So what does it mean to consider it all joy when you encounter various struggles? Tha is the question I am asking my self this morning. It is 8:27am and I have a few minites before I begin work... and thought that i have been turning around is this... how can i glorify God today... now let me tell you i did not start out with this thought... i started out with God i hate not knowing what I am doing at work. I started out with feeling sick in the center of my stomach at the thought of coming in today. I started out wondering if i knew any examples of people that hated were they were at but still glorified God. And as the morning developed i had to ask my self is my joy based on my cicumsatnaces or on something else? What is the basis of my peace and joy. Anmd am i being joyful. And then i thought about Stephen who shone when he was being stoned. I thought, "Man i stink. I can't even be joyful at my job. How about if i was being persucuted for the church." And then the thought flowed into, how can i glorify Him here? Yes i have to deal with the issues that make work difficult but how do i keep my joy, my happiness, from hinging on what happens here? And how can i shine here if my attitude stinks? Yea I am not outwardly complianing in the ofice but i know it comes through...
anyways those are my thoughts... i will see what happenes today at work... God help me to be joyful inspite of my circumstances and make me worthy of the gospel.
2 comments:
Nenna,
Walk by Faith, not by sight. We have joy not because our circumstances are good(at the moment) or because we are feeling particularly spiritual(at the moment) or because we have a good job(at the moment) or for any other earthly reason. We have joy becuase we have Christ! He is our hope, our peace, our JOY. We, that is "self", can never be worthy of the gospel, but Christ, lived in us by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, is.
Ga 5:16 "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."
Philippians 3:8-9 "Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;"
Colossians 2:6-7 "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving."
Colossians 1:9-14 "For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
10 that you may walk, worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;
12 ¶ giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."
We must simply look to Christ.
He strengthens us "with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy!"
Verse 12 says HE "has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light." He has "delivered us from the power of the kingdom of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom" of Christ!
This is what we rest upon. Not our own works or circumstances, but His work. There is no other ground upon which we can live. Read Ephesians 1 and Philippians 4:4-7. I would also recommend a book called Principles of Spiritual Growth by Miles J. Stanford. You won't find it in Christian book stores but you can get it at http://www.mjsbooks.com/
And finally,
"press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Php 3:14
Resting in Him,
Stephen
I hear you stephen... i really do. an old friend and i had a conversation a while back about real theology... at the end of the conversation i said my theology is what i live... so i am living through what i beleive about God and His word... i am trying to press towards the upward call... but it is a process... i am learning to rest in Him in uncertain times... but it is a process... i am beleiving what I have been giving lip service to for years... but again it is a process. With lots of bumpbs, bruises etc... you have to live through it... but I will glorify God at work... even if it kills me. or if i accidently put someone in prison. :) (jokingly said). By the way, who are you?
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