Laced With Grace

Don’t you love this quote?  I think so many times we try to make ourselves “happy”…..always looking for a “feeling.”

Some search for the feeling, buying and spending, buying and spending.

Others look for the feeling at the bottom of a glass of wine.

Still others may search for the feeling in the eyes of another.

But, WHERE does JOY- pure, real joy “come” from?

How do we get it?

How can I live a JOY-FILLED life?

Authentic, sheer joy can only come from a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus Christ.  It is ONLY when we realize who we are in Christ, what we have through Him, and experience a living, breathing relationship with Him that we will possess the fullness of joy.

“Blessed (happy) is everyone who fears, reveres, and worships the Lord, who walks in His ways and lives according to His commandments.  For you shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; happy, blessed, fortunate shall you be, and it shall be well with you.” Psalm 128:1-2 AMP

“….you fill me with JOY in Your presence..” Psalm 16:11 NIV

How am I FILLED with joy?  It happens in His Presence!

When I sit before Him, loving Him, asking Him to fill me…..He fills me with joy.  When I love Him, and praise Him and seek Him with all of my heart, I will find Him and He will fill my heart with joy.

Joy is not DEPENDENT on our feelings or our circumstances.  In fact, God’s word tells us to be “joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12).  James tells us to “consider it all joy when we face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2).  And Peter encourages us to rejoice in our inheritance as we “suffer grief in all kinds of trials” (1Peter 1:6).  As Believers, we WILL face trials, but JOY continues to flow through us.

The “joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).  Where does my strength come from?  How do I find strength to face trials?

The joy of the Lord is my STRENGTH.

My strength comes from the joy of my relationship with my Lord……the joy of WHO He is…..what He has done for me….who I am in Him…and the glorious inheritance I have in Him.  My joy comes because I am a new creation in Him.  The old has gone and the new has come!  The joy comes because I am more than an overcomer in Christ Jesus!  The joy comes because I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. The joy comes because I have an eternal hope of what is to come. The joy comes because I am a wonderful, beautiful child of God!  It’s NOTHING of me…..but ALL of Him.

Father God, in the beautiful Name of the Lord Jesus, I praise You.  I glorify You.  I magnify Your Name on high!  I ask You, Lord, to help me fall in love with You more and more.  Lord, I want a relationship with You!  I want to bask in Your presence and know You.  Lord, I seek You with all of my heart, my soul, and my strength.  Lord, fill me with all that You are.  Lord, fill me with joy.  Fill me to overflowing with exuberant, boundless, glorious joy!  Open wide my mouth, Lord, and fill it with Your praises!  In Jesus’ Name we pray.  AMEN!

Thirsty for Him and THIRSTY for His joy,

Tracy

Several years ago, we had a family pet that was named “Stormy”, she was a German Shepherd/black lab mix that weighed in at 100 pounds. She was one of the greatest dogs we ever had. Stormy developed a tumor that became large enough that it slowed her down. She was an older dog so we decided to put her to sleep. It was one of the hardest decisions we had to make, as we all loved her dearly.

When the vet asked my husband and I what we wanted to do with her body, we decided that we would bring her back to the house and bury her on our property. The children would be arriving home from school soon, and we could have a family burial for our beloved pet of many years. So we wrapped that 100 pound dog up in a sheet and brought her home.

While my husband and my two older sons began to dig the hole on our property, I instructed them to keep digging and I would go pick up our young daughter from daycare and when we returned we could have our final good-bye. Before I could return with my daughter, my husband and sons finished digging the hole and went ahead and buried Stormy. Upon arriving back home, my daughter and I were horrified that they had gone ahead and buried our precious pet without us!

My oldest son stood, with his foot still on the shovel and looked over at us blubbering females and said to my husband, “We have to dig her up, don’t we?” My husband replied, “uh-huh!”

We have had alot of pets since Stormy, but I can guarantee you, she was the only dog that died and got buried twice!

