Joy is a Spiritual fruit, Happiness is a Choice

 

Joy is a Spiritual fruit, Happiness is a Choice

 

1 Timothy 6:6

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

              

               Isaiah 12:3 says, “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”  The thing I have experienced through my life is that when I am walking the closest in fellowship and relationship with the Lord is when I experience the greatest joy in life.  Since joy is a spiritual attribute and fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5:22-23, it only makes sense that as we walk in the Spirit and feed off of the fullness and goodness of God we are going to experience the joy and contentment of the Lord.  The thing about the joy of the Lord is that it isn’t dependent up the circumstances around us.  There can be great storms raging in our lives, but yet joy and peace can remain in our hearts when our eyes are fixed on Christ and upon the promises of His Word.  When we walk in the Spirit we see things and life from a God perspective.  If it pleases the Lord, it pleases us.  It is no longer about all of my needs and my wants being fulfilled.  This is where a lot of people confuse joy and happiness.  If happiness is reliant upon our feelings then it is going to be an elusive experience.  It will be here one minute and gone the next.  Why, because our feelings are up and down.  It rides the roller coaster of our emotions.  The feelings of happiness are circumstantial.  They are based again a lot on self: self-contentment, self-fulfillment, self-gratification, but not on self-control. 

               Here is an example many of us can relate with: Why do I have an unhappy marriage?  He or she doesn’t meet my needs.  They only think about themselves.  They don’t care if I am happy or fulfilled.  They don’t provide enough.  They don’t give enough.  They don’t do enough.  What is the central theme you hear in all of these phrases?  You don’t make me happy and what makes you happy for a short time is going to change to feelings of unhappiness and discontentment the moment your expectations aren’t met.  Happiness has to be a choice that you make that isn’t dependent upon what someone else does or doesn’t do.  I read this morning where marriages are more successful with people who go into marriage as already happy people rather than those who go into marriage looking for happiness.  Don’t put the responsibility for your happiness upon someone else.  That is your responsibility.  Otherwise you are always going to be disappointed and hurt.  People can never give you what only God can give you and that is joy and contentment. 

               Our verse today is so powerful because it is short but it says so much, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”  It simply says we have made a decision that God is enough.  What ever He supplies and provides in my life is enough.  That may be much or that may be little, but as long as I have God that is enough.  The apostle Paul made the statement in Philippians 4:11-13, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, [therewith] to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”  Paul didn’t have his eyes on people to meet his needs.  Many of the churches didn’t help him financially or support him.  He could have gotten bitter or angry or upset with them, but he didn’t.  They weren’t his source and his supply, God was.  He had learned to be content with whatever God brought into his life because he had this revelation; “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”  Who is your strength today?  Who is your supply?  Who is your joy and contentment?  Maybe anger, bitterness, resentment and unforgiveness have come in to make you so miserable because you have been looking to others to meet your needs and they have disappointed you. Let us learn what Paul did, that the Lord is enough.  We can make the decision that we are going to be happy because God is enough rather in much or little, rather we are abased or abound, rather we are full or we are hungry.   In order to experience the fullness of joy in our salvation we must take our eyes off of us and let Christ become the focus of why we live.  We live to serve not to be served.  We live to give and not to take.  We live that in all things we may please Him who has given us life.  “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).”  Experience the joy of your salvation by walking in the Spirit and make the choice to be happy because of the One that resides within you.

Blessings,

#kent

Advertisement

Prophetic Fulfillment

Matthew 4:14 14

to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:

