Joy from the world vs Joy from the Spirit of Jesus

[Prune Soleiado]

I live in France, nearby Paris.
So you can imagine the madness that reigns at this moment, now that the French soccer team has won the title of World Champion for the second time in 20 years.
Yesterday was total chaos, people shouting and honking through the night.
I thank God for putting me apart from all this because I really don't understand the purpose of it.
People are crazy for what? A balloon. Idol of heart.
It makes me think about 2 verses:
Matthew 24:38: « For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark »
Revelation 13:15: « And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed »
Well then kill me... in the name of Jesus and for the glory of God.
Let's add this image I have in mind: almost everyone had the French flag draw on their faces... Revelation 13:16:  « And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads »
But still... people keeps on frowning and being unhappy about everything... they keeps on feeling lonely and sad, most of the time for no reason...
Proverbs 14:13: « Even in laughter the heart may ache,and rejoicing may end in grief. »
Of course, this rejoicing I see around me doesn't come from the Spirit of God, it's a joy that comes from the world. What would it produce? Nothing but a little wind, for an instant, a whisper quickly forgotten.
I saw it this morning in the train when going to my office. Nobody was smiling. Nobody. No communion. No gathering.
Ecclesiastes 1:2: « Meaningless! Meaningless!"says the Teacher."Utterly meaningless!Everything is meaningless."
Jesus showed us this solitude of heart that brings the world, despite its apparent happiness, when He was at the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles. I guess people were apparently happy, partying together.
Ecclesiastes 7:6 :  « For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity. »
Jesus knew how sad and lonely every one of them felt inside at this Festival of Tabernacles.
John 7:37: « On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. »
He reminded everyone His joy is true, profound and never comes to pass, it satisfies plainly.
There has been a lot of people that have been hurt or that died celebrating yesterday night. They were celebrating death, not life.
God is Life, Jesus is the way, the truth, the LIFE.
Just waiting for the age when those people will be celebrating and glorifying God. What a real joy it shall be for all of us!
But for the moment, just a moment,  let's « leave the dead to bury their own dead ».

[Wanda]

The whole world is mad Michelle.

I used to fear the world, but now I feel a sense of peace,  knowing God has all things under his control. All of this insanity is as it should be, for the time he has alloted.

We are very blessed to be given the gift of sight.

John 5:19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

 John 16:11  Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.

John 12:31 The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out.

1 John 4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

[Prune Soleiado]

Hello from France Sister Wanda 👋

God brought Psalm 16 to me this morning:

« 1 Keep me safe, my God,
    for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, "You are my Lord;
    apart from you I have no good thing."
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land,
    "They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight."
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
    I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
    or take up their names on my lips.
5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
    you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
    even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
    With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
    my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
    nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
    you will fill me with joy in your presence,
    with eternal pleasures at your right hand. »

[yello62]

michelle,

as an american born with some croatian heritage, i watched the game between france and croatia.  a former athlete, i enjoyed watching the skill of both teams.  God has blessed mankind with incredible gifts.  He has allowed us, however, to idolize those gifts beyond all that is reasonable.  i heard during the game that mbabe, a nineteen yeard old, had his contract purchased for $200 million?  there are countries whose gdp is not equal to that amount.  yet these things are celebrated. 

as wanda indicates, God has allowed these things to be for His ultimate purpose to be fulfilled.  we may not understand fully how this will occur, we just know that it will, because The Father has declared it to be so, and His mouth does not speak it, if it will not come to pass.  until such time, we pray for the next stage of His declaration to begin, and we pray for those our brothers and sisters in humanity to be given sight, as He allows.

tony

[Dennis Vogel]

I know it's a hard thing to keep in mind. But God does not allow anything. He is the cause of everything, either directly or indirectly.

Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

[yello62]

dennis,

my intent in the use of the word allow is not to say that we choose to do this or that.  i have for decades believed and told those around me, that God is The cause of all things.  when i say that He has allowed us to do a thing, i mean it in the same sense that He allowed (made to be)... choose a thing, sarah to be unable to produce a child until He determined it.  david to impregnate bathsheba, then kill her husband.  Christ to be beaten and crucified.  name a thing, anything that has happened in this wicked age, God has allowed it, or caused it to be so for the purpose of fulfilling His ultimate goal of being all in all.

hope this clarifies my intent in the use of the word "allows",

tony

[Dennis Vogel]

Understood Tony but I have to keep in mind that there are new people coming to this forum everyday. Words have meanings and we should always try to use the correct words. Nothing personal. Just pointing something out.

