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The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. That scripture is found in Ps 92:12-14. I love these verses. One of the greatest goals in life is to encourage people to flourish in life, and this scripture tells us how to do it. If we are planted in God’s house we will flourish…..hummm, flourish, that sounds a little bit like living and experience a joy filled life! Flourish means to thrive, to prosper and to be in peak condition. That is God’s desire for every us. In III John verse 2, John penned these words inspired by the Holy Spirit….I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all will go well with you, even as your soul is prospering. Soul prosperity is having a mind that is renewed to God’s Word. It is making choices that lead to abundant life. It is living life in the overflow, and living full of joy. God gives us the opportunity to taste heaven on earth – that is flourishing. We can flourish more and more as we grow deep roots in the church body where God has planted us. The positive results of putting our roots down in the House of God is that our whole life will flourish! We will have a good root system, become a strong tree, with great tasting, lasting fruit. Our bucket of joy can overflow and our lives can flourish in every realm. It’s the kind of encouragement we all need to hear!

Intro:
What is the secret to a joy filled life? Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with yourdailyeword. There are lots of people looking for the answer to that question. Do you know that the Bible tells us the secret? Jesus knew the secret! The secret to the source of joy was for us is to 1) the grasp the full measure of God’s love for us, 2) for us to experience the infilling of the Holy Spirit, 3) then to walk in unity. Those sound like things that we can experience today! When we do, we can rejoice always, whatever the circumstances! Here is yourdailyeword.

As children of God we are rightful heir to the blessing of God, including overflowing joy. When we choose to obey God’s Word, and walk in his will, joy unspeakable and full of glory is ours! When you think about what joy is, think about this definition. Joy is the deeply entrenched, unshakeable belief, that is the result of sustained right thinking and dwelling on and experiencing the character and nature of God. Once we are saved, we are changed from the inside out. After salvation what need to change how we think. We are to renew our mind to a new way of thinking. That is how we are transformed, according to Romans 12: 1 and 2. The Amplified Bible says to be transformed by its new ideals and its new attitude so that we can walk in God’s good, acceptable and perfect will for our lives. We can live by faith in the joy of the Lord. Joy is an outward sign of our faith in the promises of God. Just as we choose to walk by faith, live by faith, and operate in faith, joy is the path we choose day by day. Joy is within us, but it is up to us to release it! Living a life of joy requires mental discipline. We have to be diligent and proactive about capturing thoughts that are not of God, and replacing them with thoughts that line up with God’s Word. It’s sound funny to think about, but truly our thoughts are showing! What we think about is how we speak and how we act. How you think is what you will be! Thoughts become words, and words become actions. So what are you going to think on?

Chosen, accepted, established. What a wonderful place to be in Christ. We become chosen, accepted and established, not by our works, but by His work in us. It is time to just receive what God has done for us. When we are in His Presence, we can experience fullness of joy. For the joy that was set before Him, Jesus was raised from the dead to bring resurrection life to us. Jesus is love personified. Jesus is the joy of my salvation. Through Him we are accepted, forgiven, and received into the family of God. His joy is placed in our heart. We get to experience the joy of the Lord, all because of Jesus’ willingness to pay the price for our sin. Once we become who God wants us to be, as a child of God, we can begin to live out of His joy in us. The people in our lives get to experience the joy of the Lord manifested through us. We get to let others know they are chosen, accepted and totally loved. We then get to see the power of God at work in the lives of those who we come in contact with just by living in the overflow of joy. Let’s be aware, and have our spiritual senses fully awake and alert.
Confession: I am accepted, love and forgiven. That gives me a reason to be full of joy and let it overflow from my life.
Challenge: Someone you know needs to know they are loved and accepted. Jesus made the way for them, and He wants to use you to be his hands, his feet, or his smile of acceptance to them on earth!

