Joy Suckers - Things

In my last blog post I talked about the various people who are joy-suckers in our lives. That is, they can suck the very joy out of our lives. The sad thing is we often give them the straw to do so. If you have not read last week’s blog post I encourage you to go back and read it. 

This week I want to address the things that suck the joy out of our lives. More than likely each of us has faced one or more of these things in our lives at one time or another. 

As depicted above I am referencing fear, anxiety, comparison, despair, discontentment, regret, worry, resentment, busyness, denial, shame, anger, frustration, exhaustion, guilt, perfectionism, depression, weariness, failure, loneliness and the list could most likely go on and on. 

To be honest, I have personally experienced most of these joy-suckers at various points in my life. Some I experienced in my youth and early adulthood. Others I experienced as I grew older. Still others I have experienced in the last few years. Some may call it “the seasons of life” but I reject that outright.

Based on my experience, there are people and situations in your life that bring these joy-suckers upon you. It often happens without you realizing it. Many of these joy-suckers are intertwined with others. Sometimes you find yourself so deep into or surrounded by these joy-suckers that it becomes your “norm”. 

I’m here to tell you that these joy-suckers don’t have to be your “norm”. You really do have a choice in this matter. Be determined. Identify the things that are sucking the joy out of your life. Take steps to banish them from your life. Some may be as simple as unlearning a habit. While some you will need to make a conscious effort to remove. Some may even need professional help to shed. The important thing to know is that help is available and you must take the first step.

Jesus said, A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance (John 10:10 CSB).

I encourage you to remove these joy-suckers from your life and walk in the abundant life God has for you. You’ll be glad you did. 

Until next time...enjoy the journey!

Ray

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Check out my website at www.rayspellbrink.com

MY ASSESSMENT

Here in the United States we just completed an election cycle.  As is often the case over the last few years it was a divisive campaign.  Based on the voting totals across the country it's safe to say the United States is a divided nation.  The two major parties have had little good to say about one another over the course of the last few months.  

With the elections behind us, the bitterness continues.  To hear some talk, they literally hate one another.  Emotions are high.  Some believe, based on the outcome, that America is headed for decimation.  Some have called for or see in the future God's judgement on our nation.

While this is not a political blog, I would like to give my assessment.  Yes, I did cast my ballot and exercise my right to vote.  

First of all, I woke up this morning to the wonderful fact that GOD IS STILL GOD!  He wasn't up for re-election.  He has been and always will be God no matter who is in the White House.  I find great peace in that knowledge.

Secondly, JESUS IS STILL LORD and He's sitting at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us.  There is no politician or government official that I would want pleading my case for me.  That's the job of Jesus and He does it so well.  What a thrill it is to know He's still on the throne as my intercessorer.  

Thirdly, the HOLY SPIRIT IS STILL IN THE EARTH LEADING, GUIDING, BAPTIZING AND EMPOWERING BELIEVERS.  How awesome is that?  Jesus promised He would send the Holy Spirit...and He did!  The Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost and He's been here ever since.  He takes up residence within each believer.  God has equipped us to win!

Fourth, the BIBLE IS STILL THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD!  Within it's pages we find answers that allude us when we look elsewhere.  God speaks to us through His Word.  The Bible is a written account of God's faithfulness to His people through the years.  Truth is found within it's pages.

We've all heard and seen the various political ads.  Unlike political campaign promises, Jesus fulfills His promises!   God is a God of His word! 

Like the old hymn says, "This world is not my home I'm just a passing through..."  That's the way I see it.  As believers, we are in the world, but not of it.  We are ambassadors for God here on earth.  My home is in heaven.   So is yours if you are a believer.

Let's not get all wrapped up in the hype of what is going on here on earth.  Instead, let's pray for our leaders as the Scripture says we are to do.  Let's pray for God's direction and for God to lead them.  And let's do our part to lead others to Jesus.  That's the most important thing we can do.

Until next time...enjoy the journey!

Ray

Thanks for taking your time to read and share this blog. If you know of someone who would be encouraged by this blog, please feel free to forward a link or use the icons below to repost this blog.

HUMOR FOR THE WEEKEND

 Here's a little humor to take us into the weekend.  Enjoy!


The Young Man & The Cowboy

A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California, when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him.

The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out his window and asked the cowboy . . .

“If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?”

Bud looked at the man, obviously a yuppie, and then looked at his peacefully grazing herd. He calmly answered, “Sure, why not?”

The yuppie parks his car, whipped out his Dell notebook computer, connected it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfed to a NASA  page on the Internet. He then called up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he immediately fed to another NASA satellite that scanned the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opened the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exported it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany.

Within seconds, he received an email on his Palm Pilot saying that the image had been processed and the data stored. He then accessed a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet via email on his Blackberry, and after a few minutes, he received a response.

Finally, he printed out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-Tech Miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turned to the cowboy named Bud and said, “You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves.”

Bud replied: “That’s right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves.”

Bud watched the young man select one of the animals and looked on amused as the young man stuffed it into the trunk of his car.

Then Bud said to the young man, “Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?”

The young man thought about it for a second and said, “Okay, why not?”

“You’re a Congressman for the U.S. Government,” said Bud.

“Wow! That’s correct,” said the yuppie, “But how did you guess that?”

“No guessing required,” answered Bud. “You showed up here even though nobody called you. You wanted to get paid for an answer I already knew to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are, and you don’t know a thing about cows . . . this is a herd of sheep . . .

Now give me back my dog.”



This was taken from a previous Beyond Evangelical blog (www.frankviola.com). 

WHAT KIND OF COUNTRY WILL OUR CHILDREN HAVE?

Cindy and I had  the opportunity to attend our grand daughter, Lauren's, school program this afternoon.  This was a "civic" themed program all five kindergarten classes joined forces to put together.

They started out the program by recognizing all the veterans and active duty soldiers who were in attendance.  The children then led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegience - and yes, the words "under God" was recited in the pledge.  The children went on to sing several patriotic numbers.

The song I most enjoyed was "God Bless The USA".  Now I'm certainly not the most patriotic person in the  country.  I never have been.  Don't misunderstand me  I am an American citizen.  I understand and believe with citizenship comes reponsibility.  As the children were singing I began to wonder what kind of a country will our children and grand children have if things continue on our current path?  l'm not talking about republican or democratic issues.  l'm realistic enough to know that whoever is in office is never going to make everyone happy.  The bottom line is our leaders must work together for the good of our country - and our children

It's easy to criticize our leaders.  Scriptures tell us we are to PRAY for our leaders.  They certainly need all the prayer we can send up for them.  Let's make it a point to pray for our government leaders on the federal, state and local level.  And, together, lets ask God TO BLESS THE USA!

Until next time,  enjoy the journey.

Ray