Zach Young Child of the King www.purleygatesretreat.org Hello family! What a beautiful day! Isn’t God so awesome? We are alive today, we are loved today, and we get another opportunity to live like Jesus. It doesn’t get any better than that! Today, I would like to lighten things up a little bit for us all. In this week’s post I want to talk about another essential piece to living this Christian life – having joy. I have been talking recently about understanding who we are in Jesus, and telling others about their identity. I also wrote a post not too long ago about counting our blessings. Now that we have those things established, I want to talk about the product that comes from these topics.
I know I started this post off with a very optimistic and happy introduction. It was on purpose. In reality, this should be how we take on life. It should be our perspective at all times. I have realized that once we as followers of Jesus finally get a grasp of who we are in Jesus and that nothing can take His love away from us, there really is nothing that can hold us down any more. There is a reason that God’s word tells us several times that we are free, our chains have been broken. “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” – John 8:36 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” – 2 Corinthians 3:17 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” – Galatians 5:1 “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.” – Colossians 1:21-23 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” – Romans 8:1-2 God is clearly trying to send us a message! We are free! We can have joy! We no longer stand condemned. We now have permission to enjoy this life, to wake up with a smile on our face simply because we actually woke up today! We know that God loves us so much. We go through the rest of our lives with permission to have joy and be weird and dance in the love and light of Jesus! Why else do you think people like Paul or Peter or any of the other great followers of Christ were able to endure so many horrible things? They understood that those temporary pains did not have an effect on their eternal joy! They understood who God saw them as. They had a real relationship with the Creator of this universe, and that’s all they needed. Their cups were already running over and they didn’t need any worldly/temporary pleasures to fill them up. They couldn’t have been any happier or more joyful! There is an old cliché about being a happy camper. I know usually it holds a lot of sarcasm behind it too. However, I want to turn that around and make it true! I want to REALLY be one happy camper simply because I know God loves me and I love Him. I pray that you will join me, and make it a life motto. Every morning when we wake up, we can say with confidence and sincerity, “I’m a happy camper because Jesus loves me!” I hope you all enjoyed this message today and maybe even brightened up your day! I’m praying for all of you that you would come to a complete understanding of the Lord and just how much He really loves you. It’s pretty stinkin’ awesome! Have a great week! Jesus loves you!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
About Us:At Purley Gates, our passion is to share the love of Jesus with ALL people. Archives
November 2017
Categories |