Joy

Be merry, really merry. The life of a true Christian should be a perpetual jubilee, a prelude to the festivals of eternity.
~Theophane Venard

Joy is not the absence of suffering. It is the presence of God.
~Robert Schuller

When you have become penetrated with the joy of God, all of your sorrows will turn into joy, all of your trials will be graces; you will recognize your faults, you will be sorry for them, and they will be forgiven so that they may become happy faults. They will remind you only of the goodness, the tenderness, the joy with which God forgives them.

~Louis Evely

Happiness depends on happenings; joy depends on Christ.

~Anonymous

Penetrated with joy

When you have become penetrated with the joy of God, all of your sorrows will turn into joy, all of your trials will be graces; you will recognize your faults, you will be sorry for them, and they will be forgiven so that they may become happy faults. They will remind you only of the goodness, the tenderness, the joy with which God forgives them.

::Louis Evely::

It doesn't matter what is going on in our lives, we should always have joy. This does not mean to just push aside feelings and bottle them up, but we are to still have joy. Joy doesn't depend on our situation--it is continual, it is perpetual. Paul wrote the book of Philippians while in prison, but yet that book is filled with only encouragement. He isn't burdening others, he is lifting others up...with his joy.

I choose joy

I choose joy... I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical... the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.
::Max Lucado::

Can people see your gratitude?

Joy is prayer - Joy is strength - Joy is love - Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. God loves a cheerful giver. She gives most who gives with joy. The best way to show our gratitude to God and the people is to accept everything with joy. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love. Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of the Christ risen.

:::Mother Teresa:::

Jump for Joy!

When was the last time you laughed for the sheer joy of your salvation? People are not attracted to somber doctrines. There is no persuasive power in a gloomy and morbid religion. Let the world see your joy and you won't be able to keep them away. To be filled with God is to be filled with joy.

:::Anonymous:::

Rejoice Like a Jesus Freak

The queen stared out the window and despised what she saw—her husband, stripped of his kingly clothes, dancing bare-chested in the streets like a commoner. Like a drunk. Did he have no shame? She let the curtain fall back across the window and turned away.

King David led the procession as the Ark of the Covenant was returned to Jerusalem. This sacred box, which held the stone tablets Moses had brought down from Mount Sinai, was being carted to its rightful place at last. This was cause for joy. It was cause for celebration. It was cause for dancing!

Trumpets blared, the people shouted, and David danced before the Lord as the procession wound its way into the city. His heart was filled to bursting, overflowing in this outward expression of childlike joy. God saw him and was pleased. God saw Michal’s reaction and was displeased.

They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord . . . When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"

David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor."

And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.
~ 2 Samuel 6:17,20-23 (NIV)~

God revels in the childlike joy of His people. Jesus Freaks aren’t ashamed to be fools for God. Like David, they’re more concerned with what God thinks than what other people think—even if it means they look silly in the process.

Have you ever been so happy you couldn’t contain your joy? Maybe it bubbled up in the form of spontaneous laughter. Maybe it spilled onto your features in a contagious smile. Maybe you hopped and danced. Or perhaps you felt so exhilarated you went for a run, taking the road in long strides rather than your usual mid-tempo jog. Somehow, you had to express that inner feeling of perfect happiness, you just had to get it out!

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Peter the Apostle Martyred in Rome, 65 A.D. 1 Peter 1:8-9 (NIV)

The Real Deal

I almost forgot that today is Jesus Freak Friday!!!
~

~

The Real Deal

~

Most people have had happy times in their lives. And many would describe themselves as basically happy individuals. But did you know there’s a big difference between happiness and joy? Happiness is a feel-good feeling. It ebbs and flows with the circumstances of our lives. We land that job we’ve been trying so hard for. But then . . . A close friend gets killed by a drunken driver. Often our happiness depends on how we’re treated by those around us. She loves me, she loves me not! He wants me, he wants me not! No wonder happiness is such an elusive thing. Just when we think we have it in our grasp, it slips through our fingers.

Joy, on the other hand, is a deep sense of peace and well-being that lives in our spirit. True joy—the kind that comes only from God—doesn’t come and go. It lodges within us and holds us steady on our course. It’s our "true north" as we navigate through life.

Happiness shows on a face, but joy emanates from the spirit. You can see it in a Jesus Freak’s eyes, since eyes are the window of the soul.

On the night of January 6, 1850, a blizzard hit England, causing a young man named Charles to duck into a tiny church close to his home rather than venture out to the church he usually attended. Inside, a handful of people stood around the stove, huddling close for warmth. A man read from Isaiah 45:22—"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth"—and the words found their mark on at least one person that night. When the tiny gathering broke up, the young man headed for home, his heart blazing with a strange new fire.

Years later, the young man—now the great preacher Charles Spurgeon—wrote, "As the snow fell on my road home from the little house of prayer, I thought every snowflake talked with me and told of the pardon I had found." When he stepped through the door, his mother saw his countenance and said, "Something wonderful has happened to you!"

Jesus Freaks can’t keep their joy hidden.

You are the light of the world—like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don’t hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Matthew 5:14-16

Rejoice!

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again; Rejoice!" Philippians 4:4

If Paul has this attitude while in prison, I can certainly have this attitude everyday! We should always have joy in the Lord--not just in the good times, but in the bad times as well!