Joy can keep you well like medicine! I read one time that most of the hospitals in this country are filled with people whose problems stem from stress, worry, and anxiety.
Your body wasn't created to live worrying about every little thing! You were created to walk in the joy of the Lord every day of your life. His joy can keep you living well!
I love living with the joy of the Lord in my soul! It's taken me out of the heart of the mullygrubs and into the heart of Glory!
Now, I don't claim to be perfect. Just like you, I recognize the areas of my life that need to be renewed daily in the Word of God.
I've blamed my temper on my Cajun heritage for years. I've tried to justify it by telling God, "It's that Tabasco Sauce that Mama put in my baby bottle that makes me do this!"
It's so easy to find a reason why. Justification for the flesh is so many believers' specialty. But we've all got to learn to get honest with God. It's not like He can't see through the wool we try to pull over His eyes.
The three main things I do when I mess up are:
1. Admit it.
2. Repent, ask for forgiveness and turn the other way.
3. Refuse to let the devil hold it over my head.
Number three is very important because you must remember that God forgives and forgets. He's not going to bring up what you did last week if you've already repented.
Go Ahead, Tell Him Where To Go!
Only the devil tries to condemn you with the past. When that idiot tries to remind you of anything God's forgiven you for, tell him to shut up! It's okay; God has given you the right to tell him where to go (i.e., hell).
Just press your heel down a little tighter on his neck, and resist the thoughts of inadequacy he tries to put on you. God has forgiven you and wants you to get back up and start living in joy again. Refill yourself with joy by getting in the Word and dwelling in the secret place of the Most High.
On a daily basis I accept a portion of joy, the holy fire, and I confront problems with promises. If sickness tries to attach itself to my body, I confront it with 1 Peter 2:24, "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."
In situations of financial difficulty, I enforce Philippians 4:19, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
If I begin to get weary, I go to the Word and get filled. I remember God's promise in 1 Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
Jesus has overcome! He has a promise for every problem you've got. His promises are always bigger than the problems.
The devil is really no match for God or His people!
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers