Tag: joy

Positive Purpose

Others are enriched while we ourselves find peace and joy and the purposes of our lives.

Meditation Thought: “ but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. (1 Thessalonians 2:4)

We who acknowledge God the Father as the top authority over us must act to please Him first, others afterward.

As we are faithful and fruitful in a little, so God entrusts us with more. To the extent we are constantly moving toward successful completion of our tasks for Him, to that extent are we pleased and rewarded by “positive feedback” from our Father. This in turn spurs us on to greater efforts, and all benefit – God’s will is done and His love and Word expanded in the world, and others are enriched, while we ourselves find peace and joy and the purposes of our lives.

Over. Come.

The evil says “come”  the Lord says “come”. We must decide where to go.

Meditation Thought: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)

Overcome: Over. Come: “over” implies a movement upward – we move “up” to God’s higher methods, more effective methods, when we consult Him. “Come” – implies the invitation to movement. The evil says “come”  the Lord says “come”. We must decide where to go.

We have our “manual” – all we need to do is to consult it, to determine which destination we must choose. Good is always concerned with love, with peace, with joy, with giving – evil is always concerned with malice, with conflict, with envy, with taking.

 

Presence = Fullness of Joy

When I am concentrating on being where You are, then no matter what scene You are in, and I am in with you, I am content – fulfilled.

Meditation Thought: “Thou dost show me the path of life;
    in thy presence there is fullness of joy,
    in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.” (Psalm 16:11)

“In thy presence there is fullness of joy” – in thy presence  – when I am concentrating on being where You are, then no matter what scene You are in, and I am in with you, I am content – fulfilled. For it is not the place, the action, that is important to my life – it is the Presence – the Presences that:
assures me of total confidence,
shields me from harm,
brings me joy,
raises my hope,
delights me,
excites me,
relieves boredom,
surrounds me with love so powerful that all else pales beside it,
being as nothing as I bask in the closeness of My Lord’s Presence and all that Presence brings to me. It satisfies every need, every desire – even those I was unaware that I had until after they have been fulfilled.

A Future of Good Return

…the present determines the character of the future.

Meditation Thought: “…if the householder had known in which part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and not let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Matthew 24:43,44)

You must anticipate the future, realizing that the present determines the character of the future. This will give you strength to conduct yourself as you ought, even when the required behavior is not to your liking at the moment. Not all moments will be “sacrificial” moments – in fact, as you come to rejoice in the perceiving and doing of the will of the Father, more and more activities will be joyful, and fewer and fewer perceived as sacrificial. It is this change in perception that is the moving of the kingdom upon the earth. It comes only by discipline and sacrifice of selfish desires – but the rewards of the discipline and sacrifice are as bountiful as the promised “hundred fold” harvest. It is this knowledge which gives you courage to labor for the moment, particularly when the labor is not to your liking.

The times of reaping the harvest – the unfathomable joy of actually having the promised return, will be carried in your memory as your tools to make the labor easier during the “tilling” times.

The more you experience in planting, tilling and harvesting – whatever area (field) it is in, the greater your wisdom and knowledge is to prompt a bountiful harvest.

This is consistent with the rewards of using whatever “talents” are provided int the most productive ways possible, and also the more provided, the more required. Each portion is either multiplied or not, and the more portions the more dramatic the contrast of results. The “Son of man coming at an hour you do not expect” compares to the owner of the fields checking out the status of your care of them. You cannot “set up” a good appearance for the “inspection” because you have no notice of the inspection time. Therefore, care must be constant and inspection will always reveal good care of the field because good care never ceases, when the laborer is as concerned about the harvest as the owner.

IT is the laborer who realizes that the owner will share the harvest with him who is able to be motivated to do a good job. If he is lazy he eventually cheats himself. It is those who will remove concentration from self alone who will know this, and thus use the present to provide a future of good return for themselves.

Go; be it done for you as you have believed.

I respond because I love you as the Father has loved Me. I respond to give glory to the Father. I respond to liberate you from your prison of self-incarceration.

“Jesus said, ‘Go; be it done for you as you have believed.'” (Matthew 8:13)

You believe in My integrity, in My power, in My desire to heal, to do good for you, to you, and for all who believe that I have the power to do these things. And I shall heal, I shall do good, I shall respond to your faith.

Do I respond to impress you with My power? Do I respond to receive your applause? No – I respond because I love you as the Father has loved Me. I respond to give glory to the Father. I respond to liberate you from your prison of self-incarceration. Self incarceration: It is the concentration on self which holds you bound within yourself –  and within yourself alone is very little wisdom or power or knowledge or generosity or mercy or kindness or righteousness. There is however, within yourself a longing to obtain these things: and so you shall obtain them – by trusting me enough to follow me out of the prison door when I open it for you in response to your cry for help. It is at the moment your recognize that your self is insufficient to fulfill your needs that I come to release you.

What an exciting, beautiful joy-giving world awaits you when you follow Me! I must teach you a new Way to live outside of prison: here must you discipline yourself, must you give of yourself, must you humble yourself – this is the pattern necessary to cut out the fabric of faith. And when you have been clothed in your new garment of faith, you shall be seen by yourself, by your God and by all who know you as a different person than the one who was in prison and clothed in unbelief. You have exchanged the convicted’s garment for the garment of a princess: but not due to your power. You have been freed, and given authority because you have humbled yourself and exalted your God through recognizing Him as Lord of your life gladly, with a profound sense of relief.

There is provision for all good things: for choice, for variety, for initiative, for response, for unity, for fulfillment.

You, my beloved,
I seek for my own:
When you see me
as I am – (not with you in your prison)-
But freely moving
With you by my side
In the wide, wide world, –
If you believe your eyes,
If you hear My Word,
If you imitate My acts,
You shall hear,
As do all who believe in me:
“Go, be it done for you as you have believed.”

 

A Joyful Harvest Indeed!

Meditation Thought: “No human being can tame the tongue.” (James 3:8)

The tongue is tamed only by the Spirit – and an untamed tongue causes all kinds of mischief, even disasters.

The tongue is so powerful because it is the expression of the innermost thoughts. Our reactions to each other’s influence are more often a result of the working of the tongue than anything else. Thus the tongue holds the power to encourage, to commend, to give delight, to cause joy and laughter – or to condemn others to discouragement, guilt, resentment, bitterness.

Without the indwelling Spirit in control of our tongue, it can run on rampages, destroying everything in its path.

But the Spirit-controlled tongue produces the fruits of the Spirit – a joyful harvest indeed!

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