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

[yello62]

 

[Prune Soleiado]

Hi Tony

I totally agree with you: God causes everything.
The funny thing is: 20 years ago, I was 20, and I was celebrating on the Champs-Elysées the former french soccer team's victory!
20 years later, God has starting to put some wisdom in my heart and I see it all from a different view, the greatest one.. 😅
Of course I still appreciate the beauty of sports, whatever they are. I'm a photo journalist for the sport pages of a french tv guide... God has so much humor 😆
Let Our Father be glorified through Jesus Christ

[Wanda]

I get what your saying Tony.

Learning we don't have free will has had a huge impact in my life. Even though I believed it almost instantly, I would still get tripped up,  because of  the enourmous scope of Gods sovereignty.  At this time I would have a very real issue with a creator that allowed anything.

[Wanda]

Thanks for the beautiful psalms Michele! ☺

These are some of my favorites, because they are the words of my heart everyday.

Psalms 63:2-9

O God, you are my God—

it is you I seek!

For you my body yearns;

for you my soul thirsts,

In a land parched, lifeless,

and without water.

3 I look to you in the sanctuary

to see your power and glory.

4 For your love is better than life;*

my lips shall ever praise you!

5 I will bless you as long as I live;

I will lift up my hands, calling on your name.

6 My soul shall be sated as with choice food,

with joyous lips my mouth shall praise you!

7 I think of you upon my bed,

I remember you through the watches of the night

8 You indeed are my savior,

and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.

9 My soul clings fast to you;

your right hand upholds me.

[ML]

Wonderful!

Here are some of my favourites:

Colossians 2 - Especially Vs. 14 & 15

1For I wish you to know how great a conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,

2that their hearts may be comforted, being united in love, and to all riches of the full assurance of the understanding, to the full knowledge of the secret of the God and Father, and of the Christ,

3in whom are all the treasures of the wisdom and the knowledge hid,

4and this I say, that no one may beguile you in enticing words,

5for if even in the flesh I am absent — yet in the spirit I am with you, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in regard to Christ;

6as, then, ye did receive Christ Jesus the Lord, in him walk ye,

7being rooted and built up in him, and confirmed in the faith, as ye were taught — abounding in it in thanksgiving.

8See that no one shall be carrying you away as spoil through the philosophy and vain deceit, according to the deliverance of men, according to the rudiments of the world, and not according to Christ,

9because in him doth tabernacle all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,

10and ye are in him made full, who is the head of all principality and authority,

11in whom also ye were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh in the circumcision of the Christ,

12being buried with him in the baptism, in which also ye rose with [him] through the faith of the working of God, who did raise him out of the dead.

13And you — being dead in the trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh — He made alive together with him, having forgiven you all the trespasses,

14having blotted out the handwriting in the ordinances that is against us, that was contrary to us, and he hath taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross;

15having stripped the principalities and the authorities, he made a shew of them openly — having triumphed over them in it.

Romans 14
8For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.

1 Peter 2
9and ye [are] a choice race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired, that the excellences ye may shew forth of Him who out of darkness did call you to His wondrous light

Micah 7
8Thou dost not rejoice over me, O mine enemy, When I have fallen, I have risen, When I sit in darkness Jehovah is a light to me.

9The indignation of Jehovah I do bear, For I have sinned against Him, Till that He doth plead my cause, And hath executed my judgment, He doth bring me forth to the light, I look on His righteousness.


1 Peter 4
12Beloved, think it not strange at the fiery suffering among you that is coming to try you, as if a strange thing were happening to you,

13but, according as ye have fellowship with the sufferings of the Christ, rejoice ye, that also in the revelation of his glory ye may rejoice — exulting

14if ye be reproached in the name of Christ — happy [are ye], because the Spirit of glory and of God upon you doth rest; in regard, indeed, to them, he is evil-spoken of, and in regard to you, he is glorified;

15for let none of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evil-doer, or as an inspector into other men's matters

