Today's Word
                                      
"Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."  Matthew 6:10
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."  Matthew 6:33(NIV)   

Practical Advice on How to Let God's Joy Find You
 
· Find out what it is that is godly that you most easily get lost in. Jesus said when you lose your life you find it. Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added. Seek heaven and get earth thrown in. Get lost in scripture and prayer and God and everything else finds you.
· CATCH 22: if you decide to get lost in scripture and prayer and God SO THAT you get rest joy then you are serving yourself and you won’t get there. You are built to desire laughter and joy and good times and happiness and contentment for a good, good life. But if you seek it you won’t find it.  If you seek Jesus and God first for the sake of finding joy, you still won’t find joy because it’s still about you. If you forget about joy and happiness and put the things of God first and others first, then joy will sneak up on you.
· What works best in finding joy, happiness, laughter, Sabbath rest, has to do with getting yourself out of the way. What works for you? Writing? baseball? Theater? A hike? Serving? Going on Mission?
· What is it that energizes you? What is it that you do where you are so self unaware that you are not aware that you exist, but in that moment you are more you than you ever are when you are aware of yourself?
· “Our American culture which is based on buying things says you gain your life by getting more and more and more and more, but Jesus says ‘no, that leads to death. You get it back by giving it away and when you give it away you get it back.’" Philip Yancey
· Obey: instead of getting things done, obey the Sabbath commandment and spend one seventh of your time resting from your work. It’s a start. It’s getting yourself behind Jesus command
· Do a vacation: think of vacating and doing something that you can get lost in. Snorkeling. Hike the falls. Drive the winding roads of north Carolina.
· Play tennis with someone of your caliber.
· Sign up to serve. VBS, KidZone, greeter, sign up and serve.
· Do what someone else wants to do and be all there when you do it.
· Don’t take work home with you.
· Get into the world of your child.
· Stop thinking about you and your needs and duties while you are with others.
· In the hall way after church or at work, be “all there” in a conversation
with another person.
· Have people over and get into their world.
· Being about anything but you is good practice!
· Gardening is good ( except when it gets compulsive and expensive)
· Learn the joy of yearning for something more, knowing that it’s a sign post to the reality of the resurrection and restoration of all things. Do not follow the signs which point to immediate and false gratifications.
· Hike, but when you hike for the purpose of meeting Him you may be diminishing your chances, but when you hike to hike (one of the things of the Kingdom of God ) He meets you.
· God comes in sideways when I’m out of the way.
· “Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open” Even then it is  more about my releasing and submitting than it is about my search. When I open the door, I don’t enter, it is He who walks through and enters me.
· It’s about Him not me.

Today's Prayer
 
“Lord, I commit myself to seeking first your Kingdom. I will do what you have shown me to do from today's reflection. In Christ's Name. Amen”