Journey to Joy

As of today, I'm 14 days through the 30 day "Choosing Gratitude" devotional! It's been a very enlightening journey, and I'd like to share with you some of the insights I've received over the past couple of weeks.

For those of you who haven't read my previous blog posts, "Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy" is a wonderful Christian book by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, who takes an in-depth, Scriptural view on gratitude, how it leads to joy, and debunks the belief sometimes held by Christians that ingratitude (worry, complaining, covetousness) is an "acceptable sin". Not only does she do a great job at describing our need to put on gratitude and put off ingratitude, but she also created a 30-Day devotional at the end of the book so the reader is not left simply to ponder what they've read, but are given a guide to put it into practice!

So, on Day 1, I learned the definition of gratitude - "Gratitude is learning to recognize and express appreciation for the benefits we have received from God and from others." The word "express" is the key here. Most of the time I know I've been greatly blessed, but don't actually take the time to express my thanks. Anything short of recognizing and expressing is not true gratitude.

Day 2, I started studying the Word in the book of Colossians. At least in my NIV version, the words "thanks" and "gratitude" are used seven times throughout the four chapters! Three of these instances are used in one of my favorite passages of the Bible: "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Col 3:15-17, emphasis added) Isn't that a great set of verses?!

In studying the thankfulness references in Colossians, I learned a lot of interesting things, including:

  •  Overflowing with thankfulness is not just something nice to do, it's something we're commanded to do as part of our growth in Christ! (Col 2:6-7)
  • Peace and gratitude go hand in hand. We need to trust God with what He is doing in our lives, but also that what He has given us is enough. (Col 3:15)
  • Part of truly worshiping while we sing is having grateful hearts. I need to evaluate, and I just trying to get a "warm and fuzzy", or am I consciously, literally giving thanks to God while I sing? (Col 3:16)


  • Verse 17 of chapter 3 kind of sums everything up - "Whatever you do...do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks..."! So how do we do everything in His name and for His glory? Part of it is giving thanks in every situation! How do I do school/work/a task I don't want to do in Jesus' name? Give thanks for it! How do I get through a trial or hardship in Jesus' name? Give thanks for it! How do I eat food, read a book, or watch a movie in Jesus' name? Give thanks for it!
  • And lastly, Colossians 4:2 says, "Devote yourselves to praying, being watchful and thankful." It seems that a lot of Christians focus on the "being watchful" part - praying for their own growth and needs, other's needs and struggles, for the salvation and spreading of the Gospel in the world, etc. Clearly, this is not a bad thing at all, but in being watchful, we should not forget to be thankful in our prayers as well! 
Well, that's all I have time for today. But I want to end by thanking God for His awesome love! Why on earth would He send His son to a bunch of people who would hate him, even after he died for them? It seems like madness! But it just goes to show the extent of His awesomeness.

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." ~ Psalm 118:1

~~~

Today I wanted to share with you one of my favorite worship songs - "Forever":



Love in Christ,
Ellie

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

People Matter

Image
Today was one of those first time experiences that I'll never forget. I've been a part of our local Church Body - Southwest Wake Christian Assembly (SWCA) - for right around eight years, and although we've had a dozen births and a handful of marriages, we've never had a death of one of Body members. One of our oldest members, Mr. Bob, was just transferred to Hospice this week with likely only a few more days to live on this earth. The whole situation was rather sudden - I knew he'd struggled with health issues for a while and was weak, but I didn't realize how close he's been to death. Today I got to visit him. Unfortunately, he was sound asleep the whole time, but I still got to talk and sing loudly to him. Even if he didn't hear anything I said or sang, I'm sure God will pass along the message when Mr. Bob falls into His embrace. I admit, I cried. It was emotional seeing him there, knowing he won't be here for much longer. I was also sad tha
Read more

Joy and "Genesius"

Image
So much has gone on in the past couple weeks!! Not only did I finish my joy study (yay!), but I got through the last two weeks of rehearsals and three performances of a Christian Youth Theatre play! (www.spiritualtwist.com) The play, titled "Genesius", focused on the persecution of early Christians in Rome, 303 AD. It explicitly shared the Gospel, and touched on themes like sacrifice, surrender, faith, love, joy in trials, and much more! I was HUGELY blessed to be able to be a part of this production, and know I will never be the same, especially after the role I played. My character's name was Claudia. Not only was she a Christian, but she was also a noblewoman, which was less common in those days. Her (fictional) husband was also an important official and a close friend of the Emperor, Diocletian. When Claudia and her daughter, Lydia, are captured and brought before the Emperor (which happens during the play), he tries to get Claudia to renounce her faith, first by a
Read more

Dance Before the Lord

Image
Today I read 2 Samuel 6. This is when David and all of Israel are bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. The first time is a failure (the dude touches the Ark and dies, David gets spooked, and lets some other guy take care of it for a while), but I focused my study on the second part of the chapter, when they're bringing it in again the right way. It says that David danced before the Lord (and subsequently all of Israel) with "all his might". There were shouts, and trumpets, and other musical instruments blaring, I'm sure. Then David began "leaping and dancing" in celebration and thankfulness before the Lord. Not only is David held in honor by the people for this whole-hearted display (as we find out later in the chapter), but David also blesses the people by giving them all food. However, David's wife Michal (Saul's daughter), despises and condemns David for his dancing, saying that he made an utter fool of himself before the people.
Read more