I’m accepted in the beloved
Condemnation is far from me
I’m accepted, loved and forgiven
By His grace, I am set free

How would you rate your joy level today on this challenge to live joyfully? On a scale of one to ten, where is your joy level now? The Bible tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. It also says that we receive strength when we worship God. God has enough joy to go around and we are strengthened by Him when we worship Him. Being a pretty happy person to begin with, it isn’t very often that my joy level is low. I try to keep my joy bucket full everyday! I’m one of those people who wake up happy with a spring in my step everyday. Joy is generally very natural for me, and not very often do I experience a joy deficit. When I do, I know where the source of joy is, and know that it is time to get replenished! And I try to do that as quickly as possible by spending time with the joy giver. Living the joy filled life is much more enjoyable than a joy depleted life. We can draw joy from the well of salvation within our spirit on a regular basis. The river of life flows from our belly, but we have to access it by faith so our joy can remain full. If your joy level is low, why not determine to get filled up. Let go of stress, worship God and draw from the well of salvation that is within you. God has got more than enough joy to go around, and there is no reason we should live a joyless life as believers. Let be joyful, joy-filled, joyous Christians. The joy of the Lord is ours!

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I have told you this so My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. (John 15:11) What did Jesus tell us before he made this marvelous promise of complete joy in this verse? If we love like God loves, and obey His commands, then our joy and gladness can be filled to the top, complete and overflowing! We can make choices everyday. Our choice to love and obey God will propel us to our destiny, and our love and obedience will be a source of overflowing joy for everyday living. What does complete, overflowing joy look like? Fullness of joy to me is being so filled with joy that it just flows out of us, much like the river of life that flows out of us as Jesus spoke of in John 7:38, when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. There is an endless supply available to us if we let it flow through us!

I say these thing while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them is what John 17:13 says.
I Thes 5:16-18 tells us that we can be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.

When someone is in pain, or just not feeling good, it is easy for discouragement to set in. Especially if that pain or illness is long term, it can seem like it never will go away. It is easy to lose hope, and then lose your joy. Galatians 6:9 encourages us not to grow weary while doing what is right, for after a while we shall reap, if we don’t get discouraged and if we don’t give up. We can grow weary, even when we are standing in faith. There is a principle that God set up that we get the benefit from. It is called the law of the farm, or the principle of sowing and reaping. What we sow, we shall reap. When we sow to the spirit, we will reap to the spirit. To do that in the area of health, we can do all that we know to do to promote health, and then stand in faith for the rest. Finding balance for having a healthy body can be confusing. Just read a couple of books and they will all have different advice! But if you keep it simple – eat healthy pure food, get enough rest, drink pure water, be a person of prayer, be a person of the Word, and believe God for divine health, then we can definitely raise our level of health. Joy returns, our countenance softens and a smile returns to our face when our body is healthy. Think of it, according to the Bible, we are blessed with the blessing of Abraham, we have the ability to speak to mountains, and we can call those things which be not as though they were. We have the tools we need to live life abundantly, in glowing health. Fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree, so the fruit of our life will replicate the life of God on the inside of us, when we are abiding in the vine. Let’s live in the joy of the Lord, and reap the results of standing strong in faith. We can experience all of God’s best benefits when we don’t get discouraged and don’t give up.

Fantastic, full of the joy of the Lord, and things couldn’t be any better! How often do you hear that as the answer to the question, “how are you”? Quite often there is a litany of negative responses, which include, busy, rushed, stressed, overworked and underpaid, bushed, or swamped. What a different world we would live if our usual answer was, my bucket is overflowing with joy! If we have an answer like that we are saying that we are have a positive outlook, and are feeling energetic and my life is thriving. I really believe God wants us to live that way; He wants abundant life for us. He has provided everything we need to live a life that is joyful and abundant in every realm on this earth, even though our earth has a curse. If we realize that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil as it says in I John 3:8, and we know the devil is the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy, then the answer is obvious that God has provided for us to live a wonderful life on this earth in spite of our circumstances. Most of us live way beneath our privilege as Christians; so let’s change that. We can live in the inheritance Jesus left for us. We can experience the blessing of God that he promised Abraham. We can enjoy the best life that God has to offer. We can have a taste of heaven on earth. It definitely doesn’t come without pursuing it, or contending for it! Ephesians 6 tells us to stand, and then when we have done all, to keep on standing. We are even given offensive and defensive weapons to use when the enemy comes against us. So let’s be those who live in the blessing, filled with the joy of the Lord. Let’s be those who receive and accept the inheritance God has for us. Let’s be those who live above the noise, above the crowd, above the rush of the world, and hear the voice of God calling us to rest in Him, and in the joy that He provides. Let His voice speak words of healing and peace to your soul. Then when you are asked the question, “how are you?” you can reply that life couldn’t be better. Life is wonderful! My joy bucket is full!

