Joy To The World

Did you know that the carol we sing at Christmas named “Joy to the World” was inspired by the 98th Psalm? It talks about how the world should rejoice because the king has come. You see he is not your typical king he is the son of the living God. The changes he makes are not from an outside force but a loving Spirit that he puts in us! With all of this said it is truly joy to the world or it should be. He has brought us salvation and a way to heaven. With his Spirit dwelling in us we can spread his love to everyone we meet! We can be a light that uplifts their faith and gives them hope! Unfortunately that is not often the case. Proverbs 4:23 states to Guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. When we wonder why we have lost our joy look no further than an unguarded heart.

There was a song published in the 1970’s by a group called Love Song called Changes. It was a personal song about the changes that were taking place in the writers heart now that he found Jesus! The line that I find inspiring is I am hanging onto good things that I find. In that line it implies that the bad things he finds are not being held onto. It is simple lyrics but something we all are going through when we let Christ control our lives.

Changes Lyrics

(Chuck Girard-Dennis Correl)

I try so hard each day to shed a little light
To keep each moment of my life both full and bright
Believing in the feeling that I know is right
And here’s the reason why I feel so good tonight
I’m doing what I want to and it’s part of me
Keeping close to Jesus, that’s the way it’s got to be
Knowing that this feeling will flow eternally
And what I am, is all I have to be

I’m goin’ through changes
Changes in my mind
Holding on to good things that I find
I’m goin’ through changes
Changes in my mind
And I’m leaving all my emptiness behind
Yes, I’m leaving all my emptiness behind

So why are so many Christian people unhappy? Why has our joy all but disappeared? Why can’t we shine a light for all to see? Could it be that we have fallen victim to many of the joy killers? Here are a few among many joy killers. Have you fallen into one or more of these traps?

Worry….Jesus told us not to worry about anything but to pray about everything. He said to cast your cares on him….Release that burden of worry and place it on his shoulders. When you feel worry coming do not hesitate to say this prayer…Lord, I feel anxious with worry about this situation. I know that I cannot handle it or do anything about it on my own. As of this moment I give this worry to you.

Problems….We are all going to go through trials and tribulations. Jesus said in John 16:33  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” So take heart like he told us. Lean on him and let him deal with your problems.

Unforgiveness of others….So you have been hurt as we all have. Jesus tells us to forgive in Matthew 6:12-14…And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

Unforgiveness of ourselves…Sometimes the hardest person to forgive is ourselves. We have all made horrible mistakes in our lives. To be forgiven by God takes care of our past mistakes and sends us in a new direction. Quit dwelling in the past where the enemy would like to have you. When the Devil reminds you of your past remind him of his future!

Relying on our own understanding This is a big one missed by many. Proverbs 3:5-6 states this…⁵Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

If you want the joy in your life that passes all understanding avoid these joy zappers. Pray often and make God your partner in life daily whatever you are going through. He is there to help us and he wants us to have joy every day we live. When you feel one of those joy zappers try to hit you immediately turn it over to God. He can and will carry the burden for you setting you free to spread his joy to all you meet! Know that through him you can also make people glad that you came around and lifted their spirits! Though people cannot see God while on this earth they can see him in us when we put in more Jesus and take out the joy zappers!

    

    

Strength In Weakness

What are your strengths and weaknesses? It might be a question we don’t want to answer because it shows that we have weaknesses and admitting them could put a bad light on how people look at us. When the question comes from a potential employer questioning us in a job interview it can’t be ignored. Back in the day it seemed like that was a key question every interviewer was bound to ask. Anticipating the question before an interview so you could be prepared to have an answer was essential. The strength part of the question is the easy part. Everyone can usually rattle off a bunch of strengths that make them seem perfect for the position. The interviewer has a job to do too. They need to hire the right person or they may come under fire about their own qualifications for their job. They could expose one of their many weaknesses. Hiring someone who is not a good fit will cost the company money and reduce its profits. The part of the question interviewers will pay the most attention to is the weaknesses. Everyone has them and some may be seen as worse than others . The interviewer wants to evaluate our weaknesses and see how we deal with them The answer we give just might determine if our weakness is a deal breaker or an actual strength.

If we were honest we would admit that we have probably been dishonest on job interviews and especially on this question. To tell a job interviewer that you have no weaknesses is an outright lie and would probably eliminate us from the competition. Listing a bunch of weaknesses is not good either. Weaknesses are viewed as well weaknesses and the interviewer doesn’t want to hire someone where their flaws are constantly exposed. We are left to seeking out someone before the interview on how to answer this question that always seems to come up. The advice giver will probably tell us something that they discovered after failing miserably on this question before they landed their big job. Since it worked for them and they want us to succeed they might share it with us. Now is their answer to the question true? Maybe not but it moves the interview along and makes the interviewer think we are dealing with our weaknesses whether we are or not. So the answer in general needs to show a slight weakness but then how we overcome it. Now the slight weakness can’t be one that is so bad it kills the deal right off. So we have to evaluate the particular weakness we want to expose. Again we don’t want to expose all of our weaknesses. We might start out with “well my biggest weakness is” and go from there listing one.

