what will happen when we’re on the mountaintop. We might be in the valley but while we’re down there make the best of it, coming out doesn’t always have to be a story of sorrow. One thing that God has taught me is to enjoy life at every stage. Days are fleeting and passing by, time doesn’t stop, so let’s not waste it.  

I remember having a conversation with one of my best friends and he asked me, “Do you ever feel like you’re just existing?” my response was, “Every day of my life I feel that way.” At that point in my life, I was struggling to find a job and trying to figure out what next steps I wanted to take in my life. I wanted to get a job and make money so that I could live. I only felt alive when I was out in the world doing things when I was shopping or doing things that I felt like I should be doing. But that day I decided that I would not live that way, life is too good to waste. I’ve learned to live life to the fullest whether I have a pocket full of money or two cents in my pocket. My situation does not dictate my life, or who I am. It will be a milestone or a rock on my journey but it will not stop me from living and moving forward. God has given us this awesome journey called life and a gift called living, let’s not waste it waiting on something that we think is coming. Every day we have to get up and live, we are more than just a body with a heartbeat. Even if we have to push ourselves to get out of bed do it. Live, don’t let the days just go by and the next thing you know a whole year has passed and you have nothing to show for it. I truly believe that God has given us this life to truly live.

As this series comes to a close I want to end by bringing it all together. We have to live our lives to the fullest. I believe that God wants us to get as much out of this life as we possibly can. He wants us to have experienced, He wants us to enjoy living, He wants us to more than just exist. He wants us to love and fall in love. He wants us to follow our dreams. He wants us to paint these towns with His love, with our lives. He wants us to leave our mark on this world. He wants to live and enjoy it. That’s what it’s all about. Add some color to your journey.

Response/Reflection

We all have a journey to take and it all looks different for each of us. But if we were to paint our journey on a canvas, what would it look like? Would it be full of color or would it be black and white? Would it be full of decorations and personality? What would it look like?  

Prayer time

Talk to God about your life and what it looks like. Have a conversation with Him, whatever it is you want to say to Him, say it and mean it.

I love you! I hope you have an amazing day or evening. ENJOY YOUR DAY! HAVE FUN! Come back tomorrow for Day 149!

Day 147: Misconceptions (Part 5)- Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously

Micah 6:8

But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don't take yourself too seriously - take God seriously.

Hillsong United recently released a song called ‘Wonder” and when Joel Houston was speaking about writing the song, he said,

“Everyone’s so serious all the time, and the paradox of that is, we have the most serious message there is.”

Have you ever met people who take themselves too seriously, or need to lighten up a bit? I go to an art school, and with the political climate the way it is, it gets very interesting in those hallways and classes. We are artist so we are already a bunch of emotional and passionate people. People can become so uptight about what to say and what not to say or do. I almost feel like I cannot say anything without having someone come at me with political correctness. This idea of always being politically correct and taking ourselves too seriously has taken away comedy, it has taken away joy and replaced it with fear. The fear of offending someone for stating what we believe. It has created this wave of sugar coating due to hypersensitivity.  It has taken humility to arrogance and people who take themselves too seriously think so highly of themselves above others.

We are probably all shaking our heads thinking of someone we know who is like this. Take the time to make sure it’s not you.

I remember when I first became a Christian I took myself soooooooo serious, and anyone who knows me knows that I am a goofy person. I’m like a little kid, I love to make people smile and laugh, I love playing pranks on my friends and family. I was never a serious person all around, I always knew when to turn it on and off. When I became a Christian, for a while that all stopped because I had to take myself serious. I could not be joking around and looking like a sinner. I’m a Christian I have to act as such. I have to grow in my faith there are not time for games and laughing, this is serious. It didn’t make me a better Christian, it just made me a jerk.

-Dyamond

This is the idea that many people have about Christians, we are a serious group of people. We can take ourselves too seriously as we push our faith and want to be known as me and women of God. But the scripture above states, “Don’t take yourself too seriously, take God seriously.”, and that’s what we often miss. We are so busy taking ourselves seriously and trying to prove our Christianity that we forget, it is not about us. It is about God, He is to be taken seriously, His word is to be taken seriously, who are we?

Even Jesus had a sense of humor and didn’t take himself too serious.

In the article, ‘Reclaiming Jesus’ Sense of Humor’, James Martin states:

“For someone in first-century Palestine, the premise (or “setup” as a comic would say) was probably more amusing than the punch line. "The parables were amusing in their exaggeration or hyperbole," Amy-Jill Levine, a New Testament scholar at Vanderbilt University, said in an interview. “The idea that a mustard seed would have sprouted into a big bush that birds would build their nests in would be humorous. People in Jesus’ day would probably have laughed at many of his intentionally funny illustrations: for example, the idea that someone would have lit a lamp and put it under a basket, or that a person would have built a house on sand or that a father would give a child stones instead of bread.”