Prophetic Fulfillment

There is a time and a season for every purpose under heaven and every word of God has its day of fulfillment. This year is marking the beginning of certain fulfillment of prophecies and words that God has been speaking to His body. This is the scripture, Matthew 4:14, that the Lord gave me this morning. We are coming into a season of fulfillment. Matthew 4: 15-17 goes on to speak of what is fulfilled, “”Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” 17From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”” Once again the people living in darkness are going to see a great light, only this time it will be the light of Christ manifested through His people. Jesus is the king of the kingdom of heaven. It was His life that ushered in the kingdom and it is His life that is at the heart of the message of the kingdom of heaven. Again, today this word rings true, as it did in the time of Jesus, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” His kingdom has come into our hearts, but has yet to express in the earth the fullness of its purpose. In each generation it has had a voice that has drawn men into that kingdom, but that voice will be a whisper in the light of what has dawned and is about to be revealed. We are a people of purpose and children of His destiny. It is no longer about religion or living a surface Christianity. It is about the reality of His life being manifested through us. As this truth comes forth it is going to forever change all that you have ever been or thought. As I was running this morning I saw my body casting a shadow in the street light. I thought about how long we have only been living in the shadow of who we are in Christ. The shadow has been that body of sin that still exerts its passions an influence upon us. It is not who we are, but it is the shadow of who we were and we have been living in that shadow instead of the light. As I ran further into the light, the light completely dispelled the shadow. That is what His life is now doing in us. It is dispelling the shadow of that former man and identification with him that we don’t seem to want to let go of. Outwardly I see a very troubled world and economy, but inwardly I am pregnant with expectation and anticipation at what God is about to do. This year God is calling us to set our hearts toward His kingdom purpose. We are not only going to preach the kingdom of heaven; we are going to be the demonstration of it. The world is turned off and tired of religion. It has become a mockery because of its hypocrisy. They, like us, are looking for a reality of who the true God is. Many will be drawn to Him when they see His true light and glory. He must be lifted up in the lives of His people. We are that people that God is bringing forth in the earth so that the earth may again receive a revelation of His kingdom. Can you hear what the Spirit is speaking to the church today? It is a time to cast away our disfunctionality and begin to operate in the unity and oneness of the Spirit. Christ doesn’t have many different bodies and schisms. He only has one body and either you are a part of it or you’re not. His body will function under the headship of the Lord Jesus. It will know His voice and it will follow Him wherever He leads. This is a day and hour when we are going to lose ourselves into Him. Our focus will not any longer be about us, but we will be about our Father’s business in whatever capacity He is moving through us. Set your eyes upon Jesus for we are moving into the light of His purifying fire.

Blessings,

#kent

The Righteous shall not be Forsaken

The Righteous shall not be Forsaken

Psalms 37:25
I have been young, and [now] am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

Often times the walk of righteousness is not an easy walk. As we draw near to God, and more and more relinquish our life for His, we sometimes can be become discouraged and disheartened. All around us the wicked and the ungodly seem to be prospering and enjoying life while it seems we are facing one struggle after another. While life is an uphill battle for us, it seems to often be a roller coaster ride for others and we may be tempted to mummer, “This is unfair Lord.” The psalmist saw the same thing in his day. He gives an account in Psalms 73 of how he envied the prosperity of the wicked. “For I was envious at the foolish, [when] I saw the prosperity of the wicked (Psalms 73:3).” Do we ever get discouraged and think I’m tired of this walk of righteousness. Everyone is prospering and enjoying life and I’m trying to be godly and yet I’m struggling through life. Where is the equity God? The psalmist goes on to explain what he discovered and the folly of his reasoning. “This is what the wicked are like- always carefree, they increase in wealth. Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed your children. When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies (Psalms 73:12-20).” Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where [there is] no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy [is] he.” There are times when our vision becomes obscure when we start to look back at the world instead of steadfastly upon the Lord. The enemy would begin to coax our minds and hearts into thinking that the way of the world is far better. He is only able to do this as we get our eyes off of Jesus. We only need to enter into the sanctuary of His holy awesome presence to be reminded of what the end and the destiny is for the wicked and unbelieving. God is not withholding His good from the righteous, He is raising up His righteous to possess and rule all things. In order to do that the “things” cannot possess us. Only He, The Lord God, Pure and Holy, must possess us. Our destiny is not of this world, for this world and all of it goods soon are to pass away and perish with the using, but the possession we have in Christ is eternal and only increases from glory to glory.
Don’t allow yourself to become discouraged by the struggles you have in this world. It is by patience and steadfast faithfulness that we enter in and possess the greatest prize of all, God’s holy nature and manifest presence in our lives. What our God desires to give us is unmatchable by anything in this natural world. We must have the vision of what God’s heart and desire for us is lest we perish in the wilderness, failing to enter in and possess our inheritance by unbelief.
Let us take heart and faint not, knowing that the fullness of our salvation is near at hand. We can know that Paul was right when he said, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God (Romans 8:16-19).” We don’t need what the world has. They need what we have, for the scripture declares that the sons of God will be the instruments of God’s restoration and restitution in the earth. The outward apparel does not always reveal the wealthy man. The righteous is being purified to be the containers of God’s wealth and blessing. The blessing that seeks not it’s own, but is the dispenser of the life and love of God even as Jesus, the pattern Son.
If we want renewed vision and purpose we need only draw near by the blood of Jesus and enter the sanctuary of His presence. When we experience the richness of His manifest presence we will know without a doubt that there is nothing in this earth richer or more satisfying than Christ Himself.

