|
Greetings!
"Take Jesus, the greatest giver of happiness the world has ever known,
into your heart. His presence in your life will bring you joy and happiness."
- Norman Vincent Peale
What is joy - such a question to ask!
I often begin to question joy when my inner peace is disrupted with unexpected outside events that may generate negative emotions I'm just not used to. Has this happened to you lately?
The key to joy is to quickly turn those negative emotions into positive ones for an attitude of living joyously. If we lose that, we lose our peace and thus risk losing our joy. You may have heard this before - don't give your joy away! Know the presence of the Lord can fill you with joy!
"You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence." - Acts 2:28
We have ability to reach for the nearness of the Lord and we can cleanse and purify to know pure joy. What brings you joy? Do you know? Make a list right now! Knowing that God is within you meeting your every need and answering your every prayer is a good place to start.
Sometimes joy is expressed as love written, a song sung, a prayer, an embrace, a smile, a gesture, a feeling and at its very best - our pure connection with God.
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. - Job 8:21
Don't hold back. Shout out your love and bring someone joy! Shout out your happiness and share the joy in your heart! Shout out the word of the Lord and bring peace and joy to others!
A generous heart brings joy. Be generous. The feeling of giving of our time and helping someone else through their own trials is way better than being steeped in our own temporary self centeredness. Even as simple as letting someone ahead of you in the grocery line, or helping a fellow passenger with their luggage, offering a hand to a colleague who's on big project, or giving up your seat for someone else who looks weary. Anything that puts someone else first, puts us into a position of 'servant' and isn't this how Jesus meant for us to be for one another?
A person finds joy in giving an apt reply - and how good is a timely word!
- Proverbs 15:23
Focus on others... And how about praying for others. When I am having my most difficult days and trying to solve the most difficult of problems, I often pray over the problem and even ask for others to pray for me. This is something I've not ever been accustomed to doing. But I realized, this actually brings others joy. And when I pray for someone, my own spirits are lifted. I feel joy in helping someone else. We don't pray for this purpose of course, but this seems to be a wonderful side effect that brings on a lighter feeling throughout the day.
May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the
name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests. - Psalm 20:5
Pursue your passion, no matter what! If we are not fulfilling our passion, we will not be joyful. If we are not living our passion, we are not living joyfully. Not for a second, minute, day, ever! What are you passionate about? There's an 80/20 rule in most everything. Eighty percent of how you are spending your day ought to be filled with what you love to do, and the other twenty percent filled with the mundane things that make the eighty percent possible. But if it is completely opposite, then something is off and it's time to get clear. Joy cannot exist if you're only living and working in the twenty percent.
"You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." - Psalm 16:11
Joy comes with positive living. Dr Peale had a great deal to say about Positive Living.  He wrote a whole booklet on it. He suggests a great methods for positive problem solving and positive living in the booklet, The Rewards of Positive Living.
Straight from this booklet is a method Dr. Peale developed called the "Two or Three Method" based on two Scripture passages:
"If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven" - Matthew 18:19
"For where two or three are gathered together in My name there am I in the midst of them." - Matthew 18:20
But so great is faith that if the amount you have is like a mustard seed, small but real, nothing shall be impossible. Just put real faith up against life's difficulties, and the result will be for you the joy and victory of positive living. There are great principles for positive problem-solving in this booklet that will help you lead to positive living, and the end result will be peace and joy.
CLICK HERE to print this booklet, or email me and I will send it to you.
| 
