Lights, Camera, Action
It was to be the event of the season...the wedding of a young woman that I am close to was taking place. The event was special because the young couple is loved by many people in our community and in their hometown communities and God had brought them together.
My desire was to preserve the memories of the evening by taking lots of pictures, so I took the battery out of my camera in order to have it fully charged. However in my haste to get to the church to participate in all of the fun of getting the bride and her attendants dressed, picking up treats as bribes for the little children participants and reviewing all of the things I was to do during the day to make things run smoothly, I left my house without the battery.
I had the camera, but the battery was still on the charger. The instrument was there to do its job, but without the source of energy, it was useless.
That camera is like our lives… we can show up, but if we don’t have the source of power that gives joy we too are useless and cannot have the contagious joy that we want to spread to others. So the first step in having joy is to have Jesus in our lives. In fact the origin of joy is in the security of our salvation.
We must not only have the battery in place, but we must keep it fully charged. We have all experienced times when we missed the perfect photo opportunity because the battery in our camera had been drained. And you have probably been in the place in your life where you felt zapped of all joy. Maybe work is not going well, your children are out of control, your marriage is falling apart, your health is not good, the bills are piling up and not enough money is in your bank account, your future is uncertain. It can be any number of things that can drain us of our joy.
At those times in our live we must go back to the Source of our joy and strength for a battery charge. In fact, we need to have our batteries rejuvenated every single day. If we don’t have daily time alone with God in His Word, along with prayer and fellowship we have nothing to draw upon in our difficult times and we definitely don’t have anything to give to a hurting world.
When we are spending time with God each day, He will share precious promises of encouragement no matter what we are facing. God is good; He is faithful and waiting to share with us, but we must do our part to come into His presence in order to be fully charged.
Psalm 16:11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
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