Count the Joy!

Lectures officially started this week. This consist of four hours, three days a week. And they(meaning the Staff) has arranged for a speaker to come in and teach us students. This week the topic is Character/Nature of God. WOW! Today was only the first day and I had already about 10 pages of notes….granted I do have a small journal, but truly it was so stimulating and mind engrossing that the four hours flew by! Katherine, the lecturer for this week, is originally from South Africa, she and her husband have been with YWAM for 37 years! She just got her doctorate. She is truly wonderful, she actually reminds me of Julie Andrews, her voice and her serene and humble countenance. God has truly blessed her with wisdom and insight and she has definitely experienced a great deal to have worked through so much and reached such a deep state in her walk with God. Though I’m sure you would be thrilled with me sharing ALL of my notes from the first day, (hear the sarcasm ;)so I will share one of the major thoughts that I was inspired/challenged by.
God loves to take delight in us, this I kind of knew, but didn’t approach it the way I’m going to now. Tonight, before going to bed, think on the things that you did that perhaps brought joy to Him. Just think. “How have I brought Joy to Him today?” It can be one, it can be several things. So, instead of thinking on all the things that I did wrong, or shouldn’t have said, or thought, or didn’t do…..which is good to do in the morning and repent and ask for His grace and strength and be filled more with His Holy Spirit in you than you and your humanness….but instead at night take the time to dwell on the joyous things that brought your Savior, your Creator pleasure and delight! Perhaps it was singing a song to a child or singing to Him? Or saying thank you to one who rendered you a service, or you took the time to make your spouse/or sibling/or roommate a sack lunch, or stopping and telling your family member that you love them and that more importantly that God loves them, or telling someone how beautiful they look today, or taking time and being creative, or even taking care of the body that God gave you by exercising or eating well, or by walking outside and taking time out of your day and being content in the midst of God’s creation, or taking time and being still before Him, or spending time conversing with your Heavenly Daddy and being eager to discover who He is, or if it is writing a kind word or email, or checking on a friend in the midst of your busy schedule, or making someone their favorite meal just because, or perhaps you’ve been pressing in Him and seeking His will or being open to have Him do His work in you no matter what He then asks or calls you to do! Whatever it is take time tonight and the next few nights to do this. Then hopefully it will be a continuous thing. This is one of the things that I had a revelation on today, Miss Katherine, had us do this exercise the first of the lecture and I was floored to think that we should/could do this, but how absolutely necessary this can be in our healthy growth in our relationship and interaction with God. As Katherine put it that you can develop ministry and/opportunities of it when you dwell on the things/actions that you do that bring Him joy because you are then able to develop those gifting in which to use them for Him! You are seeking out ways to bring Him joy! So, count out those joyous moments. I hope that this brings you something to think on and bring you encouragement.