How Full is Your Joy Bucket? How would you rate your joy level? Does your joy bucket sometimes have a leak? Let’s investigate why our joy level fluctuates. There can be many reasons joy slips away: from stress, to not spending time with God in His Word, not taking time to worship, to neglect, even to really crappy circumstances. Don’t let a joy deficit become a normal experience for you. Do not let go of your joy. Let’s determine to increase your joy level. Psalms 100 is a great place to start increasing your joy. Be self aware enough to recognize what makes your joy level fluctuate. God is working in you, and He’s got more than enough joy to go around. Get all you can!

Here all 5 verses of Psalms 100.
Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
Know that the Lord, He is God;
 It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;[a]
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
For the Lord is good;
 His mercy is everlasting,
 And His truth endures to all generations.
Confession: I enter today with thanksgiving and praise. I believe my joy level will increase from today forward.

Intro: Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with yourdailyeword. Much of our world focused on finding happiness. As I began my study on joy, and keeping our bucket full of joy, I found books about the science of happiness, yoga for happiness, the happiness project, exploring happiness through brain science and much more. Of all the secular resources I looked at and skimmed through, the main emphasis in all of them was to change the way we think to change our life. It sounds like the world’s system is catching on to something that we’ve read in the Bible. We know the route to a joy filled life is to know Jesus first, and then to begin renewing our mind to the Word. Let’s begin changing old thought patterns and think on things that bring life to us, and keep our joy bucket full.

Our life on earth is like a minute when you compare it to eternity. Most often we are focusing on all the wrong things. How can we make the most of each day on the earth? Are we living with passion and enthusiasm for each day? Are we enjoying the journey as much as we look forward to arriving at the destination? This Joy challenge is designed to get our focus on Jesus and to let the joy of the Lord radiate through us, each day of our life. I hope these words encourage you to live joyfully, and to keep your joy bucket full!

Empty Cup – Filled Up
Are you running on empty?
Is your bucket really dry?
Does the mountain you are facing
Reach farther than the sky?
Has your heart skipped a beat?
Is the wind gone from your sail?
Will your storm ever cease?
Can anything else fail?
One thing you can know for certain
It is written hard is stone
That when everything is falling
You can stand in Me alone
I will never ever change
And My Word is always true
I not only am consistent
I will always pull you through
When the storms of life are daunting
When the winds are screaming loud
I’m the answer to each problem
And you’ll soar above the clouds
What I have done before
I surely will repeat
My track record is flawless
In Me there’s no defeat
Be reminded – I am with you
Don’t turn back, and don’t give up
My goodness overflows
And My presence fills your cup”
“Your faith has made you whole
And your armor is in place
No weapon formed against you
Will take you off your race”
“Winds and storms they will come
You’ll be challenged once again
Be positioned in My power
For I am working out a plan”
A plan for your future
With a confidence that grows
Filled with joy abundant
So your bucket overflows

I don’t know if your family has any plans for long trips across the country, or it you have taken long drives before. If you have, you have probably noticed the Historical Markers along the way. When our family drives cross-country, and we’ve done it a lot, historical markers give us time for everyone to stretch their legs, and learn a little history! I don’t know if you have thought about it before, but do you know that every decision we make affects history in some way? I guess that puts a little pressure on us, but positive pressure can be a good thing. Knowing that choosing to tell the truth instead of telling just a little lie, can affect your life. Everything that we do is like a seed. We begin with just a little lie, lying comes more easily. Then, you need to keep track of your lies, so that you don’t get caught. Sooner than you know, it becomes like second nature to embellish the truth, or to outright lie. What a terrible place to be. What kind of history are you making? I know we started talking about historical markers, but it is important that you know generations after you will see the historical markers of your life. Wouldn’t it be great it they could look at the history in your life, and be filled with joy because you chose what was to obey and follow God. That’s a great history!