Choose Joy: Let Go of Joy Stealers
Choosing joy, sometimes it seems unreachable, doesn’t it?
Earlier this week we glanced at Paul’s challenge, “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord….and it is a safe guard for you.” Philippians 3:1
Jumping deeper into joy:
I’m sharing insights from Philippians 3 that God has pressed into my heart lately. I’m not covering every detail of the amazing chapter, but over a couple of posts, I’m working through the places God has shone the light of His attention. (On a technical note, I have linked scriptures throughout the post.)
Learning to live lightly, Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, and we can choose joy over any number of other options. We can choose joy or we can choose thoughts that steal joy.
Can you find the joy stealer lurking in verse 2?
Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision;
Joy Stealer 1: Following the wrong crowd.
Watch out for those that pressure you into a false gospel of earning your way into the graces of God. Here Paul is referring to those who wanted folks to go back to the old ways, stressing, Jesus is okay, but you got to keep the real faith–the laws and circumsision.
This might not seem like a big threat to your joy in today’s world.
Have you considered that any time we fall into the trap of trying to please God through our behavior or rule-keeping we are veering into joy-stealing territory? Our religious behavior is not the reason God loves us.
Ever worried that you weren’t attending church enough, reading your Bible enough, holding your temper enough, performing ______ enough to truly please God? Yep–we’ve all lost a little joy with these concerns at one time or another.
Choose Joy: Remember who you are.
…for we are the true circumcision.
Simply put, remember that you come to Christ by way of faith–the circumcision of the heart. Take joy in your identity as a child of God–loved, accepted, forgiven, saved, set apart, made holy.
Choose Joy: Worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus… v.3
When all our attention is riveted on ourselves or on others, joy leaks away as self reigns.
Paul tells us to worship in the Spirit of God. Where there is Spirit-led worship, there is joy. When we take our attention off ourselves and our issues, we live free to worship in the Spirit of God.
Where’s your glory?
When life is going well, it is all too easy to glory in myself, my work, my progress. On the flip side, when life is hard and all I can see is what I lack, joy seems unreachable. Sound familiar?
Choosing to rejoice in the Lord is a willful decision to take my focus off my own abilities and situations and worship Christ.
So, worship in the Spirit of God + glory in Christ
opens the way for true joy.
Joy Stealer: Relying on confidence in myself (the flesh).
…and put no confidence in the flesh, although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: (v. 3-4).
When our confidence (trust) is in ourselves and our own ability to meet needs, pressure to succeed robs us of joy. It’s hard to enjoy God when we’re consumed with trying to make ourselves OK. Joy is hard to come by when we’re overloaded with failures and problems.
Choose Joy: Let your lack bring you to God.
Put no confidence in abilities, position, appearance, opportunities, education, or strength. When we come face to face with our inabilities and weaknesses, let it bring us to humility and dependence on Christ. The Message puts it this way, “We couldn’t carry this off by our own efforts—and we know it.”
Deep inside we know.
We can’t do it on our own. The longer we try, the deeper we dig ourselves into the futile ground of self-reliance and joy lasts only as long as our success holds out.
Learning to truly bank our confidence in Christ is key to knowing him more intimately. Confidence and joy are inseparably linked together for we can only find joy where there is trust.
Trusting God makes it easier to access our power of choice. Oh Friend, lets live lightly and choose joy.
Joy+Trust: 6 Verses to help you Choose Joy today.
But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You.–Psalm 5:11
Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy;–Psalm 43:4
But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning, For You have been my stronghold And a refuge in the day of my distress. Psalm 59:16
For You have been my help, And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.–Psalm 63:7
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.–Romans 15:13
…so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.–Colossians 1:10-12
Finally… Choose Joy
Finally…rejoice in the Lord.
Sometimes its all a matter of how we look at something.
Finally, as in–it’s about time? Enough already. At last…
Have you ever read this verse tucked away in the third chapter of Philippians from the perspective that God is just waiting for us to get it? Waiting for the truth to sink in deep, transform our perspective, and move us to choose joy?
Choose joy? Really?
Maybe you’re thinking, yeah right. How can I rejoice with _______ going on in my life? I can barely keep my head above water and things can’t get any worse. I’d love to be joyful, but I just can’t.
Maybe you feel like finding joy in the hard things is only for the spiritual super heroes–those that can leap over the walls of hardship in a single bound.
I’ve felt that way.
- There have been many pit days of feeling stuck in the miry clay of challenges.
