Finding Real Joy

I spoke about “joy” a while back.  You never know what “post-sermonic” conversation will be stirred up by a lesson.  

One woman said, “You know, joy is a wonderful concept to read about.  I often think about Galatians 5:22 when I think about joy.  That text says it is a fruit or evidence of the Spirit’s presence in our lives.”  She continued, “But I have to say, I have often struggled with this aspect of the Spirit’s presence.  Quite frankly, there are times I don’t “feel happy or thrilled” in my heart after I pray about a difficulty I’m experiencing.  And yet, I hear people tell similar stories as if they floated on angels wings and were transported into spiritual ecstasy in a way that is so beyond me.  I must be really weak.  I continue to pray.  I seek God’s guidance. I serve as I can.  I am engaged in my faith…I think.  But, I don’t often feel “high with joy” – if you can say it that way.”

And, she was only one of several who related bits and pieces of a similar perspective.  

Too often joy is equated with a “mood.”  It is described as a high spiritual emotion.  Triumphant theology that is very popular these days says, and I don’t mean to oversimplify it here, “turn loose, let God and feel good about it.”  Sounds good.  But, how often have you run your fingers over a few texts on joy to quickly discover that if that’s what joy really is, then, like the woman’s comments above, I so often come up way short of what it means to live joyfully?

Joy is easy to talk about.  It’s difficult to enter into it.  Perhaps that is why scripture reminds us to “be joyful.”  It doesn’t come naturally for us.  Joy is not a mood.  It might be more correctly defined as a settled state of mind that leads us into calmness, confidence and comfort and which helps us stay focused in our faith.  Read that sentence three or four times.

Another person remarked, “There were times in my life that I had to struggle through stuff.  It took time to get to a mature place of thought in my life.  A place of strength in my heart.  There were days I cried, agonized, and was just quiet and reflective.  Handing it over to the Lord was a process that eventually brought me into a season of peace, courage, and strength in the Spirit.

In a culture that is fixated on “feeling good” about everything, it is important that we do some hard thinking about what joy is and isn’t.     

Jesus spoke of joy the night before he went to the cross (John 15:11; 17:13)  Joy falls from Paul’s pen several times as he writes to the Philippian Christians from house arrest.  “Rejoice in the Lord”, he says, “and again I will say rejoice!”  (4:4)

James says we should count it all joy when we experience trials of different kinds (James 1:2).

Really?  As you read deeper into James chapter one it becomes obvious that James is speaking to “real people” for whom 1:2-4 is anything but a “paint-by-numbers” experience.  It did not naturally fall into place for them.  James exhorts his readers to find their way into joy despite hard times but then he gets into the nitty-gritty of how some of his readers were thinking (1:13-16) and responding to struggles (i.e., quick to anger, quick to speak and slow to hear!  1:19).  He reminds them that the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God.  He exhorts them to receive the word “implanted” which can save their souls.  They need to look “into the Word” (1:22-25) – to meditate on it and listen (quick to hear!) to what it has to say about finding wisdom (1:5-8) and allow that "experience" to help them into the perspective of joy.    

Nehemiah 8:10 says, “The joy of the Lord is our strength.”  Finding our way into joy and the battles we go through to get to it may say more about our faith and what the Spirit is doing in our hearts than a “high” ever can or will.  On the other side of our journey into joy we can share something meaningful with other believers about how good the Lord is and how sweet it is to live in His will.  And, we can smile a deep, genuine smile that comes from an experience of surrender and sanctification that is beyond anything this world can offer.  I can’t think of anybody who doesn’t need that.  Can you?  

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas 

Smelling Like Jesus

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2 NRSV

The other day I was looking through some recipes and found my grandmother’s for sugar cookies.  I had to make some.  Although they were not as perfectly round and prey as the ones

She made, they smelled just like them.  I had gone outside and when I returned I had a flashback

to childhood being in her quaint apartment, and smelling her baked sugar cookies.  Wonderful memories!

Smells are powerful.  They can trigger memories, warn us of danger, and make us aware of life.  The smell of fresh brewed coffee signifies that it is ready. Flowers release a delicate bouquet that lets others know that they’re present.  A hint of cologne or perfume lets others know that someone entered the room.  Wherever we go we can release the fragrance of Jesus allowing others to know Him. This is our life in a “scent.” 

We are to be like Jesus and when we do we are offering a fragrant offering to God.  

Holy and Heavenly Father, Almighty and Sovereign God, Creator of every good and perfect gift, blessed be your name.  Father help us to live for thee, letting other know of the One who was sent by the scent that we leave as we walk on this earth.  Holy One, continue to bless and show favor on your children.  Thank you for Jesus, our Lord and Savior.  In the precious name of Jesus hear our prayer.  Amen.

Eddie Fitzgerald

Lubbock, Texas

“Momma, WE NEEEED YOU!”

 Ephesians 3:16-18

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

Dressed in her Sunday best, Esther sits stooped by her 91 years.  With her hands folded upon her lap, eyes closed forever by degenerative darkness, and mouth drawn, she still joyfully sings the words to every hymn. Homesteading the rugged last frontier without running water or electricity she overcame the many challenges that presented themselves in the raising of seven children. Like the far reaching roots of the trees that dot the Haakenson homestead, Esther sought to daily root her children in Christ’s love.  One of Esther’s greatest legacies lovingly sits beside her.  Faithful in service to her mother and even more to her Lord, Mary has taught countless boys and girls about Jesus.  Mary has also reached out to thousands whose lives have been touched by Down syndrome through her book about growing up with her remarkable brother*.  Those children and families have been forever changed by their contact with Mary and like a pebble dropped into a pond, we’ll never know the full effect of her influence until heaven.  

