Category Archives: Values

happiness, joy, personal growth, positive, Problems, scripture, self help, self improvement, spiritual enlightenment, Spititual Development, Values, vision

Take A Joy Pill And Call Me In The Morning!

We live in some of the most uncertain times that we have ever lived in. We have no idea what the economy is going to do? There is the continual threat of another pandemic and the same ole, same ole, general stress of working hard everyday and paying bills.

It is very easy to get distracted by all that is wrong and miss out on what is right. And if we stop to think about it for just a minute, there is a lot that is right. We need to be careful not to miss the joy of today, because we won’t let go of yesterday or because we are worried about tomorrow.

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:4-7

Anxiousness has a way of eating up our minutes and before we know it, we’ve lost hours and then, if we are not careful we have wasted another day. The best way I know to not waste a moment is to be grateful for it. I have found that gratitude creates a space and place where the “joy of the Lord is my strength!”

The Anxiousness Antidote Is Joy!

In Philippians 4:4 we are told to “Rejoice in the Lord always” which means that we are to have joy in the good and the bad, in the ups and the downs of life. We have joy not because everything is going the way we want it to, but because we have a relationship with the One, Who created us and we know that He uses all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

The Scriptures goes on to say: “Again I will say, REJOICE!” It’s Repeated For A Reason and the reason is that we often need reminding to shift gears and pull out of misery and heartbreak and pull into blessing and favor.

We don’t need to deny our feelings. It’s okay to feel your feelings. In fact, I believe it is very necessary to feel them. I think it is very important to feel them and process them, learn from them, grow from them and then move beyond them to the something better that we were created for. We need to process our feelings in light of the relationship we have with God our Creator. In other words: I feel what I feel, but God loves me and has a plan to bless my life, so I have the power to choose what I focus on, so I feel it and move onto the something better I was created for.

There are times when it seems that nothing is working right. We can’t ignore these times and hope they will go away. Instead, we need to acknowledge that circumstances aren’t good, but God is. When we take the time to make this acknowledgement, we are shifting physical, mental and spiritual gears and we cant help but to be filled with hope and blessing over worry and despair!

It really is just as simple as praying about it! When we pray about everything with Thanksgiving and bring our cares, concerns, worries and anxieties to God, we experience His comfort and peace, a peace that transcends all comprehension. We can’t explain it, just experience it, but experience is more than enough.

As a little boy growing up in Church, one of my favorite hymns that we sang was “What A Friend We Have In Jesus!” It went like this:

“What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear.

What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer.

Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh, what needless pain we bear.

All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer…”

Give it to God, get your joy and love every minute of it! ><>

bible, Blogroll, choices, Control, enemies, Expectation, faith, God, Growing, Healing, journey, Lessons, life, love, mental challenge, mindfulness, personal growth, positive, responsibility, self help, self improvement, spiritual enlightenment, Spititual Development, Values

Feed Your Faith And Starve Your Fears!

Once we really begin to think about our life and the way we are living, it should become pretty obvious that faith, not fear should be calling the shots. While it is obvious that this is the way we should be living, it is not usually the way we are doing it. We know better, but we still allow anxiousness, doubts and fears to have more power in the say of our life and living than we should.

Feed Your Faith!

It is important to feed our faith through daily Bible reading, prayer and fellowship with fellow Believers, but that is not enough. We need to also at the very same time that we are feeding our faith, make sure that we are starving our doubts, fears, insecurities, worries and anxious thoughts.

28 If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? -Luke 12:28

Look at it this way: Part of feeding your faith is starving your doubts, fears and insecurities! The two go hand in hand and work together to help you experience victory in taking back control of your life, so that you can experience the blessings you were created for.

We’ve already talked about some of the spiritual disciplines we can practice to feed our faith. Another thing we can do to feed our faith and starve our doubts and fears is look back on our life at what we have already survived. That’s right remind your body, mind and spirit of what God has done and if God has done it, then we can trust that God will do it again and again and again as many times as it needs doing…

God created you to do more than survive – God created you to thrive! Do not allow yourself to be satisfied with anything less than God’s absolute best for you and yours. God loves you and has an amazing plan of blessing and growth for your life. Believe it, claim it, experience it and give God the glory!

Blogroll, choices, emotions, Expectation, Growing, ideas, journey, Lessons, life, mental challenge, Mystery, Life,, personal growth, planning, scripture, self help, self improvement, spiritual enlightenment, Spititual Development, Values

How Much Is This Going To Cost Me?

The older we get, the more we begin to realize and recognize value. We start to understand that some things are worth it and some things are not. I’ve heard more than one old timer say: “You get what you pay for!” and “How much is this going to cost me?”, and I have lived just long enough to discover that this is absolutely true most of the time – we do get what we pay for and anything of value is going to cost us. What is extra important to remember is that we don’t just pay with dollars, we also pay with our time and life.

This human experience that we call life is too short to waste on things that do not really matter, but if we are not careful, that is exactly what we will end up doing. We allow ourselves to get caught up in stuff that does not really matter and end up loosing the precious gift of value.

25 And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 26 If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. -Luke 12:25-27

We have already established that worry is a waste of time and resources. But how do we take on and take out worry, so that it stops robbing us of the precious gift of life. Jesus said: Look around you and see God’s faithfulness! In other words: Realize that you have the power to choose what you will focus on and the direction you will live your life…

If God takes care of this great big world, then He is going to take care of you! Just open your eyes and see all of the things God is taking care of. Look back on your own life and remind yourself of all the times God has taken care of you. Do you really think that the God Who has been taking care of you and seeing you through is going to stop? Of course not, we know better, but we often allow our minds to wander to the worst of places. Remember: God’s got me and I’ve got this!

Every now and then it is good to stop everything we are used to doing. Turn off all of the noise and take a few moments to sit in the still, quiet presence of the One Who brought us to the dance. Spending this time in God’s presence will help us to think about and remember what really matters. We need to Consider our investments! Your life and the way you spend it is an investment, so you need to ask yourself: Am I living a life of diminishing returns or am I living a life of blessing and growth? You were created for a life of blessing and growth. If worry does you no good, then why waste your time???

So remember: A good question to ask yourself is: How much is this going to cost me???