SUNDAYS WITH JOYCE

Regeneration

God creates clean heart....Psalm 51: 10.....Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in me.

God creates new hearts....Ezekiel 36:26. 27.....A new heart will I also give you, and a new spirit will I put within you:  and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

God creates tender hearts....Ezekiel 11: 19, 21.....And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh:   But a for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord God.

God removes all impurities....Isaiah 1: 25.....And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purge away thy dross; and take away all thy tin

God writes law on hearts....Jeremiah 31: 33.....But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it  their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Jesus gives living water ....John 4 :10.....Jesus answered and said unto her, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water."

Jesus is a life-giving vine....John 15:1,3.....I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman

Jesus is bread from heaven....John 6: 50, 51, 57.....This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven:  if a man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.  As the living fatherahath sent me, and I live by the father:  so he that eateth me, even shall he live by me.

New birth....John 3: 5; 1 Peter 1: 23 .....Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Our lives are characterized by necessary losses.  Birth, puberty, menstruation, marriage, menopause, balding--all are little deaths with subsequent rebirths, heralding change and opportunities for growth. 
We cannot live except as an ongoing succession of births, deaths, and rebirths. 
To have life, we must lose it, like the grain of wheat that falls to the ground to produce a rich harvest.

Multitudes of people are continually keeping away from the higher and better things because they are forever clinging to the old. 
If they would use, and pass on the old, room would be made for new things to come.
If a tree holds on to it's leaves each year after they have served their purpose, where would be the full and beautiful new life that will be put forth in the Spring?

Push...when you get your next pain, because God is bringing you out...developing your character for the next level.   
Wherever Jesus is, someone is going to get out..be loosed...be blessed...and be healed

Situations helps us connect to where He wants us to be.  Trouble will stop when it accomplishes what God sent it to do. 
Trouble is never meant to kill us, but to bless us, and no blessing comes without going through something.
No victory comes without conflict...

We have to keep saying, "I'm coming out" 
At our wit's end, we should say, I'm still here. 
Thank God for what we have left.
 
The victory is in what you have left to grow on.  

Our vision needs to come up with our prayers.  

We should shout when we go into trouble, be confident when trials come, because God is  getting the glory out of it..  

God is trying to plant new seeds into our hearts.  We think we've been through too much to be happy, but our future can be brighter than our past...if we only believe it.






The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning is a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some monetary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently swept your house
empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.  

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

JALAL AL-DIN RUMI



If we take the example of music, letting go of one note to hear the next, then our pleasure can be constant through the vibrations change.