Hunt Nine Words

A Bible Study to Help You Become The-Best-Version-of-Yourself(R)
1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-1-937509-47-7
Verlag: Beacon Publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 176 Seiten

Nobody grows up wanting to lead a meaningless or unsatisfying life. No one yearns to be incomplete or frustrated or to lack a destiny or purpose. Who would want that? Deep within each of us, God has implanted the desire to be the-best-version-of-ourselves. God has a dream for your life. And His dream for you is unique. Only you are you. Nine words best describe the-best-version-of-yourself®. Saint Paul shares nine words in his letter to the Galatians. These nine words provide the blueprint to your destiny, the dream God has for your life.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hunt, Allen

Leseproben

2. YOUR MOST ATTRACTIVE QUALITY

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Joy is surprisingly scarce these days. Technology makes you ever busier, and the frenzy around you increases. Joy is often the first thing to get squeezed out of your life. That’s because joy finds it difficult to grow where stress is abundant. Stress chokes off joy like weeds choke off the growth of plants in your garden.

Even worse, pessimism and negativism kill joy. Scientists have even proved that your joy can be extinguished by negative people. Researchers studied the habits and lives of unhealthy families. Discovery: Negative fathers and husbands breed negative wives. Moreover, negative parents breed negative children. In other words, negativism is contagious—so contagious that your children can be swept up in its tidal wave if you are not careful.

How many miserable people have you known? Did you notice how negative people always found and surrounded themselves with other negative people? Did you notice how, when forced to interact with joyful people, the negative people tried to persuade and discourage the more positive people around them? Negativism breeds negativism. It is not difficult to find people to tell you why things won’t work out like you hope and plan. It is easy to find people to rain on your parade. Most negative people are more than willing to share their dark thoughts and worries with you. In fact, they often can’t wait for the opportunity.

These same researchers also discovered that while negativism is highly contagious, joy is not so contagious. Joyful husbands do not necessarily help foster joyful wives. Nor do joyful parents always produce joyful children. Joy is not passed on as easily as negativism. Joy must be cultivated. Joy requires effort. Joy can be hard work.

However, the apostle Paul reminds us that joy is at the center of the Christian’s life. We are Easter people. Christ has defeated death. God has vanquished Satan. Easter has conquered Good Friday. That means we are people of joy. That is how Saint Paul, writing from a Roman prison, a difficult circumstance that would cause most people to lose hope, writes to the Christians in the church at Philippi, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4). Roman prisons were dark, dank places of death. Most prisoners died there. Yet, Paul found joy in his imprisonment.

In fact, in a letter from prison to the Philippians, rather than writing of his sufferings and worries, Paul mentions his “joy in Christ” more than twelve times in just four chapters. That is worth hearing: Even in the most difficult times in your life, you can rely upon the deep, abiding joy that comes from Jesus Christ. The world and your circumstances may press in and seek to crush you, but a relationship with Jesus will grow a joy in you that cannot be squelched.

Joy lives at the very center of Christian life. Joy makes us Christians different. We do not despair; we rejoice. Even when the world is closing in, we still have joy. Why? Three reasons: the simple joy of discovering Jesus, the deep joy of living in Jesus, and the eternal joy of dying in Jesus.

The Simple Joy of Discovering Jesus

The angel told us to expect joy, remember? On an ordinary night, the shepherds were gathered out in the fields, minding their own business and tending to their flocks. And then the angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them. Can you imagine? Imagine being at work one evening only to have the glory of the Lord show up right in front of you. Wow!

Then the angel speaks: (Luke 2:10) Jesus, God’s son and our Savior, has been born in Bethlehem. Great joy! For all people. The angel knew from the very beginning: Jesus’s arrival in the world brings joy. So too does His arrival in your heart and in your life. With Jesus living in you, unspeakable joy takes root. The very same joy that the angel shared with the shepherds on Christmas evening.

