Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart
Prov 27:9
Prov 27:9
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Gardens
The Lord will surely comfort Zion
And will look with compassion on all her ruins;
He will make her deserts like Eden,
Her wastelands like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
Thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
Isa 51:3
And will look with compassion on all her ruins;
He will make her deserts like Eden,
Her wastelands like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
Thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
Isa 51:3
Sowing and Reaping
Those who sow in tears
Will reap with songs of joy.
He who goes out weeping,
Carrying seeds to sow,
Will return with songs of joy,
Carrying sheaves with him.
Psalm 126:5-6
Will reap with songs of joy.
He who goes out weeping,
Carrying seeds to sow,
Will return with songs of joy,
Carrying sheaves with him.
Psalm 126:5-6
Trials
Consider it pure joy, my brothers,
whenever you face trials of many kinds,
because you know the testing of your faith
produces perseverance.
James 1:2
whenever you face trials of many kinds,
because you know the testing of your faith
produces perseverance.
James 1:2
Joy
The joy of the Lord is your strength
Nehemiah 8:10
Joy is like a rainbow ribboning through grey weather to bow-tie waiting blue skies. Joy is so many things – comfort that lines our sorrow with a silver lining, the grand struggle to prove the gold mint of our faith, expectant hope which anchors us in God’s promises, desert experiences watered by the sweet oasis of God’s presence, refusal to give in triumphing against defiant odds, grappling in prayer and knowing God’s answer long before reality speaks, worship which defies midnight seasons by singing of God’s golden glory, outlasting time-bound battles with timeless qualities, the epic experience of mortal challenges aggrandized by colossal spiritual outcomes. Joy is far deeper than happiness. It is stronger, more complex, more meaningful, of greater enduring value.
Joy is expressed in many, different ways – in deep-seated laughter and eyes sparkling with mirth, in a bouncy gait or a dancing step, in praise and worship that overflows into spontaneous singing, in confident faith-filled speaking, in overwhelming waves of delight that leave us beaming, smiling and cheerful. Joy softens our features, gives our chin a lift, adds warmth to our voice, and kindness to our words.
Joy is what takes us through our rite of passage and what rewards us at the end of seasons of testing. Joy is in God’s approval and reward and also in the righteous character which patient enduring produces. The Bible encourages us to take heart from the example set by Jesus himself: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart … No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Heb 12:2-11).
Acceptance of suffering is not a philosophy which favours masochism, but rather a celebration of the great good which can come from pain leveraged by faith – like a crushed olive bringing forth the oil of joy which keeps midnight lamps burning. As Paul taught, the process of daily taking up our cross is one which promises deep personal development: “… we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God … we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:2-5). Joy and suffering are twin sides of the same coin because endurance produces something more valuable than worldly wealth – righteousness minted with godly character.
Walking through trials in joy is all a matter of perspective. When we arrive in the next realm, which is timeless, the bitter experiences here will suddenly be seen to be fleeting. We can feel encouraged by Paul’s perspective: “Therefore we do not lose heart … For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory …” (2 Cor 4:16-17). Peter also expresses a similar sentiment:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3-9).
Joy is all about patience and delayed-yet-surely-coming gratification. For the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross. He tasted the end long before he arrived there. He dipped into a glorious honey-pot of I-Have-Triumphed, and as his faith and obedience mixed themselves into God’s promises, He found the strength and grace to walk through intense suffering to the wondrously glorious reward which his Father had laid up for him. Joy is about going through a process to secure the ultimate prize; and what is that “ultimate prize”? …
The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:15-30) tells the story of three servants and their master. Each servant is given a certain amount of money before their master goes off on a long journey. When he returns he rewards each servant according to what He did with the resources which He had so generously entrusted to them. Two of them were diligent about increasing what they had been given, being eager to please their master. The third one, however, being lazy, did not do anything with what he had been given and so it was taken away from him.
In the end, the master (who represents God) not only promoted the two worthy servants but also said to each of them: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” (Matthew 25:21). In other words, promotion and material benefit aside, the ultimate reward is the master’s approval and the promise of joy indescribable in His eternal presence. This may seem trite in a world where reward tends to be material but no price can be placed on contentment, as we all know. In the next realm, though, being eternally in God’s presence means not only contentment, but indescribable, uncontainable, beyond-giddy, delightfully-overwhelming joy. As it is written: “in your presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11)
Joy is a gold coin minted with suffering on one side and contentment on the other. Joy is a kin-fellow to many other qualities and spiritual resources – endurance, patience, strength, faith, contentment, thankfulness, prayer, worship and friendship with God. Joy is like honey. When Jonathan (Saul’s son and David’s best friend) tasted honey at a time of physical and soul-weariness, he gained immediate strength. The Bible explains that when he found honey in a wooded area, that “he reached out the end of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb. He raised his hand to his mouth and his eyes brightened.” (1 Sam 14:27).
