Uninterrupted Joy

“Your joy, no man taketh from you!”

March 2013 Nokia Download 530

Light about you-  Photos by A.W. March 2013

One of the most influential statements from the Bible that has influenced me, is the verse from John 16:22  “…Your joy, no man taketh from you”.

A very dear practitioner shared that verse with me when the my new marriage was struggling.  That idea, that joy BELONGED to me, that it was mine was a new idea.  It brought healing to us. It was mine to hang on to, mine to express, to live within.  Even in the darkest day, joy, as a quality of God is ours.  It’s part of our inheritance as a child of God.

This thought, that joy is continuous, uninterrupted, even when circumstances might indicate otherwise is very powerful.

Joy breaks through -

Joy breaks through –

The complete quote from John is this, based in the Christ, also continuous, uninterrupted, always available to shine within us.

And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

 

Copyright held by Alexis Wittman

 

Learning from example…

What was MY fresh inspiration this morning?  You know, the idea that hits you like a lightening bolt?  Sometimes so simple, it’s as if God is saying: ‘duh’….you obviously should know this one!’

We learn from example.

Christ Jesus could surely feed the five thousands and the ten thousands because he’d seen it done before.  Moses had fed all the Israelites in the wilderness.  God’s good isn’t just a one event, it is an always!

I had never connected the two experiences before.  Duh!

“Divine Love always has met, and always will meet, every human need.” 

 [Mary Baker Eddy, 1875, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

Bread

And, if you read my prior post, you know what our real ‘bread’ is…..

Work to keep your inspiration fresh!

Do you want to know one of the most important things I’ve learned on this path?  What sustains me?  What I urge my friends and clients to do?

“Keep your inspiration fresh!”

Just as God gave manna DAILY to his people, God gives us inspiration DAILY, moment by moment. While it is important to remember the spiritual lessons and ideas garnered throughout your life, if you just try to store that up, you’ll find it can disappear as much as the manna did.

Image

 It’s hugely important to stay connected to God, your source.  Work daily to read, pray, meditate until you really feel that connection you have with God; and then, this is important…until a brand NEW idea comes to you.  Not just what someone else has written or thought. But what GOD is thinking.  What God is thinking to YOU! Active, alive, fresh Truth!

This is a point I make to others, and especially myself.  How easy is to ride along on the inspirations that’s worked to inspire you in the past. Or, by voicing someone else’s truth.

If you are feeling discouraged, alone, in pain, or even just a tad off your game, it is your CUE.  Get back to Source, to God.  Often that’s when it’s hardest to turn to God, Divine Love.  It’s easy to feel God’s presence in a moment of gratitude, in the warmth of the sunrise– but at the moment of uncertainty, confusion, or loss, turn, turn, turn– find the FRESHNESS!

That’s the big lesson of that story…

Do you remember?  Moses was leading the Hebrew people out of their period of enslavement to the ancient Egyptians and guiding them to ‘the promised land’.  “And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” [See Bible: Exodus 16]

They were worried; genuinely fearful for their lives.  They couldn’t see the plan, nor remember the pain of enslavement.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.  [Exodus 16]

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. [Deuteronomy 8:3 ESV]

It really couldn’t be clearer than that, could it?

How?  Well, it is different for every one.  Me, I take the time early in my day to read inspirational writings.  While such work is full of great ideas, and I DO take them in….it’s really the moment of newness I am after.  At some point, when I am reading, another idea enters in….ah, that’s it!  It is so fresh, so beautiful, simple.  Yet, it’s power is in its direct connection to God.  You can really feel the difference.  THAT is the daily ‘food’ that sustains me!

And, it comes from God.  As Christ Jesus urged us to pray daily: “Give us THIS day our daily bread”…that’s what he was talking about.  We live by every word of God.

English: Moses telling the Israelites to gathe...