3rd July FOCUS: One Word - JOY

[image credit: Rachel Wojo]

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For the month of July, these will be the 4 One Words for us to "Focus" on:

RELEASE

July 7

PRAYER

July 14

JOY

July 21

MOVEMENT

July 28

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This week's

 FOCUS 
One Word
 is
JOY
{I don't know about you, but my JOY tank is running on low
so it's a good FOCUS for me for now}
I need to refill my
JOY
tank with God's Word
and plenty of Jesus!
The devotional's opening Scripture is from

Psalm 16:11 ESV
and it even has the One Word: JOY

You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of JOY; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11 ESV

This is a good verse to compare in other versions.
I like how The Voice shares Psalm 16:11
[known as the perfect JOY verse]
but there are plenty (228) Psalms with JOY

Instead, You direct me on the path that leads to a beautiful life. As I walk with You, the pleasures are never-ending, and I know true JOY & contentment.

However, in His Presence "there is fullness of JOY" (ESV)
after a week with PRAYER is so true,
although the past week also had moments of tears as well.
Yet, knowing true JOY and contentment
leading to a beautiful life
and never-ending pleasures is really fullness of
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The other Scriptures for the devotional this week are:

John 16:24 NLT; Psalm 119:111 NIV; 1 Peter 1:8-9 ESV; Philippians 4:6 ESV

Back in April, completed a YV 30 day plan on JOY then in June: PEACE
in September, I plan on doing PRAYER and November, GRATITUDE,
although every day, I do PRAYER with GRATITUDE, 
somehow it's not the same for me with
JOY and PEACE
but it should be.
So more Holy Spirit power and fruit, please!
There are almost a thousand verses
with
JOY
in one of my sources
and the topical search shows 3990 for all the JOY searches
or more specifically for just the One Word: Joy (422 occurrences)
(with the Definitions, Strong's Greek and Hebrew, etc.)
So there are plenty available and enough
JOY
to soak ourselves with this week

"Jesus, because I have You, I always have JOY. Amen"

... just help me show my JOY more often around others, please!
especially when things are difficult, may Your JOY shine above
all else. That's when we really need Your JOY!
This world tends to sap the JOY out of us.
Fill us with more of You & Your JOY!
🙏
The FOCUS tip
should help us remember ... always

" ...  that no matter what happens, we have Jesus, and that alone fills our hearts with never-ending delight."

Having not read the devotional before I write my blog post, 
I did a quick search for the One Word: JOY (showed 14)
but I'm only going to share from the last paragraph
(quite often that's my favorite anyways)

"May others who see our lives never have to ask whether we believe in Jesus because our JOY so obviously will be because of Him. Much like all the gifts our Father offers us, the more we choose the JOY of eternity, the more JOY will make itself known while we're here. "

This is exactly what I hope for and expect in my Jesus filled life
with the Holy Spirit.
More JOY! More power! More of You in my life!
{I'm pretty sure that's suppose to be "more love ..." but each of the fruit fits}
Galatians 5:22-23
More than ever, our world needs to see
Christ-followers
overflowing
with
MORE
JOY
and less of all 
we have been seeing, reading, hearing 
and experiencing
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In the beginning, I started with an image from Rachel Wojo.
She offers Reading Challenges monthly on her Blog (website) and I noticed
that she has repeated one called Pure JOY, which tells me that the need  
for JOY is for more than just me; and her plans list 31 verses!
The most recent JOY one was in 2023 (2021)
Rachel is the one that inspired my 2024 One Word: CALM.
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NOTE to self: I've read often that there are enough verses in the Bible on "fear" to read one every day; so the same seems to be true for JOY, one for every day and then some. Looks like I can fill my cup of JOY overflowingly by just dipping into God's Word each day & choosing JOY and being more JOYFUL. Since the "JOY of the LORD is my Strength" worked for Nehemiah (8:10), it'll work for me, and you, too. An important part that precedes this portion of the verse that I quoted is: "do not be grieved." And I have needed this part so often.
But my first JOY verse chosen is:
Nehemiah 1:11 VoiceO Lord, hear Your servant praying to You and pay attention, and not just to my prayers but also to the prayers of these very Jews whose greatest JOY is to live in fear and awe of You. I am asking for success today, God; please make sure this man is compassionate to me, Your servant. In that day, I was cupbearer to the king.

And my second one to start out this JOY focus week (before an upcoming memorial/ life celebration this next Sat. of one of my students from when I taught 5th grade; and it seems like so many others have been facing also) however, this verse is for all times, not just sad times and this is my PRAYER for you from Jesus' words:

John 15:11 NLT

I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my JOY. Yes, your JOY will overflow!