Connected to this, the Bible teaches that “the light of the eyes rejoices the heart” (Prov 15:30). To take this a step further, in the Word, honey often represents the speaking of God. In Psalm 119:103 David exclaims: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.” In the Book of Proverbs, his son Solomon echoes this sentiment as he advises his own son: “Eat honey my son, for it is good; / honey from the comb is sweet to your taste. / Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul” (Proverbs 24:13-14). So when we connect the dots, we see that hearing God’s voice, musing upon His Word and savouring His speaking brings joy by lighting up our eyes with insight or wisdom. Higher perception is the pathway to joy.
When we dip into God, one yummy treasure which we will be sure to find is this beautiful rainbow-hope delight called joy. Joy is honey-smothered contentment, joy is sugar-sprinkled delight, joy is God’s speaking colouring our times and seasons with sight.
Nehemiah 8:10
Joy is like a rainbow ribboning through grey weather to bow-tie waiting blue skies. Joy is so many things – comfort that lines our sorrow with a silver lining, the grand struggle to prove the gold mint of our faith, expectant hope which anchors us in God’s promises, desert experiences watered by the sweet oasis of God’s presence, refusal to give in triumphing against defiant odds, grappling in prayer and knowing God’s answer long before reality speaks, worship which defies midnight seasons by singing of God’s golden glory, outlasting time-bound battles with timeless qualities, the epic experience of mortal challenges aggrandized by colossal spiritual outcomes. Joy is far deeper than happiness. It is stronger, more complex, more meaningful, of greater enduring value.
Joy is expressed in many, different ways – in deep-seated laughter and eyes sparkling with mirth, in a bouncy gait or a dancing step, in praise and worship that overflows into spontaneous singing, in confident faith-filled speaking, in overwhelming waves of delight that leave us beaming, smiling and cheerful. Joy softens our features, gives our chin a lift, adds warmth to our voice, and kindness to our words.
Joy is what takes us through our rite of passage and what rewards us at the end of seasons of testing. Joy is in God’s approval and reward and also in the righteous character which patient enduring produces. The Bible encourages us to take heart from the example set by Jesus himself: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart … No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Heb 12:2-11).
Acceptance of suffering is not a philosophy which favours masochism, but rather a celebration of the great good which can come from pain leveraged by faith – like a crushed olive bringing forth the oil of joy which keeps midnight lamps burning. As Paul taught, the process of daily taking up our cross is one which promises deep personal development: “… we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God … we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:2-5). Joy and suffering are twin sides of the same coin because endurance produces something more valuable than worldly wealth – righteousness minted with godly character.
Walking through trials in joy is all a matter of perspective. When we arrive in the next realm, which is timeless, the bitter experiences here will suddenly be seen to be fleeting. We can feel encouraged by Paul’s perspective: “Therefore we do not lose heart … For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory …” (2 Cor 4:16-17). Peter also expresses a similar sentiment:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3-9).
Joy is all about patience and delayed-yet-surely-coming gratification. For the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross. He tasted the end long before he arrived there. He dipped into a glorious honey-pot of I-Have-Triumphed, and as his faith and obedience mixed themselves into God’s promises, He found the strength and grace to walk through intense suffering to the wondrously glorious reward which his Father had laid up for him. Joy is about going through a process to secure the ultimate prize; and what is that “ultimate prize”? …
The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:15-30) tells the story of three servants and their master. Each servant is given a certain amount of money before their master goes off on a long journey. When he returns he rewards each servant according to what He did with the resources which He had so generously entrusted to them. Two of them were diligent about increasing what they had been given, being eager to please their master. The third one, however, being lazy, did not do anything with what he had been given and so it was taken away from him.
