Something About The Joy

Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.  "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.   John 21:2-3 These seven men had just endured a harrowing series of events that had culminated in the most unbelievable circumstances in the history of the human race.  Over the last few days they'd been yanked unceremoniously back and forth through a range of extreme emotions; they'd had their minds jerked from one intellectually impossible reality to another. Their three years of walking with God on earth had been abruptly interrupted by his death; then he'd reappeared, alive and well, in a body that could eat and then walk through walls; and now he was gone again, with only rumors of appearances here and there, and no news about when or if ...

The first step in overcoming negative spiritual influences in our lives is turning to Jesus for help.  If you followed the advice at the end of the last post, you've already taken that step.    Did you?   Was your prayer addressed to Jesus?  Or was it just an instinctive cry for help directed nowhere specifically?  A knee-jerk reaction to pain?  Either way, it's a good start.  But asking Jesus, specifically and on purpose, is the most effective way to begin your journey to freedom.  If you ask Him, you'll be better prepared  to receive His answer and act on His wise counsel when it comes.  Jesus is the only solution to the great problem of evil.  His death on the cross and his triumphant resurrection won the war with evil once and for all, but He waits for us to ask Him how we can appropriate that victory for ourselves.  What we do when He answers us is where the rubber meets the road.  It's w...

The first post in this series pointed out that Satan is at work in our world and in our lives.  Awareness of this reality is essential if we're going to learn to win in our battle with evil, and live in freedom and joy. The second step in the process of overcoming is recognizing. . . How Demonic Forces Operate Satan, through his demonic helpers, “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”  (1 Peter 5:8)   It may be helpful to think of demonic influence in terms of varying levels of involvement, so we can recognize how, and to what extent, we might be affected. Level One:  Temptation Satan’s first line of attack is to tempt people to think wrongly and to make wrong choices based on that thinking—choices that will increase his influence over them.  Each time we give in to temptation to do or think wrongly, the enemy’s power over us grows.  When temptation comes at this level we have the right and the responsibility...

Today begins a three-part series on a topic that might seem strangely out of place in a blog built around the theme of Joy .   What does a discussion of demonic powers have to do with joy, anyway? The discussion would be a real downer if it weren't for the victory Jesus won over Satan when He died on the cross and rose again. That victory made joy possible for us. Without it, talk about joy would be nothing more than wishful thinking or a cruel false promise. Jesus' victory is real, and we can live in freedom and joy because of it, but we need to be informed about and aware of our spiritual enemy, or that joy will remain shrouded in darkness for us. Satan’s demonic forces are active in our world.  They operate with strong authority, at the present time, in all systems of human government and society, deceiving influential people, encouraging human greed and selfishness, and promoting violence and destruction, especially against defenceless and vulnerable people. De...

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." Psalm 107:1 All of human history is summarized in Psalm 107 .  The history of individuals, of nations, of civilizations, are all represented by the scenarios described here.  History is shaped by the choices, actions and interactions of individual human beings, and the story of humans on earth, whether recorded for us to study and interpret, or lost in the destruction of time and tyranny, follows the cycle of life the Psalmist portrays in Psalm 107. The cycle goes like this:  1)  Human beings become lost.  They wander, rebel against their Creator, become imprisoned in darkness, and generally get themselves into devastating situations way beyond their control.  2)  They cry out in their pain.  3)  God hears their cry and rescues them. 4)   They enjoy relief from their struggles. Until the cycle begins again. We see this in...