The Joy That Purpose Gives
Yes, your purpose will give you joy, more than you can imagine. Your purpose will create joy. It will, on occasion, and through affirmations, follow the successful completion of a desired end.
Focus Point: The New Testament shows that life illuminated by purpose can erupt into joy even in the worst of circumstances. Remember how Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into jail for healing "a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future?
Constitutional Scripture: Acts 16:16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much money or profit by fortune-telling.
Please note: her owners were very angry. They were seeing their gravy train come to an abrupt end. So they seized Paul and Silas and charged them with creating an uproar in the city by promoting customs that were unlawful for Romans to follow. Now, with their bleeding backs and feet secure in stocks, Paul and Silas were imprisoned in an inner cell.
Focus Point: Now, about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing songs of praise to God and the other prisoners were listening to them.
Constitutional Scripture: Acts 16:25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them.
Focus Point: As their thoughts turned to the One whose call on their lives had gotten them into this mess, the joy of knowing and serving the Lord overshadowed the desperateness of their physical situation. The sufficiency of their position within the will of the Lord bubbled up within them and burst forth in song. Nothing, not even a filthy Roman jail, could remove the satisfaction of living within the God-ordained purpose for their lives.
Remember: This joy in the midst of hell is the hallmark of those who have truly found God's purpose for their lives and have committed themselves to cooperating with it.
Focus Point: They have learned that the Lord will move the jail if necessary to permit them to accomplish everything that He has established for them. Such assurance produces a satisfaction that cannot be stolen. Purpose produces joy in those who are wholeheartedly committed to the way of the Lord.
Focus Point: The New Testament shows that life illuminated by purpose can erupt into joy even in the worst of circumstances. Remember how Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into jail for healing "a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future?
Constitutional Scripture: Acts 16:16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much money or profit by fortune-telling.
Please note: her owners were very angry. They were seeing their gravy train come to an abrupt end. So they seized Paul and Silas and charged them with creating an uproar in the city by promoting customs that were unlawful for Romans to follow. Now, with their bleeding backs and feet secure in stocks, Paul and Silas were imprisoned in an inner cell.
Focus Point: Now, about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing songs of praise to God and the other prisoners were listening to them.
Constitutional Scripture: Acts 16:25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them.
Focus Point: As their thoughts turned to the One whose call on their lives had gotten them into this mess, the joy of knowing and serving the Lord overshadowed the desperateness of their physical situation. The sufficiency of their position within the will of the Lord bubbled up within them and burst forth in song. Nothing, not even a filthy Roman jail, could remove the satisfaction of living within the God-ordained purpose for their lives.
Remember: This joy in the midst of hell is the hallmark of those who have truly found God's purpose for their lives and have committed themselves to cooperating with it.
Focus Point: They have learned that the Lord will move the jail if necessary to permit them to accomplish everything that He has established for them. Such assurance produces a satisfaction that cannot be stolen. Purpose produces joy in those who are wholeheartedly committed to the way of the Lord.
Joy in the midst of hell is the hallmark of those who
have truly found God's purpose for their lives.
have truly found God's purpose for their lives.