Author: debo

Hi this is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword. I love that so many of you are taking advantage of reading your dailyeword at agf.org. We will talk this week about Love Basics. He loves His church, he loves marriage and families, he loves the world, and He loves you! Love is who He is! God loves. No exceptions, and no limits. God so loved the world, that He gave Jesus for you, so that you could be a part of God’s family. How great is His love for us. Here’s your dailyeword.

We can receive the unconditional love of God. God loves. Period. In fact, it was God’s unconditional love that sent Jesus to the world as a baby to live a sinless life and then to die on a cross for our sins. It is love that surpasses knowledge and love that can overflow as we are filled with His fullness. (Eph 3:19) The Agape love of God is God’s selfless love that set the world in motion, and keeps all things held together. (Col 1:15-17) Love really does make the world go round!

Now is the time for believers to demonstrate the love of God like never before. We are used to the world’s system that tells us to act loving when we “feel” loving. Agape love acts lovingly, even when we may not feel like loving. Because love is a choice, we can choose our actions, in spite of circumstances, and I Corinthians 13:4-8 really “nails down” what agape love is.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.
So God’s love in us really is kind, it isn’t prideful, is patient, behaves correctly, isn’t self seeking, isn’t easily provoked. It doesn’t insist on its own way, thinks no evil, rejoices in truth, bears all things, believes all things, endures all things, and never fails. Amazing LOVE!

Has life grown heavy around you? Is it possible to get a fresh perspective when circumstances in our life seem dreary? When negatives are flooding your life; when more bills are coming in than money is available; when unfortunate circumstances don’t seem to be changing; or what ever you are going through seems like more than you can bear; there is a way to keep our head above the clouds and be filled with joy again. It may be as simple as getting the perspective of a pilot or a mountain climber. When we are experiencing all the dreariness in the valley, 2000 feet above us, from the view of a mountaintop or from the window of an airplane, or from God’s perspective, the sun is still shining. In fact, up there in the daytime, you can see on and on forever. The sunrise is beautiful, the sunsets are incredible, and there is not an ounce of dreariness anywhere.

An even easier way than boarding an airplane or climbing a mountain is to begin remembering all the reasons you have to smile. Christians shouldn’t be named “The Miserable Ones” like they were in the movie Amistad. We should be called “The Joyful Ones,” full “to the brim” with the joy of the Lord. Our joy is not dependent on our circumstances, like how sunny it is or how smoothly our life is flowing along. Think about this perspective. We are grateful recipients of the wonderful grace of God, and the heavy cloud of sin has been lifted off of us. Hallelujah! He takes the clouds away! So whatever the weather, we can rejoice evermore! Our joy bucket can be filled and overflowing.

Another way to become more joy filled is to make time to just be around some kids. As parents, grandparents or neighbor to children, find ways to build into young people’s lives. We have wisdom, love, and time to share. As parents, let’s loosen up and have some fun with our kids. Spend some time on the water, run through the sprinkler, have a tickle contest, eat some ice cream, because life is at its fullest when we find joy just in living. We should say yes as often as we can when our kids ask for our time. (Kids spell love T I M E.) And our kids grow up way too fast. Their joy is contagious and you’ll find that their joy will rub off on you!

Summer is almost half over, so let’s make the best of every moment you can enjoy outdoors. In spite of what is going on around us, or the chaos of our world, enjoy this season of our lives. Let’s trust God, enjoy simple things, and hang out with some kids. They will remind us to live each day filled with joy and full of childlike wonder.

With the condition of our world, it is easy to lose your joy, just by watching the news. Can we really keep our joy and our childlike wonder? How then, how can we as responsible, hardworking, even serious adults become more childlike? One hallmark of children is they simply trust. They believe. It can be hard on adults to be trusting when we are naturally skeptical, especially with so many scams in our world. We have to use wisdom, but let’s learn to trust God completely. He is always faithful, steadfast and secure, and His Word is our anchor. If we center on Him, and remaining childlike, we can keep our joy bucket full.

Children enjoy simple things. Is there anything sweeter than hearing the laughter of children? They get excited about little things like swinging from a tree, jumping off a diving board, or playing in the dirt. Instead of praying for a day or a week to end, they don’t ever want their day to end, and are sad when they have to go to bed. Sometimes as adults, our lives are so busy that we can’t even find time to enjoy a glass of lemonade on the porch watching our kids play in the yard. Instead, we long for bedtime to come sooner. Let’s remember that joy should be a part of our life, everyday. Find a way to laugh and have fun even in our harsh world.

We live in a crazy world, where sadness, heartache, and difficulties are often what we see and hear on the news locally and globally. It can be really easy to let our personal circumstances and the situations happening on our planet determine how we see the world, and usually it isn’t with childlike wonder. We can become jaded and cynical, by just living life. Too often God gets the blame for the enemy’s work on the earth, (which is to steal, kill and destroy), when God is the one who actually brings abundance to our lives. (John 10:10) We serve a good Father, who wants only the best for his children, so much so, He wants us to prosper and be in health, even as our soul prospers (III John 2). He desires that we live life with childlike wonder, full of the joy of the Lord, even though our world is a mess.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:3 and Mark 10:13-16 that to enter God’s kingdom that is full of joy, we must become like a child. So, how childlike are you? There is a big difference between being childlike and being childish. Being childlike is being pure, innocent and trusting, compared to being childish which is acting immaturely, being irresponsible and behaving foolishly. Our aim should be to live with the attitude of a child, with wide-eyed amazement, excited about what God will bring each new day, filled with the joy of the Lord.

