JOY
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Enjoying what is.
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When we let loose of fear, LOVE births JOY.
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The good news it that you can love one another. The bad news...you lose out on experiencing JOY when you choose not to love one another.
In fact, you can become wildly abandoned to a lawless life when you allow the Holy Spirit to express these things, for there is no law forbidding you to do these things. LOVE-charity JOY-love shared PEACE-joy expressed PATIENCE-abiding peace KINDNESS-repeated patience GOODNESS-specific kindnesses FAITHFULNESS-promise fulfilled GENTLENESS-remembering self SELF-CONTROL-waiting on God See Galatians 5:22-23 All these are how we both sense and express the Holy Spirit. How many times have you heard someone declare that they prayed for patience and all hell broke lose? In fact, if there is any one prayer sure to be answered, it is this one. Why? Because it is the easiest for God to demonstrate that you have no Godly qualities in your flesh. Read on. |
Unfortunately, people are so interested in gaining a godly attribute that they can demonstrate at will and then bring it to God as some merit badge to get a pat on the head with a “Good job” added that they never learn the lesson. What is that lesson?
Only God is patient. You never will have patience. You were not created to develop it, house it, and then express it at will. God is PATIENT and, through the Holy Spirit, acts with patience when needed. You are but the conduit. So it is with JOY. You are never expected to foster and express JOY at will, but humble yourself to God the Creator in the moment, and then He will express one or more of these attributes as needed in the moment.
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Here it is appropriate to reread the prayer of Saint Francis.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
And where there is sadness, JOY
O Divine Master, grant that I may
Not so much seek to be consoled as to console
To be understood, as to understand
To be loved, as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
And it's in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it's in dying that we are born to Eternal Life
Amen
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
And where there is sadness, JOY
O Divine Master, grant that I may
Not so much seek to be consoled as to console
To be understood, as to understand
To be loved, as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
And it's in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it's in dying that we are born to Eternal Life
Amen