Surprise!

Just when you think you may have a more or less quiet day in terms of God, He shows up powerfully. Like a good friend sharing wonderful, heartfelt experiences. Awesome, powerful, tear-filled experiences. Experiences earnestly poured out. Surely we will never be the same again.

The Order Of Things: Joy

Joy is the serious business of Heaven. The joy of the Lord is a gladness of heart, sometimes inexplicable, that comes from knowing God, abiding in Christ, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. “I will be filled with joy because of You. I will sing praises to Your name, O Most High.” Psalm 9:2 […]

The Order Of Things: Happiness

Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found. Psalm 119:35 NLT In the order of things (gratitude, goodness, happiness, joy), happiness is the third leg. The world tells us happiness comes from pursuing whatever will make us feel good. Whatever we think will make us happy […]

The Order Of Things: Goodness

The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all His creation. Psalm 145:9 NLT On the continuum of joy (gratitude, goodness, happiness, joy) we come today to goodness. (See here for thoughts on gratitude). Goodness is one of many attributes of God. Having been made in God’s image, it naturally follows that goodness […]

The Order Of Things: Gratitude

It is not joy that makes us grateful. It is gratitude that makes us joyful. Brother David Steindl-Rast Joy is impossible without gratitude. In the order of things, gratitude comes first. Followed sequentially by goodness, happiness, and finally, joy.

Jesus on Joy

Jesus has gathered with His disciples in the upper room. He delivers some hard news, real gut-punches. He is leaving them. In fact, He declares to them that He must go. But Jesus doesn’t end there. Some of Jesus’s last words are not just about the inevitable and coming sorrow. He speaks decisively regarding an […]

Squeezed

I want you to know how glad I am that it’s me sitting here in this jail and not you. There’s a lot of suffering to be entered into in this world – the kind of suffering Christ takes on. I welcome the chance to take my share in the church’s part of that suffering. […]

Joy. In All Things.

Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in all things. Kay Warren

Joy Is The Serious Business Of Heaven*

Perhaps the single greatest mystery in Creation is what Heaven will be like. Of one thing we can be unshakably certain. It is a place of unbound joy where we will live in intimate and everlasting fellowship with God. Joy in every circumstance. Joy in all things. “And God shall wipe away every tear from […]

Joyful Comfort

These two assurances bring comfort to my heart, and with comfort, joy. Did I mention I love them? Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. Psalm 23:4 JPS And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to […]