Your Joy – Real or Counterfeit

Good Monday Morning Blog Family and what a beautiful morning it is. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24). Praise God. I would also like to apologize for not posting a prayer Friday for Friday’s Prayer. I left the house early Friday morning traveling out of town to receive my 2nd covid vaccination and I was gone for a while. When I returned home I had to run a couple of errands and I just didn’t bother posting that late in the day. But, I am back on schedule this morning. Praise God.

Well, this is the beginning of a glorious week full of the protection, joy and blessings of God. I tell you, my weekend was so awesome and filled with so much joy. Sunday was my Birthday and I started receiving blessings on Saturday and they just poured into Sunday, which made for an awesome Birthday weekend. So, I was blessed to see another year and I am ever so grateful to my Heavenly Father. I am so looking forward to what He has in store for me this next chapter and year in my life. Each year seems to get better and better, so I have to say I am very excited to see what unfolds.

I am a true believer of Nehemiah 8:10 which tells me that “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” Because that is exactly what I find it to be in my life. How can you not think about God and all He is and stands for and not be filled with Joy. Just thinking about how much He loves and cares for me puts a smile on my face and in my heart. Even when I am missing my Mom and feeling really sad. I can put on some praise music and start praising God, even while tears are flowing. I can feel the joy of the Lord when it starts to over take me and I start to come from under that sad cloud. Paul said in Philippians 4:4 that we are to “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” And David tells us in Psalm 16:11, ” You make known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.” So, the joy of the Lord does awesome things for us and that is how I felt this weekend. I consider myself a joyful person everyday, but this weekend I felt more of that joy and it was awesome.

God is so good to us, all of the time. If God thought it was important enough to talk about His joy that we should have in our lives, then we should make sure we have it. Psalm 90:14 reads, “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” Again He is talking about the His joy and in our lives every day. Even with all of the things that are going on around us and in the world right now. We should still be full of the joy of the Lord every day no matter what. Staying focused God and what He is instructing us to do, we won’t have time to worry about other things. Because He tells us how to be happy and full of joy no matter what, and that is what I try to do every day. Keeping my focus on what matters and who matters the most in my life and that is my Heavenly Father. I find as long as I keep my eyes on Him and stay obedient, He will take care of everything and everybody else in my life.

Remember the gospel song “This Joy I Have?” It says’ “This joy that I have the world didn’t give it to me and the world can’t take it away.” There is so much truth in that, because true joy comes from the Lord. You may receive joy from the world, but it is counterfeit joy, it won’t last. But the joy of the Lord is the real thing, it will last forever. So, make sure the joy you have in your life is the real thing, the joy that you can only get from the Lord. God Bless 🙂