Blessings,
#kent

Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy

James 3:17
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, [and] easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

The definition of a hypocrite is, one who answers, an interpreter, an actor, stage player, pretender, one who is feigned, disguised or is insincere. It is one who wears a mask or false identity. It is a fact of human nature that what you see is not always what you get. From the time we are children we grow up learning to play the game of human interaction. We learn to put forward what others or society expects of us which often is not who we really are. We want to be people pleasers and accepted of others. Sometimes we have so many identities we don’t even know who we are.
Then, when we become Christians we are introduced to the religious system and we learn how to wear that mask. We learn the right phrases, how to act and put forward what is “acceptable Christian behavior.” Never mind the arguing, fighting and ugliness we showed toward our spouse and children as we were getting ready for church and on the way. As we step out of the car and walk into the church suddenly this transformation takes place. Suddenly we put on this godly smile and countenance and to those we encounter all is right with the world. If we are honest all of us have experienced this kind of behavior in our lives and probably still do. There is this duality in our lives that keeps us from being who we really are for fear that that is unacceptable. Many of us spend our lives living a lie and fashion ourselves around the dictates of others. We are so afraid of being seen in the nakedness of who we really are. It is true that many of us have some pretty hideous deformities and abnormalities in our lives, but are they ever dealt with and healed by masking them over. Our lives become one big game of pretending to be something or someone we really aren’t. What is worse, we then judge others out of our pretentious hypocrisy, because they don’t live up to the standard. The truth is they just don’t play the game as good as we do.
Is this what God wants us to be? If ever Jesus railed on anyone, it wasn’t the outright sinner it was the hypocrite. The one who liked to condemn and point the finger when inside he was no different than the ones he condemned. ” For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam [is] in thine own eye Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye (Matthew 7:2-5).”
We have been talking a lot about light and darkness. It is time we all come out into the light and be real with who we are. The truth is that most all of our lives are a mess in one area or another. We know that God sees us for who we really are. We know that it is only His power and grace that can transform us. How can this take place if we can’t even face up to who and what we are? It starts with us being honest with ourselves and with God. His love and mercy has already been extended to us in that, “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” He loves us no matter how ugly the sin our lives has been, but He loves us too much to leave us that way. His desire is bring us out of darkness into the light so that there it is exposed and we can repent, receive forgiveness through the blood of Christ and begin a path in the opposite direction of our sin, dependent upon the Lord to help us walk that way. We are all in this walk together and we are going from glory to glory, but we are at different stages in our maturity and walk with God. Our purpose as a body is to help each other along the way. We have to deal with these sin issues with honesty if we are going to be set free of them. If we want to continue to hold on to them then the dealings must become more severe, because these are stumbling blocks and hindrances to who we really are in Christ and what He has called us to be. Romans 12:9 says, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.” It is time that we quit playing games with God and with others and be real. Let’s deal with who we really are, because only then can we come into what God wants us to be. It is time we stop living the lie of hypocrisy and become the forgiven vessels of His mercy and grace no matter how humble that may be. “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, [see that ye] love one another with a pure heart fervently: (1 Peter 1:22).”

blessings,
#kent