(Almost forgot!) Ephesians 3

1For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you the nations,
2if, indeed, ye did hear of the dispensation of the grace of God that was given to me in regard to you,
3that by revelation He made known to me the secret, according as I wrote before in few [words] —
4in regard to which ye are able, reading [it], to understand my knowledge in the secret of the Christ,
5which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it was now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit —
6that the nations be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in the Christ, through the good news,
7of which I became a ministrant, according to the gift of the grace of God that was given to me, according to the working of His power;
8to me — the less than the least of all the saints — was given this grace, among the nations to proclaim good news — the untraceable riches of the Christ,
9and to cause all to see what [is] the fellowship of the secret that hath been hid from the ages in God, who the all things did create by Jesus Christ,
10that there might be made known now to the principalities and the authorities in the heavenly [places], through the assembly, the manifold wisdom of God,
11according to a purpose of the ages, which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord,
12in whom we have the freedom and the access in confidence through the faith of him,
13wherefore, I ask [you] not to faint in my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
14For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15of whom the whole family in the heavens and on earth is named,
16that He may give to you, according to the riches of His glory, with might to be strengthened through His Spirit, in regard to the inner man,
17that the Christ may dwell through the faith in your hearts, in love having been rooted and founded,
18that ye may be in strength to comprehend, with all the saints, what [is] the breadth, and length, and depth, and height,
19to know also the love of the Christ that is exceeding the knowledge, that ye may be filled — to all the fulness of God;
20and to Him who is able above all things to do exceeding abundantly what we ask or think, according to the power that is working in us,
21to Him [is] the glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus, to all the generations of the age of the ages. Amen.

And, not to take up much more space, 2 others would be Psalm 22 - 23, and Romans 8.

[Wanda]

Those are great versus!

Romans 8-9-10 All good.

[Prune Soleiado]

Hello Wanda 👋 Hello ML 👋
Thanks for those wonderful verses (well absolutely ALL bible's verses are wonderful since Our Father in heavens is wonderful)
As for me, this part of Isaiah 30:15 always helps me, at anytime : « in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. »

Yesterday evening there was a documentary on tv about the french soccer team who won the world soccer cup. It was pretty interesting showing the team throughout the competition.
All along the documentary two words were repeated by the coach or the players: « family » and « unity ». Beautiful concepts specific to sport's mentality. AND firtsly to Our Family, God's Holy Family!
It reminds me of this verse:
1Corinthians 9:25: « Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. »

During the documentary we heard, of course, the french national hymn « La marseillaise ».
I found the translation and it reveals itself very interesting. I've never really paid attention to it. But now I see some relevant things.
« Arise, children of the Fatherland,
The day of glory has arrived!
Against us tyranny
Raises its bloody banner
Do you hear, in the countryside,
The roar of those ferocious soldiers?
They're coming right into your arms
To cut the throats of your sons and women!

To arms, citizens,
Form your battalions,
Let's march, let's march!
Let the impure blood
Water our furrows!

What does this horde of slaves,
Of traitors and conjured kings want?
For whom are these vile chains,
These long-prepared irons?
Frenchmen, for us, ah! What outrage!
What fury must it arouse!
It is us they dare plan
To return to the old slavery!

To arms, citizens,
Form your battalions,
Let's march, let's march!
Let the impure blood
Water our furrows!

What! Foreign cohorts
Would make the law in our homes!
What! These mercenary phalanxes
Would strike down our proud warriors!
Great God! By chained hands
Our brows would yield under the yoke
Vile despots would have themselves
The masters of our destinies!

To arms, citizens,
Form your battalions,
Let's march, let's march!
Let the impure blood
Water our furrows!

Tremble, tyrants and you traitors
The shame of all parties,
Tremble! Your parricidal schemes
Will finally receive their reward!
Everyone is a soldier to fight you
If they fall, our young heroes,
The earth will produce new ones,
Ready to fight against you! »

There are more verses after that but those first ones are kinda speaking by themselves, don't they? Well, not as good and inspiring as David's psalms but I see that war's a good source of inspiration when compared to the battles we, as children of God, have to fight in this eon for the Glory of God!

[ML]

👋 Michelle! I don't even know how to get that symbol yet, so I just copied and pasted it 

Wonderful verses you added. Especially Isaiah, as at times I feel too weak in the flesh, so we rely on Him to strengthen us in Spirit.

I've been led to read Corinthians lately, so it is nice to see lot's of verses from those books pop up from different people. In fact, I just read the verse you listed recently. In terms of the documentary you listed, I used to look at a lot of politics, and involved in a lot of political discussions. It is so wonderful that God calls us out of the affairs of life, and give us TRUE peace, that the world will never be able to offer, no matter how much fleshly desires it gives.

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

[Prune Soleiado]

😂😂 ML, I have this symbol 👋 because I use the keypad of my phone 📱