Good Morning Co-Laborers! This is a day to honor laborers and for a day of rest, family, friends and fun. Enjoy!
God used Sarah to give us a great reminder to choose joy. Thanks Sarah for the reminders! We were also reminded to stop grumbling and lift and praises as we refocus. We are called to speak life and joy over things, people and situations as we refocus on God and choose joy. ODB (below) discuss joy as well. Check it out and choose joy as you rest in the Lord and recharge. It's a great day to reload, refocus and rest in the Lord and His ability to work all things together for good. Yes rejoice! Don't let the devil or your own choices steal your joy. be ready for the attacks by staying grounded in God and His Living Word. And don't forget Sarah's challenge. Start ! "No complaining for two weeks. Boycott grumbling for two weeks." Help us Lord! Come in habit our praises and redirect our minds and help us to choose joy always. Amen! May we know Your shalom! No regrets! Choose joy that flows form the trust that God will redeem, restore, revive and work all things together for good. Yes rejoice! Amen! And shalom!
ODB:
Wishing for Joy
We proclaim to you the eternal life, which . . . has appeared to us. . . . We write this to make our joy complete. 1 John 1:2, 4
In her blog post “Regrets of the Dying,” Bronnie Ware outlines regrets she heard as a nurse caring for the terminally ill. Among them were “I wish I hadn’t worked so hard” and “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.” Perhaps most intriguing: “I wish that I had let myself be happier.”
“Facing our own inevitable death is a fabulous tool for joy-filled living,” Ware writes. That’s sound advice, but what is the source of such joy? Where do we find ultimate meaning?
As a young man, John the disciple held a distorted view of life’s purpose. He and his brother asked Jesus, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory” (Mark 10:37). Their request only sparked dissension among the disciples (v. 41).
Decades later John held a drastically different view—one of love and community in Jesus. John saw Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as foundational to everything. “We proclaim to you the eternal life,” he wrote (1 John 1:2). John told us about Jesus so that “you also may have fellowship with us” (v. 3). Then he added, “Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete” (vv. 3-4).
Life can bring regrets. Jesus invites us to exchange them for the complete joy only He can give.
By Tim Gustafson
REFLECT & PRAY
What regrets do you have? What’s keeping you from letting Jesus make your joy complete?
Heavenly Father, I regret ____________. Please step into this pain in my life. I need the joy that comes from being united with You.
John wrote this letter to refute false teachers who said that Jesus wasn’t the Messiah and wasn’t a real human person (1 John 2:22; 4:1-3). The apostle testified that he’d personally heard, seen, touched, and been in fellowship with Christ, thus affirming His humanity (1:1-3). John also declared Jesus’ deity by calling Him “the Word of life” (v. 1), “the eternal life” (v. 2), and the “Son” of God (v. 3).
The same theme is seen in John’s gospel, which he wrote so that we’d “believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing [we’d] have life in his name” (John 20:31). Eternal life is the privilege and joy of knowing God and Christ (17:3; 1 John 2:25). Jesus promised that those who remained in Him would experience His joy to the fullest (John 15:11). He invites us to bring our struggles and regrets to Him and exchange them for His joy.
LISTEN ONLINE