One of my favorite things about the contemporary church, and it’s pastor’s from Judah Smith, to Carl Lentz, Rich Wilkerson Jr., Robert Madu, Chad Veach, John Gray, Matthew edgar, Ben Houston, Chelsea Smith, Lucille Houston,and so many more is their sense of humor. These are men and women of God who take the word of God so seriously but do not think of themselves as serious as the message of Christ. They tell stories that are often funny that engage us, make us laugh, and get the message across simultaneously. These men and women will make us laugh and also preach a message that will change our lives at the same time. They know that while God has given us the most serious message ever, He also gave us a sense of humor and He has one as well. Everything isn’t all serious all the time. There does not have to be a disconnect. Humor is a part of who we are as humans.

When we take ourselves too seriously we create a disconnect from humanity. We create a divide that separates us from them. We have to lighten up and regain our sense of humor. Sit down our pride and ideas of who we think we are.

Don’t take yourself too seriously it’s not a good look. Plus there’s way too much tension built up in people who take themselves seriously,  Tension and stress cause wrinkles, weight gain, and early aging and I know you don’t want that. At least not yet, let them come when it’s time not a second before. Relax, get you chakras in line and be goofy.

Reflection/Response

1. Are you a person who takes yourself too seriously?
2. How can you change that?
3. Do you take God more serious than you take yourself?

Prayer Time

Allow you answers to the above questions guide your prayer, talk to God about whatever you discovered about yourself today, and remember that God has a sense of humor too.  

Day 146: Misconceptions (Part 4)- Have A Laugh

Ecclesiastes 3:4

“a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;”

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart does good like medicine.

Someone, I’m not sure who, said that laughter is the best medicine and I must agree. There’s nothing quite like a good laugh. Laughter releases stress, improves your mood, boosts immunity and can even relieve pain. We laughed before we spoke. It is proven that laughter burns calories, laughing for 10-15 minutes burn 40 calories. Imagine what an hour of laughter can do for your summer body.😂🙈 Also, it has been proven that couples who laugh together stay together, so find you someone who can make you laugh, laugh with you and pray; you’re destined for eternity! 😜😜Laughter can even cause pain at times, when you laugh so hard you get a cramp in your side or you can’t breathe. I know we’ve all  been there, but those are the best laughs. There’s no laugh like the ones where we can laugh at ourselves.

This week we have been talking about more lighthearted subjects and finding the good moments in our lives and capitalizing on those moments rather than the moments of sorrow in our lives. Laughter is one of those things. Sometimes the best moments are the ones where you just sit around with family and/or friends and just laugh. There is nothing like a good gut wrenching laugh. As the scripture states above, there is a time to laugh. There is always something to smile about especially when you’re around the people you love.

For me that is my family and friends, I come from a family of unemployed comedians, what I mean by that is we are all comedians, but none of us make a living from it. We make each other laugh and we laugh at one another. We all have our own struggles and we go through rough times but when we are all together just talking and laughing, for a moment all the stress and pain goes away. All the frustrations, everything, it goes away. We can even laugh away our pain at times. So much can be healed with laughter, and it’s something that we don’t realize often. If you’re ever full of tension just find something to laugh about and see how you feel after.  

I believe that laughter is a gift from God, and a beautiful gift at that. I truly believe that God has given us laughter for this specific reason. Sometimes we have to forget about all the stress in our lives and the tension and everything going on in our lives and just laugh about it. Sometimes things aren’t even worth our energy we just have to laugh about it. We can laugh at ourselves when we mess up. Sometimes it’s all we can do, all we can do is have a laugh.

God has given us an abundance of joy and I truly believe that we can find more moments of joy in our lives than sorrow. We just have to realize that their will always be room in our hearts for laughter.  We must have people around us that build us spiritually but also know how to laugh with us and enjoy life with us. Whenever I’m having a rough day or even getting angry my friends find a way to make me laugh, they find a way to make me smile even when I’m crying. There is healing in laughter.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond to what we talked about today. Whatever you feel led to pray about today take the time to pray. Today is pretty short and straightforward so just take the time to spend with God and have a laugh.

Day 145: Misconceptions (Part 3)-The "F" Word

Not that F-word the other one. The one not usually associated with Christians…

...Fun.

The other common misconception is that Christians don’t have fun or we are not allowed to have fun. Nowhere in the bible is fun out ruled. I'm pretty sure they were a pretty good time at that wedding reception when Jesus turned water into wine. This is another stereotype that must be broken because when we, Christians, are perceived as people who do not know how to enjoy ourselves it becomes a shocker when we do.

Ecclesiastes 8:15

So I recommend having fun because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun.