- In-the-pit days of trying to put on a happy face and talk myself out of a good sulk.
- Times when my emotions get pulled under the weight of circumstances and problems. Days I’d rather scream than get out my joy pom-poms and work up a good cheer.
- Moments when faith comes hard and I just don’t understand.
Paul knew all of this and more as he wrote about joy from the confines of prison.
The Apostle Paul tells us that choosing to rejoice in the Lord is a safeguard. Joy protects? How can this be? Choosing to rejoice in the Lord, rather than in our circumstances, emotions, or strength provides a strong foundation for faith.
No one can rejoice for you, or for me. There are just some things that only you can do. And yet, rejoicing in the pits of life requires a dose of grace and faith–the ability to trust God with our lives and the fruit of His Spirit at work within.
Left to myself, I will sulk, complain, gripe, cry, and send out invitations to my pity party. Choosing this route only digs me deeper into the muck of my emotions.
Yet choosing to rejoice in God shows that we trust Him.
Have you noticed that it’s hard to worry and rejoice at the same time. Doubt and suspicion, those questions that nag at our faith, drown out joy faster than a bucket of water douses out a fire.
Joy is a safeguard for the soul.
Meet your resistance and your troubles with the strength of choosing to rejoice in God.
Hannah C. Hall writes, “All that wonderful stuff we sing when life feels blessed—about how good God is and how He holds us in the storms and how His love and peace and grace are sufficient even in the awful places…it is true.”
Paul writes these words, confirmining our relationship with God: You are the true circumcision. By faith, grafted into the family of God, you’re not left out or overlooked. By faith, relationship with God rests on position of grace, not successful performance or good behavior. And that’s a joy thing for sure!
So choose joy.
When you have fallen into that same issue again and again, choose to rejoice in the forgiveness of God. Remember who you are– part of God’s family, secure even when faith falters and sin sways.
When the future is uncertain and problems appear to have no answers, rest in the joy that God is faithful. When you feel alone, insecure, or without worth, hold fast to the joyful truth that God will never forsake you. Roll your cares on God–He’s enough.
Discover joy that protects and guards your soul.
5 Reasons to choose joy.
- “I have loved you with an everlasting love.–Jeremiah 31:3
- God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction…–2 Corinthians 1:3
- Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, The God who is our salvation. –Psalm 68:19
- “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”–Hebrews 13:5
- Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us–Ephesians 3:20
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Discover joy that protects and guards your soul.How will you choose joy today?
Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God.
Love to connect on Pintrest or Instagram. See you there.
Today I’m having fun linking up with Three Word Wednesdays and Coffee For Your Heart. What joy it is to build community with other bloggers. You’ll find some great ones here.
Enough For Now: Just Do the Next Thing
There are times in life when the path before us is clear.
The trail is well marked and the destination is in view. With a map in our pocket, we feel sure of the next step. Security blossoms and the world feels right as our insides relax.
Confidence comes easier when we know the next step.
Life in the military is set by orders. Jobs and locations are set by the command, and our job is to show up and give our best. You don’t choose your job, and rarely do you get to choose a location.
A year ago my husband retired from twenty-four years of service in the Marine Corps. I am one proud wife!
We are in a season of transition, seeking God’s place for us in this life outside the reach of military orders. It hasn’t been an easy jump. There have been many days where it feels more like a free fall, not knowing where we will land.
This in-between space often shimmers with possibility. But it is also filled with detours and dead-end trails that can be part of the process of waiting on God.
The road marked In-Between.
For reasons that God understands, He allows time to experience transition with all its questions and possibilities. God allows transitions to test our faith and expand our vision. God never tests our faith on a pass/fail basis, as if we must prove to Him the strength of our belief. Times of testing are for our benefit.
Oh yes, there are many lessons that are best revealed in transition, in times of uncertainty that require faith to keep walking.
Walking paths of uncertainty, we have real opportunity to rest in the faithfulness of God. We can trust that He will give us enough for now, or we can struggle and resist the confines of uncertainty.
Too often, I choose the struggle, giving into anxious worry about what’s next.
A year of transitions.
This year, my husband has pressed through a job that was a not a great fit, knowing the uneasy pressure of feeling a square peg in a round hole. Sometimes we have to uncover what we don’t want in order to discover what we truly desire. We’ve experienced the emotional roller coaster of landing that post-retirement job, then realizing the company is downsizing. It’s only a matter of time until they knock on your door.
