Luke 2:8–10 — That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9) Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10) but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring good news that will bring great joy to all people.”

Cultivate joy:

Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King — “Remember, joy is different from happiness. Although they are connected through positive feelings, keep in mind joy involves what holds ultimate significance in your life.” God wants us to enjoy our lives — whether they are easy or difficult. God never intended for anyone to merely exist: He wanted everyone to enjoy their life every day. He said in John 10:10 that His purpose for coming was to give us a rich and satisfying life. The only way to obtain that is to cultivate joy.

Believe joy:

Joy is internal; happiness is external. Joy is God-given, based on what you believe, not on your current circumstances. Too many people think they can be happy only when they go on vacations, when the kids get older, when they are a success at work, when they get what they want. This is not true.

Choose joy:

Happiness is based on circumstance; joy is based on a choice — that through the worst times, worst days, we can experience joy in our lives, and the emotions of peace and excitement, regardless of our outward circumstances. This is the joy God gives. What’s great is that it is our choice. We choose joy.

Jesus gives us the joy.  I hope you choose it.

Merry Christmas to all of you. God bless.

Just a thought,

PSS

One of the greatest (if not the greatest) revelations in the Bible is this: Matthew 1:23 — Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.”

Only believe:

Without Emmanuel there would be no salvation, no freedom from sin. Because of this we realize we aren’t just forgiven of sin: we are free from it. Big difference! What we must understand is that Jesus was fully man and fully God. If we don’t believe this, we cannot be born again a child of God.

Test the spirits:

1 John 4:1–3 — Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2) By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. 3) But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

Walk with God:

So, in order to walk with God, we must believe that Jesus is God come in the flesh. Jesus is all God and all man.

As we celebrate this Christmas season, let’s never forget who Jesus is — Emmanuel. God with us! He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

Just a thought,

PSS

Our level of disappointment is directly proportionate to our level of appreciation.

Unspoken expectations:

We all need to live life with great expectations. But our expectations need to be reasonable ones. Some of us have unspoken expectations. We expect things from others that were never agreed upon or spoken about. We expect something of someone or something that was never discussed. It’s these expectations that get us.

Realistic expectations:

We expect so much from God, even when His word doesn’t say what we expect. When this happens, we get disappointed. Disappointment is defined as the feeling of sadness or displeasure caused by the nonfulfillment of one’s hopes or expectations. We will hear people say things like, “I thought you meant this,” or “I thought you said this.” We really need to govern our expectations with reality — the reality of what has been said or agreed to.

Godly expectations:

Especially when it comes to God, people so often accuse Him of not caring because He didn’t meet their expectation at the time. But what they expected wasn’t based on fact or in the core truth. Let’s find out what the word of God actually says, then adjust our expectations to what has actually been said or agreed upon.

What we will find is that we won’t experience as much disappointment in our lives.

Just a thought,

PSS

From the song O Holy Night,it says, “Long lay the world in sin and error pining till he appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!”

Expectation:

Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines thrill of hopeas piercing, penetrating desire and expectation of an obtainable good. Hope, true hope, can be found in one place and one place only — Jesus — the only true hope that was birthed into a world filled with sins, pining for redemption (Colossians 1:27; Matthew 1:18-23). The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Proclamation:

“The lord is my portion,” says my soul. Therefore, I will hope in Him(Lamentations 3:22-24). “Lament” means to mourn, grieve, weep, to wail — not a happy book but the very book that speaks about Hope, true hope — not a wishful-thinking hope, but a hope built on faith.

Manifestation:

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen(Hebrews 11:1). Hope helps strengthen the immune system, improves social relationships, helps support mental strength and happiness, and helps you wake up feeling positive.

Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future. Let’s keep our hope alive, believing and serving Jesus.

Just a thought,

PSS

As we go about building the Church — when I say building the Church, I mean helping people, reaching the lost, being a city on a hill, a light for everyone to see, being salt and light, the last beacon of hope — His name will be the Hope of all the world (Matthew 12:21).

Building the wall:

We need to keep building the wall (the Church), no matter who comes against us with fear and intimidation. Way too many pastors and churches are weak. They believe the Church can be dictated to by a lost world. Out of fear they call it concern, being caring. They have shut their doors. They have stopped being the hope of the world. They have decided to acquiesce to an ungodly governor.

Protesting:

Acquiesce means to accept something, but without protest. This is why we have changed our services to protests: we are protesting for our religious freedom, being free to help those who are hurting and afraid, those who are broken, hopeless, relapsing into addiction. That is why the church should remain open.

Watching:

We must decide what we believe and what we will follow. You can follow the lost world or follow the word of God. Are you going to stay on the wall working or come down to your peril? Our city, our state is depending on us to continue to stand watch and continue to build the wall — the Church.

It’s always our choice. Which will it be for you?

Just a thought,

PSS