I was thinking about Stormy today and that burial story and it dawned on me that we are just like our dog who got buried twice. When we come to the altar with our sins, our problems and our struggles - we give it all to God. We bury our burdens and walk away. But walking away just isn’t enough sometimes. We tend to turn around and pick up the shovel and dig back up all those burdens once again.

“Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

I can only imagine how weary and tiring it must have been for my son to dig and dig and dig that grave for our pet,  not once – but twice. How tiring it is to keep shoveling and digging dirt, without resting.

The problems that we carry around on our shoulders can become so heavy that it is difficult for us to escape or find rest. Giving it all to God will ease the load. Once we do that, God buries it, never to be reminded of it again! The problem is that we tend to take the shovel from God’s hand and we unbury those burdens and take them back on our shoulders.

So who has control of the shovel - you or God? Isn’t it time to bury those burdens once and for all? Today is the day … give the shovel back to God!

Visit me for daily devotions at WOMENTAKINGASTAND

I’ve been thinking about spiritual warfare a lot lately.  Not only am I preparing a series of talks about it for a ladies seminar in a couple of weeks, but  I’ve been praying often for friends and family that are battling with depression and other damaging emotions.  I want them to be able to stand strong.  I want to engage and win the battles that I face personally. In order to do that I need to be on the offense.

To be on the offense means that I am keenly aware of the times I find myself engaging the enemy.

• When I am taking significant steps of faith for spiritual growth.
• When I’m invading enemy territory by being involved in evangelism or on a mission trip.
• When I’m exposing Him for who He is.
• When I repent and make a clean break with the world, a long held sin pattern or an unholy relationship.
• When God is preparing us individually or corporately for a great work for His glory.

So how do I engage the enemy and win?

“…in addition to all, take up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one.   And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”  Ephesians 6:16, 17 (NASB)

Be on the offense by taking up your shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit.  The shield of faith is the absolute confidence in His promises, His power and His program for our lives.  It’s purpose is to quench all the fiery darts/missiles of the evil one….and they WILL come.

We’re all bombarded by those fiery darts and just don’t realize that’s what’s going on. The evil one will use schemes, temptations, lies, deceptions, and attacks aimed at us, to shift our focus to something or someone other than God.  They’re often rooted in lies about God’s identity or our new identity in Christ.

“Do not love the world nor the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. “1 John 2:15,16

How do I identify the fiery missiles?

• Maybe you’ve had blasphemous thoughts (curse words) and you never normally have those thoughts.
• Having hateful thoughts towards someone.
• Doubts.
• Having a burning desire to sin.
• Overwhelming times of depression and you don’t want to come out.

Those missiles of doubt, deception and depression must be dealt with immediately through handling the Word of God accurately.

Action Steps

Write the following 3 questions and verses on 3×5 cards. Keep them with you and claim those verses when you go through a “frontal assault.”  Immediately respond by trusting in the truth of God’s Word

• Am I trusting in God’s character? God has my best in mind.  He is good!  Psalm 84:11, Romans 8:32
• Am I trusting in God’s promises and Word? He will accomplish what concerns me.  Numbers 23:19; 2 Peter 1:2-4
• Am I trusting in God’s program and timing? His ways are not always easiest, but they are always the best!  Jeremiah 29:11, Isaiah 55:8-13

Lord, help me to stand strong against the attacks of the enemy.  Help me to refuse his attack on Your grace by trusting in Your character.  I need to be strong and faithful at reading Your word and understanding your promises and your program and plans for me.  I want to know Your Word so well that the Truth will always win in my life over the deceiver. That I will apply what I know to be true so the accuser is without a case. I want to understand your gospel so well that I will never doubt Your promise of salvation.  And when the fiery darts of temptation, lies and deception bombard me, Lord may I have absolute confidence in You, Your promises, power and timing in my life.

Your humbly grateful daughter,