That knock came recently.
My husband has researched and explored different types of work and ministries, seeking to find that post-retirement sweet spot.
All the while, I have found myself caught in the fallout of 24 years of military moves. It is hard to work up the energy and faith for yet another move or transition.
Oswald Chambers writes about Hebrews 11:8, “Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason—a life of knowing Him who calls us to go.”
Enough for now–verses to remember in times of uncertainty:
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us…” Ephesians 3:20
“The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives” Psalm 37:23 NLT.
“The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” Proverbs 16:9 NASB.
This is our time to take the next step and let obedience and faith take us all the way.
And that’s enough for now.
What’s your Enough for today?
Move Your Mountain
Ever feel like your climbing a mountain that just needs to move? This week I am posting at 5 Minutes for Faith, an inspirational website written by a variety of bloggers. I’d be thrilled to see you there. Here’s an excerpt: ...
You Can’t Force the Bloom
Hmm…I love the reality of blooming.
Flowers rioting with color, willy-nilly reaching up to the sun. I love the gentle lines of peonies and the puff of a blue hydrangea. I long for the delicate lace of things that grow wild in a field.
The word bloom holds up the idea of coming into our own, the natural result of the growing cycle. It can be hard to wait for the bloom.
Sometimes we get it backwards.
Have you ever chased after the bloom, trying to skip over the planting, waiting, or watering? Have you ever tried to force a bloom in your life before its time?
For truly, it is hard to wait all the days that seeds lie dormant under the pressure of dirt and roots stretch deep. It’s hard when waiting wonders if that tender green shoot will grow tall and bloom open wide.
Waiting for the bloom can make us feel as if all our efforts reach out into space and we have no control in a world that promises hard work pays off.
Maybe each of us struggles with the temptation to want the bloom before its ready–both in ourselves and also in others. Expecting a bloom, we are irritated or disappointed when that sweet shoot of a child can’t bloom on our timetable.
Thinking yes it’s time, we interpret our own lack of a bloom as failure or inability.
Haven’t we all struggled with trying to force a bloom? There are days in this writing life that I wonder if all these words will ever bear the fruit I hope for. Then I raise my heart to the sun and reach down deep to my roots and soak up life that delights.
I nourish on God’s word and remember,
I let go of the want for a bloom. I rest from the forcing, and I resist the urge to take a weed-wacker and cut the whole thing down!
In what ways have you tried to force the bloom?
Today I am linking up with 5 Minute Friday and Beauty Observed.
Friday Favorites from this week in the Blogosphere:
Lisa Jo Baker writes, “We read this story not just because someone lived it. But because someone faithfully wrote it down.”
Hannah C. Hall shares about the need to refresh spiritually in order to write authentically: “I am putting off the work that my own soul needs, and it needs more Jesus. I want to be so full of Him that what I write on this blog and how I speak to my children and the way I minister to my husband comes from the overflow of Jesus in my life, not from the scrapings on the bottom of the barrel.”
I can so relate to Joanna of The Squirrel’s Diary when she confesses,”I, on the other hand, embody the term “haphazard homemaker.” When I have a plan, I plan my plan, then I plan to implement my plan, and then OH LOOK THAT BOOK LOOKS INTERESTING.”
Karrilee is counting her blessings with a photography feast for the eyes. Love her pictures!
In Rainbow’s Light: Live in the Light of God’s Presence
You can never have too much beach.
Recently I spent time at the beach–one of my favorite places. It was a day the weather couldn’t make up it’s mind–rain or sun? How about both?
All afternoon a rainbow keeps watch. At times it’s vivid, a bright spectrum of color stamped across the sky. Other moments, muted like a watercolor, it fades to a subtle hint of a promise long ago given.
Even just a glimpse of the rainbow is enough to know it’s present. Clouds drift by or stack on top, but the rainbow lingers all afternoon.
A persistent rainbow.
A persistent promise.
Reading in my chair with toes in the water, I forget about the rainbow. Caught up in the unfolding story of my book, I look up with surprise to see it is still there.
Searching the sand for shells, head bent under the breeze, I catch the light out of the corner of my eye and remember.
Still there.
Late in the afternoon as the sun’s golden glow signals the approach of evening, I understand.
I really see it.
Today I have lived in the light of God’s presence colorful against the sky. Gently God turns my thoughts to the promise of the rainbow–the care of faithfulness.
