MEDITATION:
Written by Rachael Carmen, a contemporary author and speaker.
Worry, fear and anxiety are the responses our flesh gives. When the Joy of the Lord is our strength, we respond in the Spirit and in hope, faith, and love. These traits come from daily walking in the Spirit. This daily walking in the spirit is crucial to our responses in life. The more time you spend with the Lord, the more time you spend pouring over the Word and communing with Him in prayer, the more our responses will be Spirit led. We can also memorize God’s Word so that we have it like a shield around our heart for our darkest and hardest days.
As God becomes our focus, our eyes will shift from the temporal to the eternal. Yes, we will still have days that we struggle, but we will also have the tools we need to combat the very real battle that is going on in our lives But, even still, there will be hard days. And our strength and joy will rise as we wait on God. We don’t always understand the why in the waiting– and joy is hard in those places. Yet joy isn’t based on our circumstances but on our relationship and the knowledge we have it that relationship with God.
PRAYER:
Written by Rachael Carmen,the author of today’s meditation.
Father, help us to remember that it is through your death on the cross that we can find total and complete joy. It is a gift that is given freely to us, if we accept it. Help us to make a point each and every day to count it all a joy, even in the trials of life. Also, Lord help us to pass our joy unspeakable and full of glory to everyone we meet. In your name, Amen.
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