When I first became a Christian I was under the impression that I had to give up any and everything that pointed towards fun. If it was fun, I had to cut it from my life. I thought that fun was no longer a factor in my life because I had to be a person of faith. I had to be serious and take myself seriously (we’ll discuss this later in the week). I was literally under the impression that fun equaled sin. Crazy right?! That caused me to isolate myself from things and people because I did not want to be labeled a sinner. It was also my surroundings, everyone in my church was always so serious, people were stone faced, it always seemed like no one liked to laugh. I was surrounded by people who had used Jesus to take the fun out a living. They took away our ability to live a good and joyful life. As we talked about yesterday, there is so much joy in this life of freedom.

Another reason being is, it is almost as if Christians aren’t allowed to have fun. Whenever someone smells fun on us they immediately throw the fact that we are “supposed to be Christian’ in our faces. Why does it have to be this way? We are so quick to strip ourselves and our Christian brothers and sisters of their humanity. We often forget that we are human as do other people who are on the outside looking in. When we strip this humanity from ourselves we forget that we are allowed to the basic human things in life like having fun, going out and enjoying ourselves, or just hanging out with friends. We do not have to sit at a table reading the bible all day. We are allowed to have fun, according to the scripture it is recommended that we have fun.

I believe that many people define fun differently than us, that is why it is so hard to believe that Christians actually enjoy themselves outside of the church. But it’s true, we like to have a good time, and we’re usually the ones to initiate the fun. If you identify having fun with getting drunk or high, or having one night stands, or doing things that are not of God, are you really having a good time? See, we like to have fun but we also want to remember it all the next day.

All this to say, there is no harm is being a Christian and having fun, it means we are living our best life. This life God has given us is precious, enjoy it. We do not have to choose between our faith and enjoying ourselves. We do not have to set our faith aside or feel like we are sinning just because we are enjoying ourselves. If you want to go out with your friends or significant other, do so. Don't waste your life trying so hard not to sin that you miss it. Trust yourself. Know that you can step out and enjoy yourself and there is nothing wrong with that.

Reflection

1. How do you define fun? What is your own personal definition?
2. Do you believe that Christians can have fun without putting their faith to the side?
   
   

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Talk to God about enjoying life.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing Day or evening. Go have some fun today, break the stereotype. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 146 to continue this series!

Day 144: Misconceptions Part Two- The Joy of the Lord

Ecclesiastes 9:7

Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.

Psalm 28:7 “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

There is a common misconception that Christians are not joyous or happy people. One of the reasons being is that as Christians and people of faith, we go through a lot. We struggle through many things and it makes it seem as if there is nothing else to this life we live than struggle and pain. That is so not true. I think another reason we are commonly perceived as unhappy people is that we, this generation specifically, capitalize on the wrong things. For some reason, we find more ‘joy’ in sorrow and pity parties than we do the moments of pure happiness or joy. We have our moment and we’ll post a nice picture with a sunny day but that’s about it but when we truly find our joy in the Lord, it isn’t so fleeting.

As Christians, we tend to talk more about how life is a struggle than how much joy there is to every day that we are alive. We hear sermons about how to get through the hard times, and telling us that the struggle won’t last always. But what about the moments in our lives when we are on the mountaintop? What about the times when we aren’t struggling or going to pure hell. They are not as far apart as one would think. There are many days when we are okay when things are going well and we have no complaints, but we don’t start talking about how our life is going until it’s going bad. That’s when we start to talk about faith in God. We must learn to praise God in every season of our lives. We must know that God intended for us to live a good life, He took our battles and our struggles. We don’t have to deal with them, we just have to live the life He has chosen for us, and every moment is not bad.

Serving Christ is not about struggling or fighting for our lives all the time. There are moments when we have to relax and enjoy His presence. We can find a moment in each day to smile. There is always something to be happy or joyous about. God has given us joy beyond what we can imagine, why do we suppress it in exchange for this idea that Christian are always unhappy. It’s like a battle of the testimonies, everyone wants their sad story to be heard. No one can truly say that they are doing good anymore, there’s always something wrong, something they’re fighting, fending off the enemy and His army. Sometimes the testimony is in professing how good God has been or basking in the joy He has given us.  

We find our joy in the Lord so that no matter where we are in life or what we are going through we will have peace through Jesus Christ. We may struggle but we do not have to walk around defeated. We may have bad days but those bad days do not dictate our entire lives. No one and nothing can take our joy away from us, one of the only ways to lose it is to give it away.

We are children of God, born again through the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We should be some of the joyous and happiest people on the planet.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to think about what we talked about today and respond. Then have a conversation with God, ask Him to give you joy, to restore your joy if you've lost it.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to come back tomorrow for Day 145!