In the end, the master (who represents God) not only promoted the two worthy servants but also said to each of them: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” (Matthew 25:21). In other words, promotion and material benefit aside, the ultimate reward is the master’s approval and the promise of joy indescribable in His eternal presence. This may seem trite in a world where reward tends to be material but no price can be placed on contentment, as we all know. In the next realm, though, being eternally in God’s presence means not only contentment, but indescribable, uncontainable, beyond-giddy, delightfully-overwhelming joy. As it is written: “in your presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11)
Joy is a gold coin minted with suffering on one side and contentment on the other. Joy is a kin-fellow to many other qualities and spiritual resources – endurance, patience, strength, faith, contentment, thankfulness, prayer, worship and friendship with God. Joy is like honey. When Jonathan (Saul’s son and David’s best friend) tasted honey at a time of physical and soul-weariness, he gained immediate strength. The Bible explains that when he found honey in a wooded area, that “he reached out the end of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb. He raised his hand to his mouth and his eyes brightened.” (1 Sam 14:27).
Connected to this, the Bible teaches that “the light of the eyes rejoices the heart” (Prov 15:30). To take this a step further, in the Word, honey often represents the speaking of God. In Psalm 119:103 David exclaims: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.” In the Book of Proverbs, his son Solomon echoes this sentiment as he advises his own son: “Eat honey my son, for it is good; / honey from the comb is sweet to your taste. / Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul” (Proverbs 24:13-14). So when we connect the dots, we see that hearing God’s voice, musing upon His Word and savouring His speaking brings joy by lighting up our eyes with insight or wisdom. Higher perception is the pathway to joy.
When we dip into God, one yummy treasure which we will be sure to find is this beautiful rainbow-hope delight called joy. Joy is honey-smothered contentment, joy is sugar-sprinkled delight, joy is God’s speaking colouring our times and seasons with sight.
Songs of Joy
Songs of Joy
Joy is where you find song
Where your faith creates new dawns
It is sweet and it is golden
It is a voice emboldened
Lighting dark-dungeon days with gem-treasure promises
Joy is a garden soul
Flowering, budding, becoming whole
It is delightfully perfumed
A place for hope to bloom
Like an oasis watering gold-rippling sands
Joy is He-is-near
To comfort every sorrowing tear
His bedazzling sun-kissed glory
Wraps sweetly around me
His gold-haze breath cheers every chamber of my being
Joy is gold-glittery music
Tinkling chimes tinkling sweetness
Sprinkling my rest with kind dreams
Waking me into a peace lovely and sweet
Promising me that My God has covered me with His wings
Joy is a crown gemmed with jewelled delight
Twinkling like stars shimmering the night
It is Father’s O-faithful-well-done! favour
And thunderous joy shared and savoured
This is the glorious dawn that flowers in ever-ascending golden beauty
©NnekaEdwards2010
Joy is where you find song
Where your faith creates new dawns
It is sweet and it is golden
It is a voice emboldened
Lighting dark-dungeon days with gem-treasure promises
Joy is a garden soul
Flowering, budding, becoming whole
It is delightfully perfumed
A place for hope to bloom
Like an oasis watering gold-rippling sands
Joy is He-is-near
To comfort every sorrowing tear
His bedazzling sun-kissed glory
Wraps sweetly around me
His gold-haze breath cheers every chamber of my being
Joy is gold-glittery music
Tinkling chimes tinkling sweetness
Sprinkling my rest with kind dreams
Waking me into a peace lovely and sweet
Promising me that My God has covered me with His wings
Joy is a crown gemmed with jewelled delight
Twinkling like stars shimmering the night
It is Father’s O-faithful-well-done! favour
And thunderous joy shared and savoured
This is the glorious dawn that flowers in ever-ascending golden beauty
©NnekaEdwards2010
Joy Apartment
When I lived in Japan between 2006 and 2007, my home was a teensy weensy apartment in a beautiful neighbourhood called Motomachi. I lived on the third and top floor of an apartment block known as “Joy” (yes, for some reason it had an English name). During the course of my time in The Land of the Rising Sun, my Joy ‘mansion’ (as apartments are called there) taught me many valuable lessons. Let me explain …
My apartment went through some major overhaul over the course of about a month. My predecessor had been kind enough to leave furniture and other little odds and ends so that I would not have had to fork out huge sums of move-in capital. However, I soon grew frustrated with them because they made my room look like a mismatch disaster; not to mention, the drawers in my cupboard were so long that the doors couldn’t close. I was so frustrated!
I used to lie on my bed chatting with God about this and that, and without even realizing it, my eyes would start sweeping the room in frustration and my thoughts would just trail off into, “Lord, what can I do about this room? It’s not the way I want it to be! I mean I’m grateful that you provided this place for me, but I am frustrated!” My dream was to fix up my place so that I could entertain friends in a more comfortable milieu, but I didn’t know how to even begin to make improvements.
