The Source Of Our Joy Is Jesus

My Utmost For His Highest

…Jesus took…them up on a high mountain apart by themselves… —Mark 9:2

“We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. [..] We are inclined to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching. In actual fact, it is to be turned into something even better than teaching, namely, character. The mountaintop is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something.” CHAMBERS

Be careful that you don’t view your salvation as merely a means of escaping from this world.  For certain ‘this world is not our home, we are just passing through’, but we live here anyway.  Martie and I just finished four years in Haiti.  Living in Haiti is certainly a stark contrast to life in the U.S.  Although the people, in general, are wonderful, the customs, the language, the living conditions are very different.  It requires perseverance and faith to live there. A knowing that Haiti was the place that God had called us to for service.  And so it is for us Christians living in the “world”.  We are born into this world and then born again into the Kingdom.  Yet we remain in this world.  While in Haiti, we both contracted mosquito borne diseases. Those were very difficult times and yet we were not motivated to return to the U.S.  It was part of being in that country.  In the same way, we will suffer difficulties, physical, financial, and relational in our lives no matter where we live.  God does not necessarily spare us from trials and troubles.  Our lives are like the grapes that do not yield the wine until they is crushed. 

The thing is … whatever trial it is that you have experienced, are experiencing or will experience in this life … no matter how difficult, that trial is an opportunity to bring glory to the Father by revealing His power in the midst of it. Reminding you of the chief end of man, which is to glorify God primarily … We don’t bring God glory by escaping the trials of this world, but by persevering by faith in the midst of them.  Joy in life is not found in our circumstances but in Jesus.  ELGIN

(2 Corinthians 4:7-11)  “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.”

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)