“And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison—the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.” (Gen. 39:20,23).

Whatever your difficult circumstances are they might be likened to a prison of sorts– not the place we would normally associate with peace, joy, and prosperity. God, however, can change all that. Consider these words from an unknown writer:

When God lets us go to prison because we have been serving Him, and goes there with us, prison is about the most blessed place in the world that we could be in. Joseph seems to have known that. He did not sulk and grow discouraged and rebellious because .”everything was against him.” If he had, the prison-keeper would never have trusted him so. Joseph does not even seem to have pitied himself.

Let us remember that if self-pity is allowed to set in, that is the end of us — until it is cast utterly from us. Joseph just turned over everything in joyous trust to God, and so the keeper of the prison turned over everything to Joseph. Lord Jesus, when the prison doors close in on me, keep me trusting, and keep my joy full and abounding. Prosper Thy work through me in prison: even there, make me free indeed.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.–Galatians 5:22-23

Long ago, there ruled in Persia a wise and good king. He loved his people. He wanted to know how they lived. He wanted to know about their hardships. Often he dressed in the clothes of a working man or a beggar, and went to the homes of the poor. No one whom he visited thought that he was their ruler. One time he visited a very poor man who lived in a cellar. He ate the coarse food the poor man ate. He spoke cheerful, kind words to him. Then he left.

Later he visited the poor man again and disclosed his identity by saying, “I am your king!” The king thought the man would surely ask for some gift or favor, but he didn’t. Instead he said, “You left your palace and your glory to visit me in this dark, dreary place. You ate the course food I ate. You brought gladness to my heart! To others you have given your rich gifts. To me you have given yourself!”

Many Christians today live life as if there is no hope, but because of Christ’s death on Calvary, we can have joy in our lives! We do not have to rely upon a material possession, a person, or a certain event to bring us joy; we can have joy in God!

The word joy God uses in our verses today is the Greek word chara which means “a joy whose foundation is found in God.” Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” God commands us to rejoice in Him! He is our source of joy.In order to receive His joy, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit.——

Even though the Holy Spirit lives in us and fills us, we can sometimes become discouraged or unhappy. We must not let the devil take our joy. As David became discouraged, we see what he did in 1 Samuel 30:6, “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” We must encourage ourselves in the Lord by thinking on two things.

First, we must think about our salvation. Friend, God sent His only Son to die for you! Had you been the only person on earth, Jesus still would have died for you. And had you only committed one sin, Christ still would have come. God loves you that much! You also have a home in Heaven and will one day spend eternity with Christ! When we think of our eternal destination, we cannot help but be joyous!

Also, we must encourage ourselves by helping others. There is no greater joy than to help someone else in their time of need. You may be thinking, “Well aren’t they supposed to help me? Here I am in difficulty and no one is helping me!” When we focus on ourselves, the problem will always seem bigger than it actually is. We must focus on the burdens of others and take time to help them.

Are you living a life of joy today? When discouraging times come, don’t let the devil rob you of your joy. Encourage yourself by thinking about your eternal home in Heaven. You will live with God forever! Also take time to help others. As we focus more on others than ourselves, our burdens will become lighter. Ask God now to help you live a joyful life today. ( By Dr. Paul Chappell)

Hear….hearken….give ye ear…– Hosea 5:1

The professor had the mysterious habit of removing a tennis ball from his jacket pocket as he walked into the lecture hall each morning. He would
set it on the corner of the podium. After giving the lecture for the day, he would once again pick up the tennis ball, place it into his jacket pocket,
and leave the room.

No one ever understood why he did this, until one day …

A student fell asleep during the lecture. The professor didn’t miss a word of his lecture while he walked over to the podium, picked up the tennis ball, and threw it, hitting the sleeping student squarely on the top of the head.

The next day, the professor walked into the room, reached into his jacket, removed a baseball …

No one ever fell asleep in his class the rest of the semester!

Now, it goes without saying that it would be counter-productive, maybe even criminal, to try that in church, but I can certainly understand how the professor felt. I had a preacher friend(?) who threw a Bible at a man sleeping in church and threatened to do so again if anyone else fell asleep. That’s dumb! Instead of throwing balls or Bibles maybe it would be better if we preachers worked harder on our sermon preparation. Face it, some sermons are so boring that it’s a wonder that anyone stays awake.