I believe that God has abundant joy and provision for you. There are no impossible cases with God, and He specializes in second chances. If you think God has forgotten about you, He hasn’t. If you think things will never work out, they will. If you don’t believe that God can use you, He can. If we hunger and thirst for Him, He will fill us up and we can live out of the overflow of joy. When we get still before Him, He will fill us, so that we can spill the overflow and can in turn joyfully encourage someone else along the way.

Prayer:
Father, I thank you that your word is at work within each one who hears or reads my encouraging word. I believe Lord that you are giving them the power to begin to capture their negative thoughts, and replace them with thoughts of life. I give you praise oh Lord that they will begin to reap the results of a thought life that is set on you. I pray that they have the freedom and the discipline to carefully choose what they will think about, meditate on and focus on in their minds. I thank you God that as they fill their life with Your Word, they will begin more and more to think your thoughts, which will result in them speaking words in line with your word, and then acting like you would act. I pray Lord that the vision that You have given them for their life will come to pass as they joyfully search for joy in all the right places. Thank you God for helping them renew their mind to the Word of God, and letting each of them enjoy the wonderful, abundant life that Jesus died for them to live. In Jesus name, AMEN! Be encouraged today!

It is such a great thing to know that we have our own personal coach. In I John 2:20:27 –it says that you have received an anointing from the Holy One. He will teach you. That is very personal. We have a personal teacher, or a coach if you prefer. We have received an anointing and that anointing is like oil on a machine. It makes everything flow easier. Then we have an advantage over those who don’t know God! There are times when even in the natural realm, just having someone tell you it is all going to be ok, or that you can make it can keep us going through rough patches in life. Even though we want MORE of all God has for us, we still live in a fallen world, and on an earth with a curse. That means that bad things still happen to good people. We could just get discouraged and give up, or we could listen to our personal coach who keeps telling us, “KEEP GOING. I have anointed you. I have appointed you for such a time as this. You can make it. You are well equipped to stand against the forces of evil, and with the Name of Jesus and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, be able to overcome. You are not defeated, you are an over comer.” When all of life pours on you, Jesus still REIGNS! So listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. He is there encouraging you to live your best life for God. Receive all of the MORE God has for you today, and this week. You are a good student and the very best teacher is teaching you….the Holy Spirit of God. How awesome is that!

Intro:
Hi, this is Dorette Schaal and I hope you enjoy my dailyeword. I started all the way back in 2002, before the word blog was invented, and how much of a joy and privilege it is on a regular basis to share from my heart some encouraging words with you. I love the illustration of silverware to help define how we can encourage others. We don’t want to be like a fork that pierces, or a knife that cuts, but we want to be like a spoon that lifts. I hope that your day is lifted and that you feel that God’s purpose and design for you can come to pass because not only do you have the best coach in the world behind you (God Himself), but I get to come along side and give you words of encouragement as well. This is our last week talking about joy filled living, and I hope you are overflowing with the joy of the Lord, spilling it over on everyone around you.

Many years ago when I first heard of the motivation (or foundational) gifts in Romans 12, I immediately pinpointed which gift was the one that most closely defined who I felt God created me to be. I noticed in some of the other gifts that were listed that there were points that applied, but when it came to encouragement, it fit me like a glove.
So for many years, I have been quietly encouraging people, trying not to let a day go by without using my words or voice to encourage someone. Then a couple of years ago, I heard a message on the ministry of encouragement, and the man who was ministering pointed me out at the end of the service and confirmed that encouragement is my ministry, and said that I needed to be more actively encouraging people with my words, through my writing, speaking, and singing. So that is what I have been doing for many years now. I’ve given personal poems to individuals, and groups, written kids books, and devotionals for may years now, all out of the abundance of my heart. I never have had anything published or copyrighted, so it has been a gift of love. I have been encouraged to get a book of poems and the children’s books I have written published and to syndicate my dailyeword encouragement. So I covet your prayers in this new endeavor. I could use your encouragement and your prayer! Thank you in advance

Discover Your Joy – Find it! Develop your joy – fulfill it! And Defend your joy – contend for it! To discover your joy, we must believe that God wants your joy to be full. Jesus is the joy of our salvation, and only in Him do we experience true, satisfying, complete joy. Once we are saved, we make a choice to think on the things listed in Phil 4:8. That means disciplining our mind to think on things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report. If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, we are told to think on those things. To discover our joy, we have to choose to over ride past negative programming. Sometimes that means being introspective and finding out where the negativity came from and dealing with it so you can move on to living a joy filled life. Once we have found our joy, we must develop our joy – it is up to us to fulfill it! We choose to forgive ourself and others. We choose to act today how we want to feel. Because how we think is so important, and our emotional stability or instability reveal the quality of our thoughts! So think on the right thing! Lastly, let’s defend our joy, fight for it! Contend for JOY! We can’t allow others opinions to steal your joy. Authentic joy takes a leap of faith. We act joyfully before we see the evidence or manifestation of changed circumstances! That takes faith! And we actively seek good company and positive influences if we want to live a joy filled life, every day of the year.