Finding True Life-Giving Joy-Part 1

Finding True Life-Giving Joy Part 1: 1. Centering Our Hearts on a Loving God

The world is full of disappointments.

People are busy.

People are hurt.

People are stressed.

People are tired.

People are overwhelmed trying to keep up with the insane standards of the world. insane schedules of their children and activities, and demands at work.

"Hurt People Hurt People," and it's incredibly painful being on the other end of a hurt person's hurt, backlash, spitefulness and anger.

So how can we live out our true potential in this world, living lives full of: Joy, Peace, Kindness, Grace, Gentleness , Self-control, Humility, Endurance, Compassion, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Kindness, and most of all a Heart Full of Love, in the midst of pain, heartache, illness, hurt, and chaos? Jesus. Jesus is the answer.

We need to be more like Jesus. Have a mindset like Jesus' mindset.

(Before I start, God gave us other believers to learn from and grow alongside. I would LOVE for you to add on to this post (or any other) or share your ideas, so we can learn and grow from each other.)

1. Centering Our Hearts on a Loving God

”Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”“

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭22‬:‭37‬-‭40‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This is a simple idea, but how can we better live a life, fully in love and deeply obsessed with God?

Time in his word. The Bible is the best, most life changing book you'll ever read. No need for self-help books, when God lays out the keys to success all within his word. While the Bible might feel overwhelming to open, or like its an unnecessary tool to your faith, the Bible and the words within it, can transform your life, and open your eyes to so many incredible things.

• Tips to Success:

  • Don't allow your time in the Bible to become a chore.

  • Before opening your Bible, really focus on recentering your mind. Say a pray for the distractions to leave and ask God to speak through his word to you. You'll be shocked the revelations that will come from your short time.

  • A study bible is your best friend. There are Bibles you can buy with the study information in the Bible. You can also get a "Filament Enabled" Bible, which allows you to download an app that has all the materials on your phone

  • Study Bibles break down and explain:

    • The books of the Bible-their author and purpose

    • Explain the verses within each chapter

    • Maps

    • Themes

    • People

  • Journal your thoughts from chapters, its incredible what you'll find yourself writing

  • Have an accountability group to read through with you-you can share your thoughts via google doc, the 'notes' app, texting etc.

Prayer, but not really prayer, constant communication with God. To become close to someone you dont just recite the same things over and over again, instead you speak with them often, share your thoughts and feelings, make memories together, etc. To center our life around God, we have to do life with God. We have to invite him in to the deep, dark and ugly days, along with the good, better and best days. (spoiler: he already knows your deepest, darkest thoughts and feelings, and he already knows how your story of life ends, with ever curve and side road and missed turn you take on the way).

The more you talk with him, the better you'll get to know him. You'll start to feel him near. You'll start to be able to discern his voice from that of the enemy's. You'll start to talk with him first, and handle the dark situations and thoughts with grace, strength and joy in the midst of it. You'll stop letting the world around you be so heavy, and instead start shining your light to the heavy and dark world.

The people you surround yourself with glorifies God. Your Community Matters. You'll never find a life centered upon God, around people who don't want to center their life around God. When you find people who love God and want to grow closer to him, they help you grow closer to God. You live your life differently, because they help you to live differently and you want to live differently. They help you realize that the ways of the world will never leave you feeling anything other than emptiness. They hold you accountable out of love. They speak life-giving words over you. Instead of having conversations about other people, your conversations discuss scripture, ways to love others better, ways to love God more, how to successfully get through hardships, what you feel God is calling you to do etc. You can be honest with them. They love you and your flaws. They meet you with grace. You find yourself more confident in God, and God alone instead of chasing the wants and desires of the world. You find yourself growing nearer to God after each interaction with them. Your community is so important in growing your relationship with God.

Lean in on ways God can you use to spread his love and light. Ask God what he wants you to do, what purpose you were created for, and how you can accomplish his will in your life. Start listening to those "little thoughts" he whispers. Dare to take those thoughts and turn them into reality. Be confident in the uncomfortable. If you ever need inspiration, just think how ridiculous Noah had to feel while building an arch in a drought. God only uses imperfect people for his perfect plans. The Bible is full of the failures of the people God used to do impossible things. The difference between them and the others is that they believed in a God so big, so wonderful, and had larger than life faith to follow through with that he called them to do.

The more you get to know God and center your life on him, the more you understand that God is Love and Love is God. Loving like we are loved by God, changes how we interact and live our day to day lives.

You speak more gently to yourself.

You speak life and love over others.

You start feeling more confident in everything you do.

You start to apologize when you mess up.

You give grace when others hurt you.

You start to feel joy in the dark times and the good times.

You start to feel peace when peace feels like the last thing you should feel.

You start to feel transformed and start transforming those around.

Lastly, you start to truly live and love this life you are living.

God hand-crafted each of us, perfectly, out of his own imagine (Psalm 136:14), and created us for something truly incredible. Believe it. Lean into it. Center your life on God, and allow him to transform the world through you. <3