Words of Encouragement – Joy

Philippians 4:4

Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again — rejoice! (NLT)

Be continually happy and joyful. This happiness and joy can only be found in the Lord. Genuine happiness is spiritual, as it can only come from God. If you want to have joy and happiness in this life you must seek the Lord -- it only comes from Him. What the world considers to be happiness or joy is only temporary and self fullfilling and it is something you have to keep producing. But joy from the Lord and in the Lord is continually satisfying and it is accompanied by peace, this the world cannot produce. Rejoice in the Lord and again I say Rejoice.

Words of Encouragement – Joy

James 1:2-4

2 Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. 3 For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything. (NLT)

(Joy –Cheerfulness, calm delight, calmly happy)

When troubles or trials come our way we are to be joyful or we are to take this opportunity to show the world the joy of the Lord or the joy that we have in the Lord. Joy is the opposite of sadness. When we face trials in our life we are not to be sad, but to be cheerful knowing that the Lord is with us and that He will bring us through this trial, so that our faith in Him will increase. Jesus saw the cross not as some bitter thing He must do, but He saw it as a joyful thing to do for the salvation of those who are lost. Because Jesus saw the cross as joy we need to see our trials as joy that will bring us closer to Christ. True joy comes from knowing Christ. When trials come see them as opportunities to share your joy of Christ, so that those who lack joy can see your joy in the Lord and come to Jesus.

Our Mission is to Lead People into a Growing Relationship with Jesus Christ

Wordsof Encouragement - Love
Romans 8:31-39
Nothing Can Separate Us from God's Love
31What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?
33Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.
35Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? 36(Even the Scriptures say,"For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep." )  37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. 39 Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NLT)

To sum up, there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from the love of God, not even ourselves. Love was the fulfillment of the law. Jesus came because He loved us, Jesus lived as an example for us because He loved us, He died on the cross because He loved us and He rose from the grave that we would have life to love because He loved us. Jesus did all of this because God loves us deeply and He wants us to love one another as He loves us. We are to love one another as Christ loves the church. Jesus did all that He did because of love. Go and do the same, love as Christ loves you.

1 Corinthians13:1-13
1 IfI could speak in any language in heaven or on earth but didn't love others, Iwould only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I knew all the mysteries of the future and knew everything about everything, but didn't love others, what good would I be? And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would be of no value whatsoever.
4 Love is patient and kind.
Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude.
Love does not demand its own way.
Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.
6 It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
7 Love never gives up, never loses faith,is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
8 Love will last forever,
but prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will all disappear. 9 Now we know only a little, and even the gift of prophecy reveals little! 10 But when the end comes, these special gifts will all disappear. 11 It's like this: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child does. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now.
13There are three things that will endure
—faith, hope, and love —
and the greatest of these is love. (NLT)

The most powerful thing we can do in our lives is to love. Love can endure anything, if it were not for love there would be no hope and if there was no love all would be lost. But God wanted more for us, He wants to love us, He wants us to love Him and He wants us to love others. Love is the most powerful thing on earth. Love though is not aggressive or arrogant or selfish or demanding or jealous or irritable or boastful or impatient or grumpy but it is love that fuels hope and through hope we can have faith. Jesus showed us what real love is, that one should lay down their life for another. That one should think more of others then themselves. God’s kind of love is unconditional love, in other words, you give up something for the greater good of someone else regardless of what they have done wrong. It is seeing worth in the worthless and never giving up on them. Love will endure when everything else fails -- that is why it is so powerful; that is why it is the greatest thing you can do in your life. For you to love others through the eye of Jesus is the greatest path for you to follow in all of your life.

John 15:9-17
9 "I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.  10 When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father andremain in his love.  11 I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes,your joy will overflow!  12 I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you.  13 And here is how to measure it — the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for theirfriends.  14 You are my friends if you obey me. 15 I no longer call you servants,because a master doesn't confide in his servants. Now you are my friends, sinceI have told you everything the Father told me.  16 You didn't choose me. I choseyou. I appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last, so that theFather will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.  17 I command you to loveeach other. (NLT)

Weare commanded to love each other. Love is not an option it is a requirement.Jesus told us to deny ourselves and follow Him. Jesus is the ultimate example of love and we are to become more like Him every day. Jesus loves us because the Father loves us and He loves Jesus. God is love. 1 John 4:16 says, We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. (NLT) If we do not love we are not living in Christ. For Christ is the exact representation of God the Father. Jesus chose us to show His love to the world. It is a privilege to be called to love as Jesus loves. To live in Christ is to love one another and to love others by this we know Christ lives in us. This love is not to be withheld but it is to be given away just as Jesus gave it to us and as we give God’s love to others then our joy will overflow.  I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you.

Our Mission is to Lead Peopleinto a Growing Relationship with Jesus Christ

Love 2

Matt 22:37-40
37 Jesus replied, " 'You must love the Lord your God with allyour heart, all your soul, and all your mind.'  38 This is the first and greatestcommandment.  39 A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'   40 All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." (NLT)
(seealso Mark 12:29-31 & Luke 10:26-28)

The greatest and most important commandment starts with loving God first and foremost. And how are we to love God? We are to love God with our entire being, with everything we have. Why should we love God first? Because He first loved us. Our nature is not to love outside of loving ourselves and that is because of our sin nature. God commands us to love so that we can move from a self-centered life to a life that is about others. God thinks of every one of His creations all at the same time and He wants us to think and do for others as He does. Granted we cannot think of everyone but we can love those that are within our area to love. Thus the second commandment is to love our neighbor (those outside of ourselves) as we love ourselves. If you find it hard to love others then it’s time to spend some time on your knees before God asking Him to show you how to love the unlovable as He does. As Jesus said in John 13:34-35 - 34 "So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love eachother.  35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are mydisciples." (NLT) By our expression of God’s love (unconditional love) to the world they will know that we are children of the living God and that the love of Jesus Christ lives within us.
Abide in His love.

Love

Galatians5:22-26

22But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruitin us: love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Here thereis no conflict with the law.
24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of theirsinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 If we are living now bythe Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every part of ourlives. 26 Let us not become conceited, or irritate one another, or be jealousof one another. (NLT)

John 3:16-17
16 "For God so loved the worldthat he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perishbut have eternal life.  17 Goddid not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. (NLT)

God’s love for His creation runs deep. God has a personal attachment to His creation and those He created. He feels for those He has created, has sentiment feelings for them and it is by His will and His deliberate choice that He sent His son to die for us. God “so loved” the world that He was willing to do anything for them. He wanted to continue having a relationship with each one He has created, even if that meant dying for them.
We are made in the image and likeness of God therefore we are to love as God loves. Children learn how to love by watching how their parents love. If you do not know how to properly love then spend time in God’s Word, spend time in prayer, spend time watching how Jesus loves and then go do the same. One of our daily goals is to deny ourselves more and to put on the new person in Christ. As we turn over control of our lives to the Holy Spirit He will teach us to love more like the Father.