The Secret of Continuous Joy
If I told you that I could guarantee you would lose 30 pounds in three months and keep it off forever … wouldn’t you want to know my secret?!
Why … of course you would!
If I promised that I would help you invest your money in such a way that you would be assured your investment would yield a 100-fold return … wouldn’t you want to give my economic advice a try?
Why … of course you would!! You would be crazy not to do so!
What if I told you that I knew of a way for you to have continuous joy in your soul … peace in your mind … and wisdom for every situation?
Wouldn’t you want to know my secret?
My not-so-secret secret is found in reading the Word of God daily.
I have a divine responsibility to share with you why I am able to live joyfully … and even victoriously … during ferocious storms and fierce fires in life.
The reason I am able to maintain hope in my heart … and peace in my outlook … is only because of the deposit of the Bible in my life.
I was going through an extremely difficult situation recently … it was hellacious, if you want to know the truth … and my role model and mentor said to me, “I can’t believe you are doing so well, Carol. You have such peace.”
My response was, “This is what having a daily quiet time for decades looks like in a human life. I couldn’t do it without the power of the Holy Spirit and the perpetual commitment to scripture.
I don’t want you to experience one more storm … or one more fire … without the strength that the Bible is able to offer a shriveled up, human soul.
“Apply yourself wholly to the Scriptures, and apply the Scriptures wholly to yourself.” -Johann A. Bengel
So … let’s get started.
Let’s talk about the Bible. You are going to love this … I guarantee it!
First of all … see if the Bible is able to help us with the sticky topic of sin.
Do you struggle with a hidden sin? Perhaps your hidden sin is not so hidden any longer.
Maybe you have unsuccessfully tried year after year to overcome a dreadful habit that has you enslaved … I understand. Truly I do.
But first let me ask you … have you tried reading your Bible?
“How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.
With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.” – Psalm 119:9, 10, 11
If you have a problem with sin … with fantasy … with lust … with overeating … with overspending … with anger … with bitterness … with negativity …
I have a suggestion for you today … Take your Bible off the shelf … dust it off … and open it up!
The Bible will do a cleansing work in your life that nothing else is able to accomplish.
Let me give you a visual that might help you understand this concept.
If you have a dirty pan that has all sorts of food particles … gooey gunk … and yesterday’s left-overs sticking to it … how in the world will you ever get it clean?!
Unless you soak this pan in hot soapy water … the gunk won’t come off.
When you do soak the pan … the gunk easily peals right off!
So it is with sin … we need to soak our hearts and our minds in the “gunk-removing” Word of God!
We would all admit that some sins are more difficult to overcome than others … and for those hard-to-remove sins … we need to soak in the Word even longer!
Also … tucked away in the verses we just read … reminders that we must … we simply must … treasure God’s Word in our hearts.
What does that mean? To treasure God’s Word in our hearts? Of everything that you treasure this side of heaven … you must consider the Word of God as your highest and most valuable treasure.
What is a treasure? Well … it is something that holds great value for you.
I treasure my grandmother’s china teacups.
I treasure the ring that my mom gave to me years ago.
Oh! How I treasure my children’s pictures from when they were little
I display those treasures in my home because of their value to me personally.
I also treasure my marriage … relationships with grown children … and sweet friendships with lifetime friends.
Treasures can be tangibles or intangibles.
We make place for treasures in our thought life … and give these treasures our undivided attention.
We also tend to talk about those intangibles which we treasure.
We treasure sweet memories … poignant songs … childhood books … family and friends … holiday traditions.
Of all the items and ideas that we would consider a treasure … the Bible should be our most valuable and precious treasure.
We should think about the Word … we should spend time with the Word … and we should talk about the Word of God.
I have a challenge for you this week … are you brave enough to take it?
I dare you to read the Bible every day … just for 5-10 minutes! And then, write down just one scripture that landed in your heart from that day’s reading.
I dare you to set a coffee date with 2-3 friends who also treasure the Bible … and then only talk about the Word of God during your coffee date …don’t talk about anything else.
If you still have children in the home … I dare you to spend 5-10 minutes with your kids every day … talk about favorite Bible verses … what you learned in your quiet time that morning … a scripture that meant a lot to you in your growing-up years.
If you have a baby … put their little hand on the Word … and then say, “We love the Bible! It is God’s Word to us and it is true. The Bible tells us how much God loves us!
If you treasure the Word – you will also value the time you spend reading it … thinking about it … and talking about it.
If you treasure the Word – It will be on display in your life.
You will want the people in your life to know all about your treasure!
Down through the years, I turned to the Bible and found in it all that I needed. -Ruth Bell Graham
Thanks for listening to my heart this week. As you know by now, my heart is truly not a perfect heart, but it is a heart that is filled to overflowing with gratitude for the life I have been given and for the people who walk with me. And, it continues to be a heart that is relentlessly chasing after God and all that He is.