Reflections from the Alley

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to share with you about Dave Arnold's new look on his blog. You need to check it out.

Also, if you haven't signed up to follow him you need to.
You get a free ebook when you do called "The Destiny Manifesto".
It's a short but powerful book about taking charge of your life. God has created us to soar...but it's our choice if we do.

Have a blessed week!

"To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen." Jude 1: 24-25 NIV

UPDATE- The new look on his site won't be up till tomorrow. Sorry for the confusion and thanks for forgiving my "humanness". 

JOY is a Choice

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  Phil 4:13 NKJV

So how do we tap into that strength?

Nehemiah 8:10 says, “…for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Joy?

How does joy give you strength?

Joy lifts us above our circumstances, above our feelings. 

Joy gives us strength to face opposition.

While in prison Paul rejoiced and encouraged others to do the same, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Phil 4:4 NIV

Joy (or Rejoicing) is a choice NOT an emotion.

So no matter what you’re facing, no matter the mountain that stands before you, RE-JOICE! 

It’ hard to be sad and joyous at the same time.

It’s hard to complain and rejoice at the same time.

It’s hard to be negative and sing praises to God at the same time.

Try it….bet you can’t do it.

Joy in God is your strength.

Why?

Because satan can’t stand the praise of God. 

So instead of focusing with your eyes and feelings, focus on God and chose to rejoice!

Joy is a choice.

Only you can decide…will you complain…or will you rejoice!

Are You a Ball of Yarn or Part of the Blanket?

I love to watch my friend crochet blankets. 

I’ve tried to learn but can’t get the hang of it. I don’t have the patience…or maybe the skill. 

Anyway, I was reading Colossians 2:2 when part of it stopped me.

I went back and read it a few times, each time envisioning my friends nimble fingers move the yard into a masterpiece.

“…being knit together in love…” NKJV

My friends’ blankets are made with love.

Each ball of yarn carefully chosen. Each designed with someone special in mind. 

When she first begins, it doesn’t look like a blanket.

It looks like bunch of loops strung together…organized chaos in my opinion.

Yet when it’s finished, it’s beautiful, it’s functional, it’s a blanket!

Each member in the Body of Christ is the same.

Each member is important to the overall design that God wants to make into a beautiful and functioning masterpiece.

Sadly, we don’t all grasp that.

Some of us know why we were created, we boldly move forward, serving God and serving others.

But many don’t know. After accepting Christ, they warm a pew and assume that’s as good as it gets. Forgetting that God is the one looping us together.

Yes, it looks like organized chaos at times, but in the end, we form a unified Body, able to be used for His glory!

Each individual strand is important.

None can be left out.

 ^“ Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.” 1 Cor 12:15-20 NIV (emphasis mine)

Don’t feel bad if you’re not a foot (I envision missionaries). We can’t all be feet.

Don’t worry if you’re not a mouth (I think of preachers or teachers). We can’t all speak at once, who would hear?

You DO have a part. 

Just like a crocheted blanket can’t stay together if one stand of yarn isn’t fastened to another, so the Body of Christ can’t properly function if one part is missing.

We are all important.

So find out what your part is and then allow God to knit you into the Body of Christ.

We are made to be useful.

We are made to be knitted together. 

Yarn by itself isn’t very useful.

Don’t be a ball of yarn.

In fact, when a blanket is finished, it’s hard to find (at least for me) where it all began.

We should be so interwoven that individual threads don’t stand out.

Unity doesn’t seek its own glory.

Unity binds us together like a blanket and fuzzes the lines so the only individual standing out is the one who designed it- GOD.