The arrival of spring brings a treasure trove of “presents” from my boys.  Evidence of their love and admiration proudly line my kitchen window sill.  This winter brought a record breaking 16 feet of snow to Anchor Point, and thus our pre-spring season of “Break-up” has been a little slower than normal.  Running out of easily retrieved pine cones, the boys turned to rescuing sticks from their climbing tree.  As I was presented with a bouquet of sticks I noticed they were covered in buds.  I placed them in a jar, put it on the sill and was rewarded with lovely smelling, bright green leaves.  The entire family has enjoyed watching and discussing the sprouting twigs.  After a few days I noticed the sticks were putting out roots.  I have been amazed at how quickly these young sprouts send out hungry shoots looking to root.  

Parenting, like tending a garden, takes time, patience and constant attention.  More importantly, it takes a focus on the end result: the fruit of the harvest.  It is our desire for the fruit of harvest that motivates us to weed, water, tend, prune, and fertilize.  It is a desire for healthy fruit that helps us do the work that is sometimes unpleasant.  There are times when I want a vacation. Instead of finding joy in hearing, “Mommaaaa, we nnneeed you!!!!!”  I can become resentful and tired.  The Deceiver whispers lies of discontentment regarding my most important role, and before long I can get busy and easily frustrated with the needs of my “trees”.  I may even temporarily neglect them, forgetting to water at the right time, or letting them get root bound in their pots…all leading to potential disease and stunted growth.  

Thank goodness, I work for the Master Gardner.  He is always just a prayer away, there to help. He knows our every need and our every weakness.   I go to him when I don’t know what to do or feel I have reached the end of my rope.  He helps me weed out bad behavior, feed good character, and tend to the needs of everyday life. 

It also doesn’t hurt to fertilize often with the nutrients found in his word.

Isaiah 61:11

For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.

Jeremiah 17:8

They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

Prayer:  Dear Lord, help me to root my children in the soil of your love.  May they ever know and live in the width, depth, and the height of your amazing love.  Amen.

Dana Jaworski
Anchor Point, AK

*I highly recommend Mary Haakenson Perry’s book, entitled Onward Crispy Shoulders to anyone that has been touched by Down syndrome.  You may order her book at http://www.fireweedtales.com/

Dying Well

In the epic series the Lord of the Rings as their fortress is under siege about to be over-run by the forces of evil, Gandalf  the wizard and Pippin the hobbit are waiting for battle as the gates are being rammed and facing what appears will be certain death. 

Pippin:  I didn’t think it would end this way.

Gandalf:  End?  No, the journey doesn’t end here.  Death is just another path.  One that we all must take.  The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass… And then you see it.

Pippin:  What Gandalf?... See what?

Gandalf: White shores… and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.

Pippin:(smiling) Well, that isn’t so bad.

Gandalf: No…No it isn’t.

Our existence goes beyond what is here.  We were created with more in store for us than just this life.  Understanding this life isn’t what we were created for, understanding that our lives here are preparing us for something much better ahead provides the basis for living well and looking towards dying well.  Living well means not getting trapped in the shallowness of this world that calls us to be something we were never meant to be.  Measuring ourselves against others to look better, be better, do better, know more, do more, and have more.  Living well means not being deceived to pursue the anxious, futile existence of pleasing ourselves, pleasing others, showing others I’m good, and trying to show God I’m good.   Living well is understanding the extremely simple, yet incredibly difficult to accept mystery, that Christ has rescued us.  He is the only door to the greatest treasures and unbelievable riches of wisdom and knowledge.  Dying well is the understanding that we have already died with Christ to this life and its shallowness and deceptions.  Dying well is our daily “putting to death” of our human cravings and desires replacing them with a true a hunger and thirst for righteousness.  Dying well is recognizing when it is our time it can welcomed rather than feared knowing the death of our physical body is not the end of our journey but just another path.  A path to a life we cannot fathom or imagine.

My goal is that they (you) may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they(you) may have  the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they(you) may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh] was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. (Colossians  2:2-4, 6-7, 9-13)

Father, help me know You to such depths that I will not be afraid.  Amen

Scotty Elston
Shallowater, Texas

Getting Wisdom

I consider myself an intelligent individual; some one capable of making good decisions and employing discernment.  But, I don't often think of myself as being 'wise'. I typically reserve that distinction for people (usually much older than I) who are well versed in the bible, elders in the church and those who's life decisions have resulted in stability and fruitfulness.   I long for having the same stability and fruitfulness I perceive them having. I like to imagine my older self  as being wise both of life and scripture.

Of course, I fully comprehend this is only achievable through prayer, continued study of scripture and more importantly, the implementation of it in my daily life. That's the hard part. I know what I ought to do, I just don't always do it.   Gentleness, self control, patience and all the fruits of the spirit for that matter, are not always my first reaction to adversity.

Practice refines a skill. The skill of patience, gentleness, self control are all characteristics of people who are wise in the way of the Lord. Not implementing lessons learned from scripture is a contradiction of choice to be Christ like and consequently is not a demonstration wisdom.  Of course, we do not acquire wisdom on our own.  It's a blessing from our father that's honed by the individual. Secondly, learning from other wise people is learning by observing.

Proverbs 24:3-7
3 By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established;
4 by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
5 A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might,
6 for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.
7 Wisdom is too high for a fool; in the gate he does not open his mouth.

Father, thank you for giving us instruction for life and the ability to acquire wisdom. Please help me to have a humble heart ready to learn and a spirit of eagerness to serve you. I ask you to continue to groom me in wisdom and knowledge of you kingdom.
In Jesus name, amen.

Michelle Tittor
Grapevine, Texas