Joy

I’ve been out of the blog world for a little bit now but I’m coming back. There’s something that God’s been showing me that has been totally rocking me the past few weeks. Francis Chan is a pastor in Simi Valley California that I have been following as of this year and tracking with. After seeing him at the Orange Conference in Hotlanta, we picked up a series of his, Joy, that they had for sell so last week I started watching it and God started rocking. Here are some thoughts from the talk.

1. We should live a life of rejoicing. We should always rejoice in Jesus. This came off to me at first as one of those way to happy, smile all the time type people until he continued. He said “Our heads should always be in the clouds because we’re not of this world”. He continued by talking about that compared to the cross and all it has to offer that our problems are nothing so we should always rejoice because at the end of the day, we have Jesus. This sounded like a really good ideal to shoot for. You know always being happy with God and where he has put you or what he has dealt you until you take scripture at face value. He then shared Phillipians 4:13, you all know it. Wow, that rocked me! Perry Noble always says we should live like the tomb is empty but am I? I don’t think that it’s just something to shoot for but a commandment from God!

2. His second point was to never worry. I can say honestly that I spend way too much time worrying over stuff whether it be work, ministry, life, family, or anything else you can add to the list. One of the big things he shared that kicked me between the legs was the fact that if we pray and lay things before Jesus, but then continue to worry about it and stress over it, we show that we don’t trust Jesus to handle our problems. It’s like handing them to him but then taking them back! How ridiculous! If we really trust Jesus like we say we do then shouldn’t we leave our problems and worrys at his feet? We should have peace that transcends all knowledge knowing that our heavenly father is handling it and that he’s in charge. If we really believe that, then what is there to worry about?

Adding to that last point he said, “It’s as if God is saying, “Go ahead, Dad’s got everything under control, go play and laugh again.” This has challenged me so much to not only strive for this life but to believe I can do it through Christ and his stregnth.

It’s not easy and I’m still wrestling but what would life be like to never worry again, always rejoicing that Dad is taking care of everything? I’m not sure but I think it looks good and I can’t wait to see it!