Is There Joy In Your Journey?

Joy in the Journey

Are You Traveling Your Life’s Road

Filled With Joy?

There are so many analogies to life as a journey.  I picked up this print by Billy Jacobs at a sale and it gave thought to the journey of life. Traveling down this road called life there are many choices presented to you.  Do you stay on the straight road or detour to the left or right?  Do you enjoy the scenery of God’s bounty or complain about too much traffic, it is too hot, it is too cold, and the food is not the best?

Jesus offers His peace to His followers as His resurrection message.  Only if you reside in His peace will your journey be joyful.  If you do not live in His peace your journey will be on a road with one bump after another.  Without His peace your journey could include potentially disabling pot holes, flat tires and break downs.  Without His peace your journey could even resemble an accident of huge proportion.

Check Your Route

Only His peace ensures that you will journey with joy.  If you are looking for peace through other people, a job, a new location, your house, anything material you will not find it.  You may enjoy an initial pleasure but it will not be sustained as will the joy you have when you remain in His peace.

How do you get to that place where you live in His peace?  How do you get to that place where you journey with joy despite what is going on around you?  To live in His peace you must spend time in His presence. 

The closer your relationship is with Him, the greater the peace that will infuse your life.  You will journey with joy.  With His peace securely in your heart (and it is always a heart issue) you will begin to see a change in how you react to life events.  Things that could have created a detour  in the road of your journey will now have little impact.

Rethink Your Journey

The next time you are in the middle of reacting to something, stop and remember that He left you His peace.  Do not let anyone or anything rob you of that.  This past week something happened in my own life and I was upset that my peace had been disrupted.  I quickly realized that His peace cannot be taken from me unless I allow it.  My and your perceived worldly peace is temporary and based on circumstance while His peace is eternal and surpasses all earthly events.  When your peace is disrupted it means that you are not resting in His peace.  

This week check your reactions.  Do not let His peace leave your heart!  Rest in His peace and continue on your journey with joy!

It Is Never Too Late!

If you have not yet made the decision to accept Jesus into your heart, do it now.  Do not wait another minute.  Speak to Him from your heart (for it is always a heart issue).  Tell Him you have fallen short in your life.  Sincerely apologize for your sins, ask Him to cleanse you and come into your heart and into your life.  From this moment forward let His Spirit guide you along the narrow road that leads to everlasting life.

Quotes to Ponder This Week

 “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  ~Jesus, John 14:27

 “For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord. Hear my voice when I call, Lord; be merciful to me and answer me.” ~Psalm 27-5-7

A Prayer Request

Thank you for your continued faithfulness to pray.  Please keep all who serve our country, our servicemen and women and their families in prayer for salvation and safety.  They are our front-line on the battlefield, let us be their front-line in the spirit.  Also, let us cover all who have come home wounded that they and their families will receive the kindness, help and support they need to go forward in their lives.  God bless all our diplomatic and military personnel and their families.  May the Lord keep them safe.

Pray for all throughout the world for hedges of protection against radical Islamic extremists and all forms of terrorism.   Pray for Christians who face violence and death for their faith.  We have long prayed for spiritual victory over radical Islam in Esther’s Warriors Ministry. We now see the reality of this threat come to the forefront in this time in world history.  As Iranians and Islamic extremists are shouting ‘Death to America,’ let us speak life, hope and a return to God in America!

Please pray for all in authority over us, for the full truth to come forth concerning Benghazi. May God richly bless the United States of America, bring to light every single crooked place and keep her safe.  The lives lost in Benghazi, the continuing targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service, Operation Fast and Furious, the Department of Justice targeting journalists phone records, the National Security Agency overstepping its legal authority are hardly “phony scandals.”  We continue to pray for truth to prevail in each of these situations.  Pray for the families who have lost loved ones, for those relentlessly targeted and for all of us who are proud to call ourselves American.

May we may arise united once again as One Nation Under God in this auspicious season in our country’s history. These are treacherous times and now more than ever we must maintain our walk with the Lord, saturate this country in prayer and stand for all that is right in America.  Fail not in this hour.

Pray for peace in Israel.  Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Please Join Me In Prayer

Father God, we thank You for the ultimate price that Jesus paid to set us free.  Thank You,  Lord,  for Your peace that surpasses all understanding.  Let us not lean on our own understanding but rather help us look to You as the author and finisher of our faith.  Place deep in our heart the joy that only comes from walking closely with You as we journey on this path called life.

Place deep in our heart the love of God and love of country that has guided our Nation from its inception.  Place deep in our hearts Your compassion for our fellow men and women.    Lead us to pray without ceasing for our brothers and sisters who suffer at the hands of Islamic terrorists.

Open the eyes of our leaders to arise in this season to defend the very belief in You upon which our Nation is founded.  Thank You for keeping Your hand on America.  We humbly pray this in Jesus’ mighty name.  Amen and Amen.

SEEK:  Stay Equipped, Empowered, Kingdom focused!