Tag: essential

Essential…Joy

 

You feel the call of God on your life…you realize He has a plan and purpose for you. It scares you, even overwhelms you as you think how you can live out God’s will. How do you move from the place of discovery to the place of fruitful active ministry…a ministry that brings glory to God?

It is a question we all have…”How do we live out our calling…”

ESSENTIALS (noun)

1. something basic; the essentials of astronomy

2. something necessary, indespensable, or unavoidable

Merriam and Webster Dictionary

What is essential…what is basic to living out God’s calling on your life? 

Faith…we have no Christian walk apart from believing Jesus is the Christ and the Son of the living God.

Again, what is essential, something necesary, indispensable to living out our calling in a way that honors God?

Joyful Faith

How would you describe your faith…strong, sincere…joyful? Would you ever think to say that I am so JOYFUL in terms of living out your faith?? Yet it is critical that we live our life of faith with joy. Often—too often we get weighed down with the difficulties we encounter..there is NO JOY—just the quick prayer, “Lord, help me survive this.

But what really keeps us from experiencing joyful faith…a joyful life? It is not circumstances or people—it is how we respond to them—ultimately it is where we put our focus—the negative in this world can consume us.
What steps do we need to take to move from weighed-down, grumpy, burdened faith to peace, hope, joyful faith??

  1. Don’t seek joy. Instead seek to love God more and to deepen your relationship with Him. Joy will come as a result of the relationship. Joy is found…when we embrace the goodness of God, have peace with God, through faith in Jesus, and when we are led by the Holy Spirit.
  2. Joy is not about you—what you want or getting your way. Joy is always about God, accepting His plan and purpose for you.
  3. Joy comes out of grace. The grace we need- because of our own sinfulness…The grace we receive- the peace of forgiveness…the grace we give-mercy and kindness to others. We lose our joy when we forget grace.

“You can tell a person’s relationship to God not by their theology, but by their kindness and their joy.”