The wise men knew it too. They followed a star all the way from the East. These men traveled a great distance, having no idea where the star would guide them, and made their way to a little village called Bethlehem. (Matthew 2:10) The wise men’s search culminated in a stable in a little village that few people even knew about. Their journey ended with the overwhelming discovery of the arrival of Jesus, born in a manger. Overwhelmed with joy.

Are you beginning to get the picture? . He brought joy even when He was a newborn. He brings joy now to those who love Him. His joy is contagious. The truth cannot be avoided: Christians have joy.

Jesus even taught His followers that to know God is to have abundant, unspeakable joy:

(Matthew 13:44)

The joy of discovering Jesus and the Kingdom of God surpasses anything else that you will ever know in this lifetime. Consider the joy you feel when you find money on the sidewalk. Or when you are out of town and unexpectedly run into someone you know. Or when you have lost a piece of jewelry and then find it. It is amazing how much joy we gain in finding and discovering something.

Yet, the joy of meeting Jesus for the first time and gaining entry into a new way of life exceeds the joy of everything else. There is no joy like that of being part of the Kingdom of God. Incomprehensible joy. Divine joy. Unswerving joy. That is Jesus joy! Jesus is no mere theory or story. Either He is the source of incomparable joy or He is nothing at all.

The Deep Joy of Living in Jesus

The great joy that Jesus brings to you when you first meet Him only serves to prepare you for the increasing joy you will experience in your journey. You are now a part of the Resurrection, an Easter person. You belong to God and are now free to live your life the way God intended, toward becoming the-best-version-of-yourself. You are set free from seeking to please others or desperately trying to satisfy yourself and can now please and serve the Lord. You are free from the heavy weight of the demands of the world upon you. Free to be the person that God designed you to be from the very beginning.

This immense joy and freedom is made possible because of the empty tomb. Jesus put sin to death once and for all. He gained victory over the forces of Satan and evil in the world when He died at Calvary.

But His death was not the end. Rather, it was only the beginning. Early in the morning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb to see Jesus’s body one more time. They hoped to anoint his body with oil. These ladies probably intended to pray and spend time with God as they grieved the death of their very special friend, Jesus. But when they arrived at the tomb, an earthquake shook the ground, and an angel appeared. Just as the angel had spoken to the shepherds, the angel now spoke to the two Marys: “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. . . .” (Matthew 28:5–6)

What did Mary and Mary do with this shocking news that Jesus was not in the tomb? How did they react to an earthquake and the arrival of an angel who shared with them that Jesus had in fact been raised from the dead? They left quickly with (Matthew 28:8) Mary and Mary were the very first to know that the Resurrection was real. It was not just some bold prediction by Jesus. As they left the tomb and the angel that Easter morning, they ran squarely into Jesus Himself, raised from the dead. No wonder they had fear (Who has seen a resurrected man?) and great joy (Jesus lives!).

The two Marys had joy because they knew. They knew that Jesus had not been a madman who only claimed to be able to conquer death. Mary and Mary knew that Jesus lives. They discovered that God is indeed bigger than life and bigger than death. They realized that death does not have the last word in your life. They found that Jesus was exactly who He said He was: the Son of God. He has prepared a place for us. He does intend to take us to be with God for eternity. He is the very Word of God made flesh. is unspeakable joy.

And that joy changes how you live. It is indeed a life-changing experience to live with the knowledge that God has a plan for you, and His plans extend even beyond the grave. You are a spiritual person, not merely a physical person with an earthly body. We humans are more than bodies or sophisticated animals. There is a whole spiritual realm that we cannot see or touch with our hands. We are not confined by this world or its values. We have become a part of God’s world. Jesus has expanded your view of the universe beyond the here and now—indeed, beyond the grave. Now, that is joy!

Joy is just what Jesus intends for you. It is His goal that joy will be a vital part of your life. Hear His words: (John 15:11) Jesus comes to bring you the joy of God. Becoming the-best-version-of-yourself may involve some struggle and pain, but it will most certainly be defined by joy. Why? Because you are doing exactly what the Lord of the Universe intends for you. Better still, He introduces you to the Holy...