You Are Here. Choose "JOY!"#5

You Are Here. Choose "JOY!"#5

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https://www.pastorwoman.net/…/2ae…/you-are-here-choose-joy-5

It isn't always easy to figure out how to get where you want to go. 
Your Christmas shopping is almost finished but you know your son wants this sports team shirt from the specialty store deep in the mall ... how to get there? You go to the mall directory and look for the key words and arrow indicating "You are Here". Phew.

Now, if someone were to grab you by your shoulders and look you in the eyes and say "You are Here" - where are you?

Questions are powerful clarifiers for our lives. With my Women of Passion1 we are doing this great study2 that revolves around questions asked by God, starting with 'Where Are You?' In my journal, I began answering that question as honestly as I know how, starting with my current state of being in my life, endeavoring to live fully the purpose for which God has created me. As I was asked, so will I ask you, "Where are You?" *i invite you to think for a moment*

On our quest for "JOY!", let's stop to consider where we find ourselves...

Segue - have you ever noticed that most folks much prefer to read the New Testament than the Old Testament? 'I just don't get it ... strange names, violence, turf wars, harsh judgment, all manner of things I can't relate to,' such feelings expressed to me in various iterations from people. And for most of my life, I have shared that opinion. But then ... I stepped a little closer, trying to make sense of Old with New, wanting to tie some five dozen prophecies of the Messiah with their fulfillment and somehow understand the divine orchestration of such a thing. Some 700 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Micah prophesied he would be born in the town of Joseph's ancestry. (Remember--what took the beloved couple to Bethlehem was the call to register for the census. Bethlehem, which had known prominence as the City of David, was now just a hamlet, a mere village by the time Jesus' infant eyes opened and then adjusted to the light of it.)

Plus, when I stood atop Mount Carmel in Israel and imagined the prophets of Ba'al coming up the hillside, while Elijah stood his ground and called on the God of Israel to rain down fire3... I thought, 'yeah, I want to know this God, too! Not just the God of the Gospels, not just Jesus and things I can make a little more sense of, but this wild, sometimes dangerous God!'

You are here. In the space of time and eternity, you were born at such a time where you are in possession of both the Old and New Testaments, the inspired wordsof God, who created us for relationship with him. You serve the God of the entire story, who is outside of time and eternity, and yet longs for closeness with you; his Word says so.

As Paul wrote, "Every Scripture has been written by the Holy Spirit, the breath of God. It will empower you by its instruction and correction, giving you the strength to take the right direction and lead you deeper into the path of godliness."4
And will lead you to the answers to the all-important questions of: 
How did I get here? 
What is the meaning of life ... that is to say, do I have a purpose? 
Where am I going? After purpose, then what? Like really, is there life after death? 
If there is a Heaven, then how do I get there?

I hope I have whet your appetite for having answers to these questions, because we live in the epoch where all answers are in print for us to read and understand truth.
Yes, You are here. You have the answers to these questions-in the Word of God-- should you care to look and then answer wisely. Having the answers to these questions provide the inner peace that carves out the space to experience and live in contentment and joy.

Truly, as Nehemiah said, so I believe with all my heart, 
The joy of the Lord is my strength.5 And like David sang, I know 
In God's presence, I find joy.6

You are Here... with the freedom to know and walk in the truths of God if you choose; that's where my boots are taking me. 'Join me?

Christine

PastorWoman.com

1 - Women of Passion is the community of women I lead into the love of God and one another, through the study of Scripture
2 - The Quest:An excursion toward intimacy with God by Beth Moore
3 - 1 Kings 18.20-40
4 - 2 Timothy 3.16, The Passion Translation
5 - Nehemiah 8.10 b
6 - Psalm 16.11