{"id":19009,"date":"2014-04-16T00:45:55","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T04:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=19009"},"modified":"2014-04-16T00:55:59","modified_gmt":"2014-04-16T04:55:59","slug":"joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/16\/joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We have now entered the season of Lent. \u00a0For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living in light of His Words. \u00a0\u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

During this season, here on the\u00a0Seeking Him<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0devotional blog, we have chosen to focus our devotionals on Jesus\u2019 instructions and admonition communicated in Matthew chapter 5\u2014the Beatitudes. \u00a0Jesus said, \u201cBlessed are\u2026\u201d and He went on to give instruction as to how to be \u201cblessed<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0To be \u2018blessed\u2019 is to \u2018be happy, or to be envied.\u2019 \u00a0 Truly for the Christian, we ARE blessed\u2014oh, how very blessed we are! \u00a0Those who observe our lives should clearly be able to tell that we ARE blessed\u2014and that we KNOW it! \u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

Please consider Jesus\u2019 instructions along with us. \u00a0We pray that our words will encourage you and spur you on to be prepare your hearts for the joyous celebration of His Resurrection! \u00a0\u271e \u2665<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

One summer our family travelled by Greyhound bus from Walnut, MS to Fresno, CA to spend a few days with my mom\u2019s newly-found family. It was a three day \u00a0(and night) trip there and back…while spending three or four days in California.<\/p>\n

It was such an adventure. Mom who was allergic to anything that bites had a reaction to red ants; \u00a0my brother, Terry, got so blistered from the sun that he had \u2018bubbles\u2019 on his back…and Dad and I didn\u2019t have anything go wrong.<\/p>\n

There was this one thing that has stuck with me though—Aunt Ramona recanted a dream. \u00a0She says she was dreaming and in it she was weeping for joy because she was about to touch the feet of Jesus. \u00a0Her husband, being concerned, woke her up because she was crying out in her sleep. \u00a0She says she fussed at him because she was that close.<\/p>\n

I can only imagine what that dream must have felt like—the joy, the excitement, the pure worship that was in her heart! \u00a0What a precious gift she received. \u00a0I want to have dreams like that so, one day, when I stand before my Savior, I can say, ‘I practiced this in my dreams.’ \u00a0Although this still would not prepare me for the awesome experience of being among all that is Holy and Pure.<\/p>\n

The Pure<\/h3>\n

The Greek word for \u201cpure\u201d is katharos<\/code> <\/em>(used 27 times in the New Testament).\u00a0 Fundamentally, it signifies that which is clean, or free from contaminating substance (cf. Danker et al<\/em>., Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament<\/strong>, 489). \u00a0Or as\u00a0William Barclay contended “that with a spiritual<\/em> import, ‘pure’ may describe the heart that is free of unadulterated \u201cmotives\u201d (Commentary on Matthew<\/strong>, I.101). \u00a0 (https:\/\/www.christiancourier.com\/articles\/610-who-are-the-pure-in-heart<\/a>)<\/p>\n

I feel that this “being pure” should be the goal of every Christian. To clear our minds of what others may feel or perceive except from the Holy Spirit. When we listen to the ungodly and go to them for advice we are most usually led astray because they speak from a world view. But when we seek Godly counsel from those who dwell daily in God’s presence we should be able to quickly discern what is evil and different from what counsel we would have gotten from our worldly friends.<\/p>\n

As we seek to have pure hearts, it would follow that our thoughts would have to follow as well. What does it look like to have pure thoughts? To me it would mean guarding what I read, what I watch, and what I participate in. I guess you would call me a God Nerd<\/span><\/em>. Not a Bible Thumper, but a God Nerd. Now that does not mean that I do not have my weaknesses. I still do, but I do my best to not participate or indulge in them.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0~\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>~\u00a0\u00a0\u2665 \u00a0~ \u00a0*<\/span><\/h4>\n

Father, as we learn to trust You and know Your Word more, I say ‘Thank You’ for your love, acceptance, and encouragement that is present each day. Help me give away what you have given to me. I want to learn to serve you more and to serve your people with joy in my heart! \u00a0In Jesus’ name, Amen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have now entered the season of Lent. \u00a0For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[6101,3367,5784,662,858,6067,3174,1071],"class_list":["post-19009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-beatitude","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-jesus-speaking","tag-matthew-58","tag-pure","tag-pure-in-heart","tag-seeking-him-devotional","tag-tina-marin","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s39pHp-joy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19009"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19125,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19009\/revisions\/19125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}