14 minute read
Message from our Hearts...
JOY
Kimberly Hobbs
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Founder and Executive Director, Women World Leaders kimberly@womenworldleaders.com
How many of us can say we have true inner joy? Many people get joy confused with happiness. Joy is not like happiness, which is based on happenings or whether things are going well or not. Joy remains even during suffering. Joy from God’s Word is a gift. There are over 150 references to joy in God’s Word.
The two main definitions of joy in God’s Word are: 1. Gladness in the Lord, such as happiness, contentment, and delight and, 2. Rejoice, which describes the outward expression of our internal joy. Both are connected. Rejoicing flows out of gladness in the Lord, and our gladness in the Lord increases the more we rejoice. How wonderful is this?
We should all desire to have joy in our hearts. This is what God’s Word tells us. I used to sing a song to my children when they were small, using hand motions that went with it. The song emphasized the importance of the word Joy.
I have the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. I have the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart to stay.
The song continues, emphasizing the importance of joy residing in the heart and staying there. Joy comes from God. More specifically, it comes from the Holy Spirit. (1 Thess 1:6, TPT) Joy is a fruit of the spirit.
When we have faith and are obedient to God, the Bible tells us our joy will be complete.
“If you keep my commands, you will live in my love, just as I have kept my father’s commands, for I continually live nourished and empowered by his love. My purpose for telling you these things is so that the joy that I experience will fill your hearts with overflowing gladness!” (John 15:10- 11, TPT)
Our closeness to God results in loving Him. The closer we draw to Him, the closer He draws to us. This love and faith in God fill us with joy, as the disciple Peter talks about.
“You love Him passionately although you did not see Him, but through believing in Him, you are saturated with an ecstatic joy, indescribably sublime and immersed in glory.” (1 Peter 1:8, TPT)
When we are experiencing sin in our life, it hinders us from experiencing the joy that God intends for us. Sin separates us from God, who is our source of joy. It is difficult to look through a dark cloud that blinds our vision. We need to examine what may be hindering us from experiencing the joy that blesses us. Ask God to reveal it to you. If you are feeling depressed and lacking true inner joy, something may be blocking that internal joy. God will do it; He will show you where the problem is if you ask Him. You may find that repentance over the exposed sin will bring you the freedom and joy that transcends the circumstances. The gladness in your heart comes from God alone. God cannot be present in a sinful situation. Confess your sins. God is faithful and just to forgive those sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
“But if we freely admit our sins when His light uncovers them, He will be faithful to forgive us every time. God is just to forgive us our sins because of Christ, and He will continue to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, TPT)
True joy can enter where God is present because where God is present, there is joy. Joy is the result of a life that is lived for God.
Taken from the book: Tears to Triumph Releasing Pain to receive Gods Restoration by Kimberly Ann Hobbs
Biblical Principles for Everyday Living
WHAT TO DO WHEN...YOUR KIDS WON’T STOP FIGHTING.
Julie Jenkins
Teaching and Curriculum Leader julie@womenworldleaders.com
I’m a mom of three, and I bet every mom, like me, has asked the question – what should I do when my kids won’t stop fighting? This is so tricky because each situation and each child is different. It’s also tricky because a mom’s job is so complex – you need to protect your children, guide them, keep them safe, encourage them, love them – the list goes on and on. We may ask ourselves, which of these responsibilities should I bend to – discipline or love? Teaching responsibility or mercy?
The first thing we must remember is that God’s ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9), so we must, first and foremost, lean on God in prayer. God tells us that whoever asks, receives; and whoever seeks, will find. (Matthew 7:7) This promise, together with God’s sovereignty (His supreme power and authority) and His amazing love for you and your children, gives us a solid rock to stand on even when we feel like we are being beaten up by the waves of life.
As we seek God’s wisdom, we should ask for eyes to see our circumstance from His view. The whole story of the Bible is that God made us to walk with Him eternally; but man sinned, tearing himself away from God; and the rest of the story woven throughout the Bible is God’s quest to bring each individual back into His presence. That is God’s chief concern for us. And if that is His primary concern as our heavenly Father, perhaps that should be our primary concern for us as earthly parents. Therefore, we each should ask - What can I do, as a mom, to show my feuding children God’s love for them and His desire to walk with them?
The specific answer to this question is going to be as unique as the day itself, but the overarching answer is to persevere in love. Don’t throw in the towel or allow the devil to make you believe that everything that you are doing is worthless. Some days we will be called to show mercy, other days we will be called to discipline, but when we set our minds and our spirits on the end goal, the answer will become clear as we remember that we are to do more than simply “stop the bleeding.” Just like God perseveres in parenting us despite the complexities of our circumstances and our own disobedience, so we are called to guide and lead our own children continually and creatively. This task is not easy and is not the quick fix that we often long for, but if we can use each argument as a stepping-stone that brings our children one step closer to a peaceful walk with God, then our time and energy spent will have been well worth it!
Despite the day, the circumstance, or the argument, one thing will remain consistent: we, as parents, are to persevere in love so that our children might see and experience the love of God Himself.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:12-14, NIV
Do you have a question that we can explore together? We are iron sharpening iron and I’d love to hear from you! You can reach me at julie@womenworldleaders.com. I don’t have all the answers, but God does! Let’s seek them together
Heart of a Missionary: Called to Him, Not a Place
Lauren Dean
Missionary, Author, & Speaker Founding Board Member & Vice- President at African Orphan Educational Foundation, Global Business & Missions Director at Women World Leaders
It was a divine date.
