joy

You need to know something. It isn’t anything about me. It isn’t anything about you. It isn’t about your neighbor or friend or family member. It is about your Savior.

Some may not believe in the Savior of the world. Some may reject Him without even knowing Him. Some may dismiss Him as unimportant. Some may ignore the tug they feel toward Him.

All need Him. No one is exempt from the desperate need of the mercy and grace that only He can give. The thing you need to know is that His love for you cannot be replaced or duplicated. His love has only One source. Just Him.

In His love you find peace.

In His love you find contentment.

In His love you find rest.

He delights in giving you good and perfect gifts.

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. James 1:17

His gifts look like…

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

Psalm 32 (NASB)

How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!
- The blessing is too great to imagine. Transgression that is so dark and ugly but yet forgiven. Sin that is covered. This covering is only the blood of Jesus.
How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit!
- The blessing is too great to imagine. Lord God, in His infinite mercy and grace refuses to leave iniquity on those who have sincere faith in Him.
When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.
- Silence about sin serves no purpose except to destroy the one that keeps it. Left unconfessed it destroys a body.
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.
- Conviction from God presses in with a weight that cannot be lifted in silence. Life is empty and sickly.
I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgression to the Lord”; and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.
- Revealing sin to God uncovers the weight of oppressive conviction. It removes the dark blanket from a heart to make it available for God to move in and forgive. Lines of communication restored paves the way of forgiveness and the removal of guilt.
Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.
- Petitions raised in the private place of worship where only you and God enter into the sanctuary of your heart. No chaos allowed. The matter is just for the two of you.
You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.
- His provision of a hiding place preserves. Troubles cease in His space. His deliverance ushered in with singing.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon You.
- His instruction and teaching lead the way. He counsels while watching over you.
Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come near to you.
- Even animals need something to provide disciplined living. They understand their master and abide in trust when they submit to him.
Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him.
- Defying the Master brings sorrows. Trusting Him opens the flood gates of love and kindness.
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones; and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.
- For the one that trusts in God, joy will not be withheld. Joy cannot be contained in the one who loves God. It is obvious.

God’s Perfect Gifts

Just Between You and God