My Month Of Laughter! Es8:16

Do we want more joy in our lives?
Do we want to live in God’s presence?
God’s will for us is to constantly experience his natural joy and peace.
Lord, we want to thank you for the love you have for us,
We want to bless the name of the Lord who is our strength and our source of joy.
So this morning we choose to come and unburden ourselves at your feet,
we want to leave our cares and burdens at your feet, to proclaim your praises.
Joy does not depend on emotions
or our circumstances
or our physical condition.
It’s in our spirit.
There is only one source of joy: God himself.
God is eternal,
he does not change,
he is not affected by situations or circumstances.
It is on the altar of the Lord that joy is released.
It is a place of sacrifice, a place of commitment and consecration,
It is a place where we submit ourselves to God without reserve.
In Luke 9, Jesus meets three men.
The first wanted to follow Jesus wherever he went,
The second had God’s call on his life and Jesus invited him to follow him, but he had an urgent matter to attend to: he had to go and bury his Father.
The third man postpones his decision to follow Jesus because he first wants to say goodbye to his loved ones.
Here are three different attitudes that help us to understand that Jesus does not take first place in our hearts.
Following Jesus, drawing closer to him, is demanding,
it imposes a new lifestyle,
It means giving up many things.
Coming closer to Jesus requires many sacrifices; we have to leave everything behind, abandon everything to proclaim the reign of God.
Beloved, abandoning everything and clinging to the Lord means trusting him.
Are we ready to follow Jesus to the end?
Are we ready to stop worrying and let Jesus give us his assurance?
Let’s be certain of one thing: the decision to be a disciple, to be called a worker for Christ, opens the door to an extraordinary connection.
Anne was celebrated by coming closer to Jesus,
It was by clinging to the Lord that Sarah laughed at the amazing blessing.
It was by sitting in God’s presence that Zechariah and Elizabeth became parents at their own age.
The closer you get to the Lord, the more gladness you share.
Jeremiah, 15:16 – I have gathered your words and devoured them; your words have made my heart glad and rejoice; for your name is called upon me, O Lord, God of hosts.
Do we really want to eat up the words of the Lord and make joy and gladness out of them?
Our desires come first,
our goals come first,
our flesh takes first place.
We must learn not to let life’s situations steal our appetite for God’s word,
we become so absorbed in our own problems that we are no longer hungry,
we no longer feed on the word of God.
Without the devotion of words to the Lord, we will not be able to have joy and gladness in our hearts.
Good day to you all
Good day to you
https://youtu.be/hI3MvzMnbOk?si=Ksaa11Gjdbk4Kolj