{"id":30219,"date":"2024-02-21T19:47:23","date_gmt":"2024-02-22T02:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2024-gospel-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-02-21T23:08:51","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T06:08:51","slug":"2024-joy","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2024-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Reason for Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Max Lucado<\/p>\n

Reason for Joy<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As a believer in Christ, don\u2019t focus on yourself. Focus on all that you have in Christ!\u00a0\u201cHow\u2019s life?\u201d someone asks. And we who\u2019ve been resurrected from the dead say, \u201cWell, things could be better.\u201d Or, \u201cCouldn\u2019t get a parking place.\u201d Or, \u201cMy parents won\u2019t let me move to Hawaii.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are you so focused on what you don\u2019t have that you\u2019re blind to what you do?\u00a0 Paul asks in Philippians 2:1, \u201cHave you received any encouragement? Any fellowship? Any consolation? Then don\u2019t you have reason for joy<\/strong>?\u201d You\u2019re blood-bought and heaven-made. A child of God! So be grateful, joyful. For isn\u2019t it true \u2013 what you don\u2019t have is much less than what you do? Don\u2019t focus on yourself; focus on all that you have in Christ!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Guard Your Thoughts<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Life has a way of unloading its rubbish on us. Your boss expects too much. Your kids whine too much. Trash. Load after load of anger, guilt, pessimism, bitterness, anxiety. It all piles up. As a result, we must guard our thoughts. Today\u2019s thoughts are tomorrow\u2019s actions. Today\u2019s jealousy is tomorrow\u2019s hate crime.<\/p>\n

Could that be why Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV), \u201cLove keeps no record of wrongs\u201d? Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NCV) that we have a choice: \u201cWe capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ.\u201d Selfishness, step back! Envy, get lost! Rather than store up the sour thoughts, store up the sweet ones. Make a list of God\u2019s mercies\u2014the many times that he\u2019s blessed you, the many times that he\u2019s forgiven you\u2014and you will find your thoughts resulting in happy days.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Read more\u00a0A Love Worth Giving: Living in the Overflow of God’s Love<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":30235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[29],"class_list":["post-30219","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-29"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/30219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30219"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/30219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30236,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/30219\/revisions\/30236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30219"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=30219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}