This is how I want to live each day, glimpsing reminders throughout the day of the faithfulness and presence of God. A consistent, quiet rhythm of awareness and activity. An orientation of the heart, I want to live every moment in the joyful awareness of God’s presence.
Live a praying life rather than a life that prays.
What if sacred and secular blends into wholeness, a constant living faith, reflecting the light of God’s grace? Can I learn to let the activity of my day take on a rhythm of prayer?
A continuous conversation always with God, sometimes with others.
For isn’t God the “constant, gracious listener to our every thought,” and doesn’t prayer begin “when we bring what we most naturally think about before God”? (The Me I Want to Be, p. 135.)
This is the light I want to live in everyday, not just a summer afternoon at the beach. Rejoice in the awareness of grace that saturates everything, not just the highlights and low points.
How will my thoughts and attitudes be different if I live every moment in the light of the rainbow, steeped in God’s faithfulness that calms the heart and empowers the soul?
Living in light of the rainbow of faith
Practicing the presence of God is the key to prayer that never ceases in a life lived open with God. What wonder to look up at any moment of uncertainty or question, any whiff of discomfort, and see the vibrancy of His glory painted across a life.
Remembering God’s power and care frees me from nervous muttering.
Thomas Kelly (1893-1941), wrote much on the integration of faith and activity. Rather than an alternation between faith and work, Kelly wrote of simultaneity that lets worship inhabit “every moment, living prayer, the continuous current and background of all moments of life.”
He continued,“For God himself works in our souls, in their deepest depths, taking increasing control as we are progressively willing to be prepared for his wonder.” (Devotional Classics, p. 176.)
Isn’t God displaying His creative power to anyone watching? Isn’t He constantly proclaiming His glory in and out of this world He has spoken into existence?
Indeed, it is a blessing and sweet mercy to live in light of God’s rainbow.
Tweetables:
Live a praying life rather than a life that prays.
How will my thoughts and attitudes be different if I live every moment in the light of faith?
The Grace-Gift of Belonging
To be known, loved, and accepted is a deep need of every heart.
Belong is a word that pulls up powerful emotions from the well down deep in our hearts.
Belong has a space all its own in the real-estate of our hearts, one that is often sanded down with the grit of experiences of wanting to fit in, to be accepted as we are.
Often marked by the experiences and emotions where we didn’t belong, it can be tempting to overlook the many blessings of belonging. Life as a military family has offered up changing opportunities to belong…or not.
Belonging for the military family
“Belong” is a tough word for military families, frequently moving from one duty station to another. Change seems to be the constant of our lives, and it is hard to find the oasis of belonging in a desert of different.
The hardest part of frequent moves is the uprooting of belonging. Support systems, friendships, groups, jobs and loved places–these are just a few of the treasures that have left a deep imprint on our souls in each place of belonging.
The day I had to physically pull my 7-year-old daughter apart from her first best friend, I fought back tears thinking, my heart is going to fall out, right here on the front porch.
Red-faced with hot tears streaming, my little one sobbed, “Don’t make me leave, Mommy. Why can’t Rachel come with us? We belong together.”
So painful, this first experience of a child now old enough to understand the security of belonging.
For the military family, belonging includes a new address every few years. It can be so hard to let go of belonging when the moving truck is packed, the orders are stamped, and it is time to leave. In the leaving, there is the fear of not belong mixed with the pain of heart-wrenching goodbyes.
Belonging.
Not belonging…yet.
Belonging again.
This is the life rhythm that our family has gotten used to. Yet as hard as it is to embrace change and risk belonging, we are all the richer for it.
There is a strength in each of my children that is not dependent on belonging to a particular group of friends. They have learned that given time, friends are found everywhere God sends us. They have experienced the strong bond of belonging to our family is not tied to any particular address.
We’ve learned to give the grace-gift of belonging
We have all learned that we each have the gift of belonging to give to others. To welcome with a smile and an invitation, to get involved with care, to include and bless–these are the gifts of belonging that we can give.
Maybe the best lesson of all has been this:
When we give to bring others in, to invite them to belong, acceptance is no longer an issue. We run faster and live lighter in the grace of giving the gift of belonging to others.
When we honor God and embrace others, we find belonging happens naturally.
“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality”–Romans 12:10-12
Live to bless rather than belong.
What has been your greatest challenge to belong?
No Ordinary Moments: Discover Grace in the Small Things
Time quiet and peaceful is a gift in today’s crazy, cranked up world. Fast paced is the new normal, and time alone breathing deep the beauty of God is a rare thing. Rare like today. An afternoon out of time, toes in the sand and eyes filled with sun glittering on water.
