A Call to Joy

I offer you this call to joy from a blind man who gives his talents to God as inspiring praise:

Click here: Neville Peter - Jesus, You are the Center of my Joy - Praise Medley - YouTube

All Joy!

Grateful

We Can Choose Joy... Or Not?

Strange as it may sound, we can choose joy. Two people can be part of the same event, but one may choose to live it quite differently than the other. One may choose to trust that what happened, painful as it may be, holds a promise. The other may choose despair and be destroyed by it.
-- Henri Nouwen

² My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
-- James 1:2-4 (NKJV)

Click here: Larnelle Harris - I Choose Joy - YouTube

ALL JOY!
Grateful

A Blessing for Your Life

Grace, peace, and Godspeed to you...
May your life be totally full...
Of God's Spirit and His Love...
And all joy from above...
Grace, peace, and Godspeed to you.

Consider yourself blessed and be...
Grateful

The Bethlehem Boy Brings Beautiful Joy!

BE BEAUTIFULLY BLESSED AT CHRISTMASTIME & BEYOND!

Shepherds watching… Night falling…

Angel appearing… Glory glowing…

Shepherds shaking… Good News given…

Great Joy promised… Bethlehem honored…

Shepherds humbled… Angels announcing…

Glory heightened… Peace resting…

Shepherds excited… Angels exiting…

Baby entering… Mary treasuring…

Shepherds returning… Shepherds glorifying…

Shepherds praising… Shepherds telling,

Dark ages are history! Light years are here!

THE BETHLEHEM BOY BRINGS BEAUTIFUL JOY!

Click here: Sarah McLachlan "O Little Town Of Bethlehem" - YouTube

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Grateful

Bubbling Over With Hope

May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.
-- Romans 15:13 (AMP)

Raise His Praise!
Grateful

Today I Must Sing A Blessing Over Your Life!

On my way to the airport in route to preach at a season of revival services in Wisconsin, an original benediction came to my mind so clearly that I just had to write the words down on a note pad. It was almost like a song, so much so, that I sang it loudly over and over in the cab of my Ford as I traveled west on Interstate 66 towards Washingtoin, D.C. It was so refreshing to my own soul, that today I just must sing it as a blessing over your life:

Grace, Peace and Godspeed to you!
May your life be totally full...
of His Spirit and His Love,
and All Joy from above.
Grace, Peace and Godspeed to you!

The LORD your God wins victory after victory and is always with you. He celebrates and sings because of you, and He will refresh your life with His love. -- Zephaniah 3:17 (CEV)

God is Love and You Are Loved!
Grateful

Count it "ALL JOY!"

Two words tucked away in the New Testament Book of James, chapter 1 and verse 2, have been anchor words for my soul for many years now. The two words? "ALL JOY!"

This sacred, signature Scripture of mine has come back into my thoughts with invigorating intensity over these past few days, and along with the invigorating intensity an even deeper desire to rediscover for myself (and to disclose more fully to you) the verbage and verses that surround these two words.

What I am saying is this. Few people understand the full implications of me saying "ALL JOY" so often. Perhaps a deeper and wider view, yes a more intentional reading beyond the two words, that is, taking a more lengthy look at James, chapter 1 and verses 2, 3, and 4, will bring a more radiant light illuminating more clearly the two words I always embrace and continuously offer to others:

(2) My brethren, count it "ALL JOY" when you fall into various trials, (3) knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. (4) But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. -- James 1:2-4 (NKJV)

"ALL JOY" to your world! Count it "ALL JOY"...
Grateful

C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S According to Mr. Jack

If you haven't visited a rest home for the elderly this season yet, let me recommend that you do so. I recently went along with another pastor to encourage the aged at two separate homes, but I was the one encouraged the most.

One very frail elderly man, Mr. Jack, seemed sadly confined to his bed, but surprisingly all joy flowed from his life. From memory and with great passion Mr. Jack proclaimed multiple times through a glorious grin his original acrostic for C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S:

Christmas
Hearts
Rejoicing
Infant
Savior
True
Message
Angels
Sounding!

Thanks to Mr. Jack. You inspired me. During our time together, you certainly gave to my soul a dose of undeniable holiday "rest" and an increased appreciation in my heart for "home", yes, all from your "rest home" bed. Amazing! You are a vibrant witness. Your life is proof that if we know the Christ of Christmas, then we absolutely and positively lack nothing! I want to be like you, Mr. Jack, especially when my earthly life seems near to the end and I am coming nearer and nearer to eternity.

(2) My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, (3) knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. (4) But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. -- James 1:2-4 (NKJV)

Thanks also to Pastor Al for allowing me to partner with you at the rest homes during the Advent Season.

ALL JOY TO YOUR WORLD!
Grateful

A Child of Faith, A Man of God

At a wedding rehearsal, the father of the groom stood to affirm his son who was about to be married. It has been all joy to raise Adam -- our child of faith became a man of God.

Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.
-- Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Holy Wounds, Wholly Healed

HALLELUJAH!!! Jesus Is Risen! He is Risen, indeed!! And, surely in His Resurrection, our Resurrection is guaranteed. What a Great and Wonderful Joy! All Joy! Pure Joy! By His Holy Wounds we are Wholly Healed!!!

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Rejoice. Relax. Rest. Doctor's Orders.

Dr. H.B. London, a pastor-to-pastors at Focus on the Family, shared these three words in a pastor's encouragement workshop I attended today: Rejoice. Relax. Rest. It's a powerful prescription that The Apostle Paul gave in his Epistle of Joy, Philippians, written in a prison cell. I'd say it's a prescription straight from the mind and heart of the Great Physician. JESUS.

ALL JOY! Indeed!
Grateful

ALL JOY!

Maybe you're curious why I always sign-off with these two words, "ALL JOY!" It comes straight from The New Testament, yes, two passages:

Romans 15:13 (NKJV) -- (13) Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

James 1:2-4 (NKJV) -- (2) My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, (3) knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. (4) But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

ALL JOY... indeed!
Grateful