FollowingJesusUS.com

God’s Joy & Peace

I wish I could find a way to share with you the joy and peace that comes from being in God’s Presence. I wish I could share with you how I get there. But the truth is-Joy and Peace are God’s Gifts to us. They “come” to us, when God sends them 🙂

There’s no magic word or prayer. There’s no “quick fix”. I didn’t always have them; but I do now. Christ’s Gift.

The only thing I can share with you from my personal experience are two things. One if you keep following Christ, joy and peace will come to you.

Second, when they do come, Joy and Peace will not necessarily be yours 24/7. This is earth and we live in a fallen world. But they will be there when you need them, and even sometimes when you don’t.

God’s Mercy on us, a small part of Heaven here on earth ?

The Joy Of The Lord :)

“¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Psalm 51:12, NIV

A friend of mine told me that she was praying this verse, and it got me thinking. What is the joy of our salvation?

And I realized, it’s the way God loves us. It’s different than any earthly love we experience. It’s always there for us, surrounding us, no matter what.

On earth, we’d like to think that love is unconditional-but it’s really not. Imagine cheating on our spouse multiple times? Think they will still love and stay with us? Perhaps not…But when we mess up, God still loves us. And He stays no matter what 🙂 There is no mistake we can make, no amount of failure, no length of time in which we do not honor and love Him as we should that will stop God from loving us. For God is faithful to us, even when we are not.

And there is no time that we can not turn back to Him. Because He loves us and He’s waiting for us with open arms.

So close your eyes for just a moment and imagine this, God lifts you up and twirls you around. And both you and God are laughing with joy. The kind of joy that fills every part of you. Because you are finally home, safe and sound, in God’s arms as you were born to be.

Pray. Don’t wait. Be with God today 🙂

Don’t Let Satan Steal Your Joy-Or Your Faith!

“22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.”-John 16:22

Sometimes during difficult times, people turn to God for strength and comfort. But sometimes, people turn away from God. The heart break, the job loss, the virus, the race riots …are just too much. Sometimes it is as simple, as to much has changed. For example, in many cases, there is no school. Eating out in many cases is a thing of the past. Going shopping, going to the beach or movies-all on the no-no list. But God has NOT changed! He is the SAME as He has always been and He loves you!

But it is when we feel the worst, when we don’t want to pray, when we feel that God is not listening-that we need to pray the most and keep praying. Don’t rely on how you feel in this type of situation, instead rely on God Himself. For He is ever faithful-no matter what!

And if we do, we will come out the other side. We will re-find the joy we once had. We just have to keep praying, even when we don’t feel like it!