The one of many weaknesses we decide to expose is that we have a hard time remembering names. This is definitely considered a weakness but it is not a deal breaker. Let’s face it many people in high places have this same problem. The interviewer probably has this problem too. They may be interested in how we deal with it because they want to get better at it themselves. So we tell them that when we meet someone now and because we know how terrible we are at names we pay close attention to their name. We might even write it down while they have turned the other way. We might think of an interesting feature that they physically have and incorporate the name in it. When they leave we take notes next to the name we wrote down mentioning who they are and what they do. We concentrate on that name and make sure we tell them it was good to meet them and make sure we call them by their name as they are leaving. Maybe we write their name next to others in a little name book that we constantly review. Do we really do all of that? Probably not but the interviewer is frantically taking notes for using our ideas themselves. We have deceived them into believing that we have taken a flaw and with effort and determination have turned it into a strength. So we end up getting the job but is there any accountability to the major or minor flaw we exposed? Does the interviewer check up on us to see how we are doing with our flaw we exposed? Do we get tested on the number of names we remember? We don’t and that is probably because the interviewer has the flaw of not following up on the weaknesses question that was so important in the interviews.

If I were to answer that strength and weakness question today here is how it would go. My biggest strength is when I have a close relationship with God and feel in my Spirit that he is talking to me. He is my strength and when I feel that I have taken my hand off of the steering wheel of my life and let him drive I become strong. This leads to not worrying about situations in my life because I have given them all to him. I have decided that his strength will overcome my weaknesses. On the other hand my biggest weakness is when I try to solve my problems myself. When I don’t seek out Gods wisdom with everything I am going through. When I bounce around in my spiritual life because of situations I am facing. This makes me a victim of my circumstances and I react to situations in a negative way. In Matthew chapter 22 verses 37-40 Jesus answered a question about what is the greatest commandment. [37] Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. [38] This is the first and great commandment. [39] And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. [40] On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. My greatest strength comes from when I follow these two crucial verses and my biggest weakness rears it’s ugly head when I don’t.

The one thing we know is that we can deceive the world but we cannot deceive God. He knows our strengths and weaknesses and he is there to help. It is vital that we praise him in good times and bad. In good times it is easier but what about when things are not going well? When we are in Christ it is all good all of the time if only we learn to release the burden we are carrying and give it to him. He will then put a peace in our heart telling us that everything is alright no matter what we are going through. When I feel weak I turn it over to him and he gives me strength. When I feel strong I praise him for my strength because he makes it all possible. I feel strong even in weakness because of the wonderful peace he puts in my heart. He has made me strong and I recognize where my strength comes from! This in turn gives me comfort no matter the situation. Do I have to look at the bad situation and give it to him? Absolutely because then I am overcoming that go it alone and taking control attitude without his help weakness. Feeling at peace in every circumstance is his reward to me. The Apostle Paul said it best In Philippians 4 verses 11 through 13. ¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

II Corinthians 12:9

The Amazing Superglue

It was originally discovered in 1942 when Scientists were attempting to make clear plastic gun sights during World War II. It was rejected at the time because it was too sticky for it’s original use. The chemical term is Cyanoacrylates and it was rediscovered in 1951 by two researchers from the Eastman Kodak Company named Fred Joyner and Harry Coover. They realized how something with such a strong bond could be useful to everyday people. Everyone it seems have tried to glue something only to have the bond become weak and come apart at the same place again. This new rediscovery would change all of that! When this bonding mixture is put on two objects to stick them together it was proven to bond in such a way that nothing could pull them apart.

In 1958 this Superglue product went on the market. After it first came out a radio station heard about the amazing claims of the product and put it to a test. The station staged a contest and had competing glues show the strength of their products. It was staged in a junk yard and the Superglue mixture won the contest when it was able to hold up a 3,000 pound car from a crane for 10 seconds! Today the original compound mix of the original Superglue is marketed with different names with very slight variations but the same main ingredient. Gorilla glue, Krazyglue, or the original Superglue can be found in a local hardware store. Each one might have their uses depending on the job it is to do but basically it is the same original idea. That is to create a bond that is so strong that it is almost impossible to break.

We have seen examples through the years in commercials about how great these products work. Krazyglue one time had a construction worker suspended from a beam with only the glue holding him up. Unlikely objects such as heavy bowling balls or other weighty objects that would be ridiculous for other glues to lift up are no problem for the Superglue mixtures. The bond that is set from these glues is so strong that it is stronger than the objects being glued and under duress the objects break before the bond of the glues!

Have you ever realized that God wants to be the glue holding everything together in your life and mine? The Bible states these comforting words in Romans 8″38-39. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We must realize that as long as we are on this earth we are at war. It is a spiritual war for our souls and the evil side is fighting us at every turn. God can and will help us on our journey but it is our job to keep that bond strong with him. Like that original discovery during the war in 1942 we might feel that our relationship with God is too sticky. In other words we might feel that he is restricting us in the fun things we feel life can provide. We might turn away from God and reject the bonding glue he wants to provide!

God is not like the Superglue in one regard. He will not force you or me to be close to him. We have a choice as people and he will let us make that choice. The good news is if we have made a choice in the past to turn away from his love he still loves us. His door is open to take us back if we are only willing to admit that we can’t go on without him! The choice will always be ours but he is there and ready to reestablish that wonderful bond that we once had!

Dear God

Forgive me for turning away from you. I want to have you stick with me til the end where we can have an everlasting relationship! I want to be like Superglue and never ever let go again. Thank you for my future and from this day forward be that glue that holds my life together!

In Jesus Name

Amen