Well, to cut a long story short, God was kind enough to make my dreams come true through fellow church-goers, Marsha and Sabrina – two huge fans of Home and Garden TV. I sent them digital photos of my room and in turn they gave me different bits of advice – use baskets to clear the clutter, get some plants and framed pictures to make things homey, and re-arrange some of the furniture to create more space. More specifically, they told me to change the position of my bed and turn my tall bookcase on its side to make things roomier.
I followed most of their advice and with the help of my Japanese friend, Hisako, I hit a couple stores and bought everything that I needed – new beautiful pink curtains, lovely dishes, a white rug, and a few other things. I also put up a wall scroll which I had bought a few months before. It had a little pouch for fresh flowers, which was just perfect. I had long relished the idea of having fresh flowers in my little studio.
When my apartment was all fully touched up, I invited my neighbours, Eric and Crystal, to come see. I had always eyed Eric’s apartment with something that neared (but didn’t quite reach) envy (I was always careful to guard my heart), because his predecessor had had a wonderful sense of style and his ‘mansion’ was truly tastefully done. Well, my first visitors simply loved my new home, knowing the state it had been in before.
I felt that my apartment-facelift experience offered very clear pictures about God and Kingdom life.
House Metaphors
Clutter – we need to clear anything that would mute God’s voice like people’s misguided opinions of who we are or self-generated values
Moving Around Furniture – by changing an attitude here and moving things around in our heart, we can create more space for God. For example, if we are a tall bookcase of intellectual pride, then we need to step into the same humility of the great God who stoops down to make us great.
Exchanging Things – one way I got rid of clutter was to exchange some of my belongings with Eric. We can learn from each other and emulate and ‘exchange’ admirable qualities that remind us of God.
Plants – When we plant the seed of God’s Word in our hearts, good soil will produce abundant fruit. We need to be joyful and diligent doers of His Word. We need to water our relationship with God with transparency, obedience, worship and time spent musing upon the Word.
Framed Photos – God wants us to have “family” photos gracing our home; images of those who have left a legacy of faith and courage in and through God. These should line the walls of our heart.
Constant Cleaning – My mother would have been proud of me; I loved my apartment so much that every little bit of dust or paper sent me running for the vacuum. I wanted my home perfectly clean! Especially when it comes to our hearts, God wants a complete top-to-bottom cleaning job.
The White Rug – I bought a white kiddies rug because it was small enough to fit my space and also not as expensive as the adult versions. It looked really beautiful in the middle of my floor. God wants us to be childlike in our faith so that we can “enter the Kingdom.” He also wants us to be clothed in bleached garments of righteousness.
Times of Re-Modeling - God might sometimes change around things which look perfectly fine, just to create another new look that is just as beautiful yet in many ways an improvement on previous décor. We need to embrace the new and throw out what has become irrelevant, so that when He brings a new bottle of wine to dinner, we don’t make a face and ask what happened to the first Chardonnay.
Guests Welcome – the joy of having a home is in sharing it with all kinds of guests – friends, strangers, family. Of course, the most important guest is Jesus Himself, who says that He knocks on the door of our hearts and dines with those who let Him in.
Home Sweet Home – when we have a home that is swept out by His principles, beautifully decorated with godly wisdom, and graced with Kingdom-display interest pieces, God will shine his warm sunshine through the curtains of our heart and light up our mansion. Then He’ll sigh in contentment and say, “Now this feels like home! I like being here!”
God’s kindness made Joy Apartment a perfect home. I was incredibly grateful and truly delighted with what God designed for me. God has a special plan for each one of us, and if we go with His flow and let Him, as our Interior Design Project Manager, do ‘His thing’, we’ll find that our lives become a dwelling place for God and a place of refreshing for the guests who come over to enjoy our company. God definitely knows what He’s doing, so we can trust Him! In the end, we can joyfully throw open the front door and warmly welcome our faithful Friend and Father: Mi Casa Es Su Casa!
God’s kindness made Joy Apartment a perfect home. I was incredibly grateful and truly delighted with what God designed for me. God has a special plan for each one of us, and if we go with His flow and let Him, as our Interior Design Project Manager, do ‘His thing’, we’ll find that our lives become a dwelling place for God and a place of refreshing for the guests who come over to enjoy our company. God definitely knows what He’s doing, so we can trust Him! In the end, we can joyfully throw open the front door and warmly welcome our faithful Friend and Father: Mi Casa Es Su Casa!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)