Thursday, November 29, 2007

"The Joy Robbers"

Psalm 51:12 "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit."

(No one can take our joy from us. John 16:22 "And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.")

We Give Our Joy Away Because Of:

1. Sin - Jeremiah 30:15 "Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee."

2. Selfishness - Proverbs 15:13 "A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken."

3. Criticism - Proverbs 18:8 "The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly."

4. Discontentment - 1 Timothy 6:8 "And having food and raiment let us be therewith content."

5. Depression - Proverbs 12:25 "Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad."

6. Talebearer's Words - Proverbs 18:8 "The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly."

7. Unsettled Mind - Philippians 4:6 "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."

8. Unresolved Conflict - Acts 4:2 "Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead."

(Make right & go on!!! 2 Corinthians 2:7 "So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.")

How To Reclaim Your Joy:

1. Confess all known sin - 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

(confess - Facing your sin; saying the same thing about my sin that God says.)

2. Limit or Eliminate contact with negative people. - Galatians 5:7 "Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?"

3. Do not discuss or make judgements in your mind in areas for which you are not responsible.

4. Identify the negatives in your life by things you can control & can't control.

5. Learn to look beyond circumstances to the eternal.

(This is a sermon preached by our pastor that I thought would be of some help to you.)

6 comments:

Sis. Julie said...

For a long time I thought of the enemy as a joy robber. But I realized one day that he can't take something unless we give it to him.

David said...

Fella's, would you mind updating the link to my blog? I've changed to http://www.youngfundamentalists.com(to get rid of the blogspot). Thanks!

PamelaK said...

I especially liked 2nd part, #3 for myself - but this is all great!!!! Thanks for posting.

Anna Joy said...

That's great! Thanks for posting. My middle name is Joy, obviously, and once I met another girl named Anna Joy, and my brothers told me that Hey! She stole your Joy! :-D

Duke said...

Peace be with the reader.
Proclaim your joy.
The good news is that the time has come,
the harvest is ripe.

Duke said...

Approval reminds me of censorship.