TESTIFY- OUT…UP…& INTO JOY! by Ewurama De-Whyte
Posted by AfricanTrumpet Admin | Posted in Religious,
Joy is the journey that begins with the mind not the emotions.
Joy is a dominant theme in the Letter to the Philippians. The strange thing is that the Apostle Paul wrote this joyful letter while he was imprisoned in Ephesus! That's right. Paul didn't write Philippians from a comfortable vestry, office or hotel room but from a prison.
Joy is the journey that begins with the mind and not the emotions.
I hear you; you may be saying "you try rejoicing in my situation". Joy is not an optional journey for the Christian, it's compulsory. "Rejoice in the Lord Always, Again I say rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4) It's a mandate of Christianity, if I'm a follower of the Gospel (Good News) how can I not rejoice?
Joy is the journey that begins with the mind not the emotions.
Of course, sometimes it takes a while for your heart to catch up with what your head knows. So everything may not be perfect and dandy, in fact I have a suspicious feeling that things never will be. Yet I challenge you to reach for joy. Say to God, "Father, it is only your grace that will get me to that place and space of joy".
I feel myself making my way there now, that place and space of joy. While I'm walking to JOY I'll try and skip, hop and leap every now and again.
I'm encouraged to know that God is as present in all our pains and prisons, trials and temptations as he is in the blissful moments.
Our Father God offers a way of escape not just out of our suffering but up & into joy! May you begin the courageous journey out of your pain and up & into joy!
Ewurama De-Whyte
