“Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4:4-7 (NIV)

Choose joy

Happiness is a cheap imitation of true joy and totally dependent on the circumstances of life.  Joy, however, is a deeply rooted confidence that God is in control no matter what the circumstances of life may be. Joy is a choice.

Our inner attitudes do not have to reflect our outward circumstances.  In other words, we cannot always find joy in our circumstances but we can always find joy in the Lord of the circumstances.

The pursuit of joy is a matter of choice.  Our first and most important choice is to come to the only source of true joy – Jesus Christ. We must also choose to rejoice in the midst of every circumstance – good or bad — and keep our focus on God, gladly accepting His plan for our lives. We must choose a joyful perspective.  A little boy asked his friend.  “Wouldn’t you hate to wear glasses all the time?”  “No-o-o,” the other boy answered slowly, “not if I had the kind grandma wears.  She sees how to fix a lot of things.  She sees lots of nice things to do on rainy days and she always sees what you meant to do even if you mess things up!  I asked her one day how she could see that way all the time and she said, ‘It is the way I choose to look at things.’  So it must be her glasses.”  When we choose joy, we are choosing against worry!

• Make a list of the five things you worry about the most.  Find a verse or passage of scripture that applies to these five areas of worry. Write the verses on a 3×5 card and place the cards in your purse so that when the worry comes, you are prepared.  
• Look back over your life.
• What role have you allowed worry to play in daily life?
• What are some of the ways you have confronted worry in the past?  Were they effective?
• What is the first step you need to take in order to win over worry?

This is taken from a devotional I read in 2008.  Check in tomorrow for Part 2.

From: December 29, 2008
Winning Over Worry, Part 1
Mary Southerland