Wednesday, January 9, 2019

A Joyful Invitation

I believe that we sometimes forget about the joy that God's presence can bring us. Too often it seems like the focus isn't on joy. A lot of the time we focus on growth, perseverance, and trusting God. None of that is bad at all. We just loose track of the joy. 

I want to encourage you today to be content in the season that you are in. What do I mean by that? 

For me, I try to read my bible, journal, and write a blog post nearly every day. When winter break hits, basketball picks up and I loose time to do those things that I love to do. I used to struggle and get down on myself when I didn't have the time to get those things done. I would let it bring me down and would almost be upset at myself. But I have learned that we go through seasons. Winter break is a season of my life, where nearly all my focus goes into basketball and I don't get to be in the word as much as I would like to. I could let that get me down or I could cherish the moments when I had time even more. 

If you are in a place right now where you can be content but you know it's not where you want to be, I encourage you to be patient and to live in that moment. It's a choice you can make when you get out of bed every morning. Are you going to just focus on the future or live only in the moment and be upset with yourself?

I believe we can find joy in everything that we do because God is faithful. Our God never fails! 

I came across Psalm 100 this evening and it was a perfect for what this post is about. 

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalm 100)

We need to acknowledge that the Lord is God! How do we do this? We acknowledge him when we shout our praises, appreciate his status as our creator, accept his authority in every detail of life, enthusiastically agree with the guidance he gives us, and express our thanks for his unfailing love. 

That is something that we can do no matter what season we are going through, whether you are where you want to be or getting to where you want to be.

God is also our creator; we did not create ourselves. Many people live as though they are the creator and center of their own little world. That mind-set leads to pride, greed, idolatry, and if everything should be taken away, a loss of hope itself. But when we realize that God created us and gives us all we have, we will want to give others as God has given to us. Then if all is lost, we still have God and all he gives us. 

We can always have joy because of what God gives us. We could loose every materialistic thing that we own and we would still have God and what he has given us. We could loose every non-materialistic thing in our life and still have God. We will always have what God has given us. When you think that you don't have anything, you always have God. 

Lastly, God alone is worthy of being worshipped. What is your attitude towards worship? Do you willingly and joyfully come into God's presence? Or do you go through the motions? This psalm tells us to remember God's goodness and dependability, and then to worship with thanksgiving and praise at all times. 

The theme of this psalm is in invitation to enter joyfully into God's presence. His faithfulness extends to our generation and beyond. 

Next time you are in a spot in your life where you feel stuck and like there really isn't anywhere to go and that you feel like you should be somewhere else, embrace where you are at. No matter who you are, where you come from, what you are going through, God is always there and is forever faithful. Trust in him and joyfully enter into his presence every single day. 

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