Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
Pastor used this passage for his message Sunday morning. He started with a question "What makes you happy?" The key is not happiness but JOY! I have pondered this message and gone over my notes several times this week. What effects me each day and my happiness? Happiness is based on your circumstances, joy is a heart attitude based on your relationship with the Lord.
I have thought of this several times as I have thought of our weather this week. negative temps and extreme negative wind chills was not something I planned or wanted this week. BUT that is what God has brought our way. I thought of this as I have read posts of people about the weather. I have made comments of how cold it is and that we have lots of snow. It has been interesting to see and compare other peoples temps and conditions. BUT it is sad to see people that seem so disturbed, angry, and all consumed by it. Their comments of been so negative and discouraging.
I. Is your attitude joyful?
Acts 20:35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
A joyful attitude helps us do what needs to be done in our daily life. We teach our children that they are to obey with a right/joyful heart, but are we doing it. Do we go through our day grudgingly? As a mom I do the same things over and over- laundry, dishes, cleaning, and teaching my boys. How is my attitude?
II. Do I learn from God's Word joyfully?
We know we are to daily be in God's Word, but do we do it just out of routine? This really hit close to home! How do I approach my Bible study? Do I thirst for it and go into yearning to learn from the Lord? I need to remember that God's Word is ALIVE!
Pastor gave several points about learning from God's Word 1) It has unmatched strength 2)God's Word is perfect! Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. 3) God offers eternal salvation.
God wants His best for us. The circumstances that come in our life is there to grow us closer to the Lord. The choice we have is how do we handle it? Will I live with JOY or not?
Some of these thoughts are my own the #) are points from Pastor's message. I summarized the Roman Numeral from Pastor's message as well. Just wanted to give right credit to Pastor.I am not sharing this because I have it all together but the opposite. This is a real struggle for me to remain joyful, focus on the Lord and the good he gives. I hope this was helpful to someone- it helped me typing it out.
