"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointedme to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me tobind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedomfor the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaimthe year of the LORD's favorand the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion — to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair."~fromISAIAH 61 Bible verse for this Blog
APOLOGY to READERS who followed a SEARCH to HERE & didn't find it
On July 18, 2017, I drafted almost 3000 blog posts that I had published since 2008 when I began blogging, rather than edit each one. So if you clicked here from somewhere else and ended up with the post unavailable or error, I am sorry but this is why. It'd be too much work for me to go back and fix them. There's an explanation on7/19/17as I'm still learning.
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness;He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17 ESV
{that loud singing might just disrupt the quiet and many verses on JOY seem to shout or be loud}
" Father God, We give You glory for Joy! For Jesus! Thank You for sustaining us through difficult times. The hard parts of life are impossible for us to fully understand. Your ways are not our ways, nor can we search Your thoughts or purposes. But we can trust they are good, because You are good, Father. You took precise care in crafting each of us, and know us intimately and personally. This has been an emotional year, Father. You see us, know us, care for us, and are close when we are brokenhearted. Thank You, for Your presence and Your compassion for our hearts and our lives. We love You, and place You at the front of our minds and top of our priorities. We are grateful for the Joy we have in Jesus. Joy to the world. In Jesus' Name..."
"God, help me to embrace the type of joy that comes from knowing You are in control of the things happening around me. I believe You will bring good from it. Help me to have the kind of joy today that isn’t dependent on my circumstances. Amen."
for not seeking Your Peace first when trials come.
I let the circumstances or situation overwhelm me.
Help me to realize that I need to come to You.
It's in the trials that I need You most.
Whenever I face any trial
remind me that I can find Peace in Your arms.
*******
December 8
PeaceIs Found in Serving Others
"There is no greater joy and thus no greater peace for the believer than to experience God. Those serving know immediately and profoundly that caring for another person is not a two-person relationship, it is a three person relationship. There is the one being cared for, the believer doing the caring, and there is Christ. Knowing this is priceless. Knowing this is peace." (notes from a sermon)
"Faithful Father, help me see the needs of those You have placed around me.
Give me a heart to love & serve those You lay on my heart."
Help me to serve others in peace and find peace by serving others.
Remind me how I have seen that when we take the focus off
ourselves (or our own problems) and place it on others by serving them,
we are filled back up with peace and joy, as You tell us
"whatever you do to the least of these, you do for me"