"Open His Word and let His Truth be the standard for your life. Resume your authority as a child of God and choose to practice JOY in every step of the journey." CCR (p.71) "Our JOY is not in our arrival (in the walk, in the journey, in the process, in the blessing of taking each step, one by one ...continually being refined) but in our walk with Him." CCR (p.74)

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Yes, be filled with Jesus' JOY and may your JOY overflow!

Rejoice!

EnJOY your week soaking in some JOY - lots of JOY!

Search for JOY in each day!

[image credit: Positively Jane]

This quote from Henri Nouwen was a favorite with many choices but I chose this one, because 

of the "blues" & scene. Thanks Jane! (esp. your positivity in your graphics, joyful living & words).

2nd July FOCUS: One Word - PRAYER

For the month of July, these will be the 4 One Words for us to "Focus" on:

RELEASE

July 7

PRAYER

July 14

JOY

July 21

MOVEMENT

July 28

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This week's

 FOCUS  One Word: PRAYER
with the devotional's main verse from
1 John 5:14 NIV

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

3 of the other verses this week do use the One Word: PRAYER
and the other one has PRAY from James 5:13
So the other Scripture verses are:

Philippians 4:6 ESV; Ephesians 6:18; Mark 11:24 NIV

I'm sure that there are plenty of verses (over 400) for the 
One Word: PRAYER (or PRAY)
The topical search has much on PRAYER: definitions, articles, occurrences, Greek (proseuche) and Hebrew (Tefillah) and others;much more.
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Again as I look at the combination of One Words for July,
I like that there seems to be an interesting correlation
between RELEASE (letting go) and PRAYER
resulting in JOY and propelling us toward
MOVEMENT
(perhaps a PRAYER MOVEMENT)
(perhaps a MOVEMENT of the Holy Spirit)
both are much needed in our world
and in our personal lives
since PRAYER is 
not just communication
but communion 
with
our Creator
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Hopefully
your PRAYERS are more than just "asking" for something from Him
(although 'supplication' is an important part of our prayers)
for our Father to supply our needs
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As I'm sure you're aware of there are many acronyms and formulas
for how we should pray and that you already know the best one
is when Jesus taught the disciples to pray the
"Our Father"
yet He never showed us that our Father, was just a "genie" 
or a "vending machine" to go to with our many needs.
The structure of the "Our Father" basically gives us:
Adoration, Consecration, Supplication, Intercession, Protection
I read that "the prayer itself is composed of 7 petitions:
3 "Thy (Your) petitions"
[Thy Name, Thy Kingdom, Thy Will]
 and 4 "us-petitions"
[give us, forgive us, lead us not, and deliver us]
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PRAYER
is vital to me!
PRAYER
is the most precious tool I have been blessed with -
to spend time communicating in communion with God
any time, any place, any circumstance.
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I have plenty of PRAYER resources but I'll try to refrain.
And probably like you, I have more than enough needs to stay in PRAYER:
Supplication/INTERCESSION
for family & friends, for others, for our nation & others, for myself
but I want my arsenal of
PRAYER
to start with Adoration and so much Thankfulness
yet I'm sure I have much to Confess, too
{I did these out of sequence, but they compose one of the 1st acronyms that I learned}
A.C.T.S
Another one is 
P.R.A.Y.
for 
Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield
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Let's do a word search of our devotional
(because I don't read it until after I post this)
to find PRAYER in context
and present some quotes from the author (CCR)

"What would our lives look like if PRAYER became our way of life rather than our life support?"

That's a great question to begin our reflection!
with the following part

"... Prayer is the portal to success of every kind; it it also in the communication of PRAYER and understanding our Father's heart that we learn what true success means ...  "

{I was thinking of stopping after "that we learn ..."}
CCR continues her thoughts about PRAYER
(much more than and better, I'm sure with the full devotion)
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Here are a couple more snippets that stand out:

" ... PRAYER can be the way that our soul sings ... " AND "If we allowed PRAYER to become our go-response ... (because) "... the more we turn to Him, the more our heart looks like His."

one is these snippets is my favorite part so far (I think)
Looking forward to the Focus Tip
and repeating this 
PRAYER
daily:
"Jesus, help me to PRAY.
I know You're listening."
🙏
now that's 
the confidence in
1 John 5:14
(since this came to me as I finished I am sharing it here, but I know that there are so many great songs on PRAYER)
"... This is my confidence ..."
You're in it with me

Maybe you have one that you'd like to share too!
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NOTE: there are many YV reading plans on PRAYER; but I chose a 7 day one that looks good
"No Prayer, No Power"(sample of a (2017) 365 book)