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

Expectation & Promise

I know this verse of Scripture totally applies to my own life:

A lot will be expected from everyone who has been given a lot. More will be demanded from everyone who has been entrusted with a lot.
-- Luke 12:48b (GWT)

In light of the enormous expectation packed into Luke 12:48b, I am glad for the powerful promise found in this verse:

It is God who produces in you the desires and actions that please Him. -- Philippians 2:13 (GWT)

By Faith! In Faith! (Hebrews 11)
Grateful

Not Wanting Anyone to Perish

Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that. The saving of souls, if a man has once gained love to perishing sinners and his blessed Master, will be an all-absorbing passion to him. It will so carry him away, that he will almost forget himself in the saving of others. He will be like the brave fireman, who cares not for the scorch or the heat, so that he may rescue the poor creature on whom true humanity has set its heart. If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for. -- Charles Spurgeon

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
-- Jesus' Words in Luke 19:10 (NIV)

(8) But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. (9) The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
-- 2 Peter 3:8-9 (NIV)

The lifesaving book says we have to go out. It don't say nothing about coming back.
-- Motto of the U.S. Lifesaving Service

You have to go out, but you do not have to come back.
-- Patrick Ethridge, The Keeper's original charge to lifesaving crew

No Vision? Souls Perish! Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)
Grateful

Everyone Who Believes in Him... Come!

In all the public pageantry of Christmas, let's not miss the personal promise of Christmas. Jesus came to be more than a decoration. The Son came to be the Father's demonstration of love, that we might be delivered from every sin and the eternal death it deals.

The personal promise of Christmas is a directed declaration to all who will individually embrace His inclusive invitation recorded in John 3:16-17 (NLT):

(16) For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. (17) God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.

This Christmas will you and be among Everyone Who Believes in Him? Will we come to the earthly cradle and receive God's Heavenly Compassion? Will we come?

Jars of Clay Singing "Drummer Boy"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb0hAPimGrU

Come They Told Me... Pa RumPa Pum Pum!
Grateful

What Kind of Lives Should We Be Living?

I awoke early this morning with this passage in my mind and on my heart:

(8) But you must not forget, dear friends, that a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.
(9) The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so He is giving more time for everyone to repent.
(10) But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and everything in them will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be exposed to judgment.
(11) Since everything around us is going to melt away, what holy, godly lives you should be living! -- 2 Peter 3:8-9 (NLT)

ALL JOY TO YOUR WORLD!
Grateful

"Lord, Help My Unbelief!"

I am wholeheartedly praying this prayer this morning:

Lord, help me to believe that Your promise is as true as the performance of Your promise. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" -- Mark 9:24

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
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You Will Be My Witnesses

These words of promise concerning the coming of New Testament Pentecost were spoken by Jesus and recorded in Acts 1:8 (NIV) -- But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses...

Praise God! New Testament Pentecost happened and is still happening. Why? That The Holy Spirit might enter and indwell believers. Why? That He could live the life of Christ through his saints -- yes, that the world might know God personally one-soul-at-a-time.

Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27b (NIV)

Lord, I don't just want to talk about You. I want to be Your Holy Spirit-filled witness. Amen.

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