However, the fact remains that regardless of how hard you try, some people just won’t listen– regardless of what you do. We can’t do anything about those folks, but most of us need to work on ourselves in this regard. If the truth be known we don’t pay attention to God as we should. That’s more than disrespectful, it’s dangerous. An example of this is found in Hosea 5:8-15 where God spoke to Israel, warning them of impending judgment. But they refused to listen. As a result God took steps against them to get their attention. Three terrible things happened as a result of their refusing to listen to God: (1) Deprivation-“as a moth–as rottenness”; (2) Debilitation- “a lion”; (3) Desertion- “I will go and return to my place”. If we learn anything from Israel it’s this— disregarding and disobeying God is dangerous! God knows how to get our attention, even if He has to hurt us. But, let us never forget–He hurts us to help us by healing us! Let us then “hear” what He says, “hearken” to His commands, and “give..ear” to His warnings. It is for our own good!

Here’s why the cross matters:  It is at the cross that we see God most clearly. If history were the vastness of space, the cross would be its brightest star.  We see the fullness of God’s being most clearly at the cross.  We see the fullness of His active purposes most clearly at the cross.

At the cross…

…We see God’s sovereignty—reigning with absolute control over humanity’s greatest sin.

…We see God’s purpose—making known the mystery of His will prepared before time.

…We see God’s plan—to unite all things, on heaven and on earth, in Him.

…We see God’s judgment—requiring recompense for guilt.

…We see God’s holiness—demanding the perfect sacrifice.

…We see God’s power—crushing the Son of God according to the purpose of His will.

…We see God’s wrath—punishing the wretchedness of sin.

…We see God’s sorrow—wailing as only a forsaken son can.

…We see God’s mystery—the Son, as God, separated from the Father, committing His Spirit to God.

…We see God’s compassion—pleading to the Father to forgive the ignorant.

…We see God’s gift—His one and only Son, bruised and broken on our behalf.

…We see God’s mercy—making unrighteous sinners righteous.

…We see God’s love—Christ dying for sinners.

…We see God’s rescue operation—delivering us from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of His Son.

…We see God’s proposal—pledging Himself to His bride forever.

…We see God’s revelation—the Word of God speaking His last so He might speak on behalf of many.

…We see God’s victory—disarming His enemies, putting them to shame, and triumphing over them.

…We see God’s glory—the name of the Father being magnified for the sake of all peoples.

But seeing God most clearly is not an end to itself. If it were, then the point of all history would be our own clarity of sight.  But that is not history’s purpose.  Everything exists for Jesus, so that in everything He might be preeminent.  We study the Scriptures to know more of God.  We look forward with great hope to the day we will see Him face to face.  But in the here and now, we know God most fully when we look upon the person and work of Jesus on the cross.

It is only when we behold the Son of God most clearly that we can magnify Him most fully, acknowledging His preeminence in all things, which reflects more brightly the reality of His glory.  This is why one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, because on that day, all will see Him as He is, either toward our greatest joy or our greatest sorrow.—-let us remember that the cross matters for our yesterday, and our today, and our tomorrow.

And let us always hold the best of our hearts, the fullness of our hearts, for the One whose scars will testify for eternity to the glory and horror of that day that made possible the one day we will enjoy with Him forever.( Taken from an article by Chris Tomlinson, entitled “Why The Cross Matters”)

But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.–Mark 6: 49-50

It seems strange to us, that the disciples would ever have been afraid of their own Master. They had been in great distress all through the night–just because He was not with them. There was nothing they had desired so much all through those long dark hours–as that Jesus would come to them. Yet now, when He did come–they were in terror at the sight of Him. It was because they did not know that it was Jesus–as His very unusual presence so affrighted them.

It is ofttimes just so with us. We are in some need or danger, and Jesus does not come to us. We call upon Him, and most earnestly desire His coming; yet He does not come. At length He comes, but often it is not as we had expected–in lovely visage and gentle deportment–but in the form of terror! It is in some great trial–that He comes. Death enters our door and carries away a loved one. Or we experience some loss or some misfortune–at least it seems to us, loss or misfortune. We cry out in terror! We do not know that it is Jesus, veiled in the dark robe, who has come! We do not know that this is the answer to our prayer for His presence and His help. We are affrighted at the unusual form that moves over the waters in the dark night. We think it is new danger–when really it is the very divine love and divine help–for which we have been longing and pleading!

We ought to learn that Jesus is in every providence that comes to us. He does not come in the sunshine only; quite as frequently–it is in the dark night that He draws near. It is our duty as Christians to train ourselves to see Christ in every event. Then, whether it is sorrow or joy which knocks at our door–we shall give it loving welcome, knowing that Jesus Himself is veiled in whatever form it is, that He enters. Then we shall find, that when we welcome Him in the somber garments of affliction–He will always have a rich blessing for our lives! (J. R. Miller, 1890)