I bask in the beauty of water that reflects sky, with waves set by the eternal hand of God. Never stopping, never pausing to rest, waves keep meeting the shore in a partnership that never tires, never forgets, never overlooks. I drink in life as I am nourished by grace. Worship of the best kind.
“One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life. To behold the beauty of the LOFD, and to meditate in His temple.“–Psalm 27:4
“If you don’t give yourself room to breathe, you won’t give God room to move,“writes Randy Alcorn in a recent article.
I walk along the edge of the shore, enjoying a hunt for treasures small and lovely. I search the sand for shells, sometimes whole, but mostly bits and pieces. Glimpses of what was once whole, these shell-bits are broken by the pressure of waves or crunched underfoot.
Though marked and shaped by time, these fragments display a beauty of shape, color, and texture that speaks with a quiet richness that so many miss. Whether broken or whole there is peace in the small things.
There is so much we miss when we’re too busy to look past the tasks and problems of a day. Bits of shell on a beach remind me to breathe, to quiet my soul and enjoy God in the moment.
To notice art in the small things, majesty in the ordinary moments, I must slow down and truly see. Maybe that is why I love beach combing so much. It is time that I give myself permission to meander with eyes intentional. It is time to remember there are no ordinary moments when God is in it.
Time to look for the small treasures that are easily overlooked, half covered by sand. There is a place in my heart that appreciates, even treasures, the grace of a shell. Gathered one by one, collected in bowls and jars, I keep these reminders of God’s presence in the details.
My thoughts turn from the physical to the spiritual, from the seen to the unseen. Beauty in the small things. God moves through the simplicity of a shell, and grace sets rights my soul.
How seldom do I look for, or even notice, the small but beautiful fragments in myself or in others? Trained to work for the whole, to accomplish big and impressive, it is easy to overlook the small graces and the steps of growth. Easy to discount the ordinary moments and loose sight of the God-glory stamped in us all.
These bits of shell remind me to relish the little movements and achievements. It is far too easy to criticize the small, seeing only the absence of the whole. Too tempting to miss what I lack rather than rejoice in what I have.
When I elevate the importance of what is missing, what is still in that secret place of not yet, the incompleteness begins to look like failure. Abundance and growth, being in process becomes a place of scarcity when I cannot see the unique beauty of the bits and pieces.
Judgments rise up and I toss aside the fragments, devalued and imperfect. Unfinished or broken, my definitions become decrees in this place of longing for the whole. Why do we have this sin-born, faith-lacking tendency to define a small slice of time, one action, attitude, or effort and judge what we think we see as the end result?
Why is it so easy to look at one step along the way, mistaking it for the destination?
As I wash the sand away and place my small treasures in my pocket, I am reminded to appreciate the simple, imperfect steps toward wholeness and growth. Grace to appreciate what is rather than find fault with what is not.
Reminded to take life fresh and look for grace like a treasure, I have breathed in the pleasure of God that is found in these quiet spaces.
Today I celebrate the small graces, the bits of beauty, and steps of victory. With sand on my hands, joy in my pocket, and peace in my soul I am restored. Living large in the beauty of the moment I discover the extraordinary.
Tweetables:
It’s easy to discount the ordinary moments and loose sight of the God-glory stamped in us all.
Living large in the beauty of the moment I discover the extraordinary.
Ever Feel Like You’re Camped Out Next to Crazy?
Let’s face it, sometimes life can get more than a little nuts.
At least in my corner of the world it can.
Crazy schedules packed tight with more to do than will fit in a day. Trying to keep up, I am amazed at how easy it is to forget details. I keep a list, but too often I misplace it and then what good is the list-thing?
Well summer is here and it’s time to recharge the Mom-i-tude, that all important ingredient to functional moms and happy homes. Cause you know the old cliche is true–if Mamma ain’t happy, nobody is happy.
This summer, don’t let a frazzled mom-i-tude keep you from enjoying time with your family. Take time to recharge your spiritual energy and make the most of summer days.
Click over to my latest post at 5 Minutes for Faith and gather up some ideas for renewing your happy this summer. No sense staying camped out next to crazy, right? This article posted the day I left for summer vacation, so I decided to heed my own advice and take time to refresh. Home again and back in the saddle, it’s time to share.
How do you refresh your attitude when the craziness of life starts to eat at you?
