When you are feeling blessed ...
When obstacles appear along your journey ...
In the midst of your storm ...
When you start to feel hopeless ...
When people say you can't ...
When your dreams seem impossible ...
Joy exists a-l-w-a-y-s. Joy exists during good times and challenging times.
Joy is strengthened during our spiritual journey. As we focus on our relationship with God (His divine plan for us, and our obedience to Him), we grow more into our spiritual being and become less focused on worldly entities. As we move toward the spiritual realm, our internal joy increases. We find this feeling of ecstasy in realizing the love and power of God which is available because of our belief in Jesus Christ.
Joy, Joy, Joy in my Heart!
Is there real joy in your heart? If so ... How strong is your joy? How deep is your faith? How convicted are you in you spiritual beliefs? Do you wear your spiritual armor so that the devil cannot steal your joy?
Paul writes in Ephesians 6 that we need to wear the whole armor of God to withstand the schemes of the devil. First this tells us that the devil will try to attack us. Second it tells us that if we stand on God's word (truth) and have faith, we can be strong against the devil's attacks. The joy we have inside, that comes from being filled with God's Holy Spirit, has the strength of God behind it. Psalm 27 says that the Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid". God's power is so awesome that we have no fear on our spiritual journey.
And because of the above we remain grateful to God for his mercy and love in rescuing us from the darkness caused by our sinful ways by sending His son, Jesus, to die on the cross as a living sacrifice (required by Jewish law at the time) so that we may be forgiven and have restored relationship with God. Without Jesus we would be separated from God and probably would have been destroyed. But, Jesus lived and because He lived, we live, we have joy ... and for that we are grateful.
I had a dream and woke up with the question on my mind "What is the difference between being grateful and being thankful?" Of course, this has plagued me for a few days and probably will for a few more. At 4:30am I was online seeking an answer to the questions. Well here is what I discovered thus far:
- Thankful is an appreciation for an event or action; an appreciation that what one hoped for occurred.
- Grateful is an internal expression of thanks.
Some dictionaries expressed no difference in the two words. But when a difference was documented it focused on grateful being an internal expression. So, to me, being grateful is a stronger, emotional response and comes from deep within. Grateful is an expression which to me implies action.
We are grateful to God for his blessings. We testify that we never would have made it without Him; where would we be without Him; 'it' could have been me without Him. When we are grateful we should have a testimony as an expression of our thanks for God's love and care. Our testimony may be expressed through the use of our gifts in song, writing, acting, etc. to spread the word of God's goodness. Our gratefulness may be observed in the joy exhibited in the way we walk, talk and respond along our journey.
Because we have joy, we are more than thankful, we are grateful. We understand that we don't walk alone. We understand that God takes care of us. We understand that we are powerless. We understand that God gives us wisdom. We understand that because of His love for us, we live through Jesus Christ. We are grateful and we yield to His understanding and trust in the Lord for all things. Nothing is impossible for God!
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Today Dear Lord, we thank you for your love and mercy that saved us even before we confessed our love for you, in the name of Jesus. We can look back in our lives and see that we were protected from many situations. We were diverted from danger. We realize that it was because of You that we came through situations; that we recovered from illness; that we rebounded from job loss; that we succeeded when we were expected to fail; that we survived when our loved ones deserted us. It is because of You that many of us are here today. We thank you. Thank you for opening our spiritual eyes to see your works all around us. Thank you for keeping us strong to hold onto our joy when the devil tries to snatch it away. Thank you Lord. Help us to continue to grow in knowledge of your Word and its application to life. Help us to grow spiritually and be filled more with your Holy Spirit and less of the world. Help us to understand your plan for us individually and collectively. And help us to continue to be grateful for Jesus and the relationship we have with you. We submit these requests in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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