About a year after I returned home to Florida from the mission field in Kenya, God led me to join an online dating site for missionaries. I had resisted online dating—but I finally surrendered. I initially thought this might be how I would meet my future husband, but I quickly realized this was not what God had intended. He was using it to prepare me for a totally different purpose He had in mind.
On the dating site, I was led to a group thread dedicated to missions to Israel and Jewish people. Before I came to know Christ, I was extremely close to the Jewish/Israeli culture for several years through a prior relationship. So I prayed diligently about what God’s purpose for this was.
Less than a week and a half after joining the site, a video about evangelism to Israeli and Jewish people popped up on the thread and spoke to me so loudly. I watched it as I was getting ready to meet a board member from the nonprofit I’m involved in that serves children in Africa. She was moving to the west coast of Florida, so I was stopping by to say farewell. She was gathered with a few friends at a local
outdoor concert and we began talking about the non-profit. There was one woman in particular who took a special interest in our discussion, and she and I began a long conversation about my time in Africa. I could tell she was eager to know why I would go halfway across the world. And then out of nowhere…
“Are you a Christian?” she asked.“Yes, I’m a Christian,” I answered.Her next question, “What does Christianity mean to you?”
Immediately in my head I began to pray, my mind going wild. I prayed for the Holy Spirit to intercede—to allow me to see what was going on here; to give me the words He wanted me to say.
And the Holy Spirit took over. It was a little bit of a blur, but I shared some of my testimony, including that I was raised Catholic but had fully come to know Jesus’ saving grace just a few years earlier. And I shared the gospel from a personal perspective - that my sin had separated me from God, but Jesus died for my sins on the cross and was resurrected. When I believed that and turned from my old life to a life led by God, I gained a relationship with God and was granted eternal life.
There was a pause.“Are you a Christian?” I asked.“No, I’m Jewish,” she responded.
And in that moment, God answered my prayers. He revealed to me what was going on here.
I shared with her my past connection to Judaism and my travels to Israel—and how Jesus Himself was Jewish. We continued to talk and parted ways at the end of the night. This was the “date” God had in mind all along. Sometimes it’s not about finding your husband, sometimes it’s about finding Jesus and telling others about Him.
“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,” 1 Peter 3:15 NIV
When others want to know the reason why you go halfway across the world or why you give generously—a door is opened to share the Gospel. Jesus is our why.
One thing I’ve learned in the missionary field is that people are more ready to hear the Gospel than we are inclined to share the Gospel.
I think about my own experience before my relationship with Christ—how many Christians I must have crossed paths with in my own hometown who never shared the Gospel with me. It wasn’t until I made a trip half way across the world on a “mission” trip that a Kenyan man initiated a Gospel conversation with me that eventually led me to the Lord.
The Samaritan woman, after having an encounter with Jesus, goes back to her town to share her testimony and invite others to meet Jesus (John 4). Sometimes it’s not about God sending you out to the nations, sometimes it’s about God sending you back to where you came from. We are always on mission—whether it be near or far.
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” Romans 10:14-15 NIV
Mercy Hands
Intimate Surrenders
Carrie Christopher
Ministry Development Leader carrie@womenworldleaders.com
Suffering servant. My heart suffers alongside you. Suffering sister. Where is your heart today? Are you floundering in a sea of distress, bound in shackles of lies, wondering where our God is? Suffering saint, have you felt clothes of impossibilities, frets and depression in your darkest valley attempting to steal your affections. Are you bogged down by circumstances too heavy to bear and resistance that keeps knocking you down? Does the darkened drabs of your mind bind you in hopeless captivity and peril?
Is this sea of sorrow falsely singing to you, determining God’s plans for you; attempting to define your life and be the voice of God? My heart grieves with you, for there have been varied seasons when I have felt this exact same way.
But perhaps aside from identifying with me, your most constant source of identification can be with our Jesus. All the understanding of our suffering can be understood by God alone. He sees every single moment - previous and ahead. He sees these moments as temporary afflictions, aimed for greater glory and revelations of His love. But sometimes the suffering backs us up into a corner, intimidating us, drawing out the fear that has always been there. The epitome of our chastised suffering can be seen and fully known by our Savior - who experienced the full completion, weight of the entirety of the world’s sin and willingly chose to carry this heaviness to death. Death, to the power it would originally rend over us, transposing the seeming defeat into redeemed grace gifts.
There have been so many years when I have yearned for others to see and taste the wars that I’ve been through. For someone to identify with my pain. But I’ve been disappointed and caught up in this snare of looking for this in idolatry, and overlooking the huge heart of Christ that yearns to identify with me and be the source of comfort for my pain. You see, our pain can be used to push us away from the presence of God or can be used as a way for God to pull us in! The reserved, set-aside place of deep intimacy arranged in our suffering is for me and Jesus alone. No one will ever understand the complete picture of each individual’s suffering, and God is not asking anyone to carry this weight, but He will carry it Himself. Because you see, God is God, it is HIS PRESENCE that wants to carry these weighty pains for me and for you; to commune in our places of tears and the cemeteries of grievances that we find ourselves in. Our suffering is a calculated companionship. God has sorted through the numbers and ways of my afflictions, of your afflictions, and ushers in His companionship through these.
Sister, He is a God who sees us in our pain, who wants to tenderly hold us close in comfort and care when we are grieving, sick, despondent, in sin, or agonizing over our suffering. He wants to enter into these deep wailing places of our hearts and speak to us there. We don’t have to suffer from loneliness when the God of all the earth communes with us in these places. We don’t have to let our bleeding hearts lead us onward into paths of unrecognized unforgiveness and bitterness. We don’t have to let our diseases carry us in shame, and be engulfed believing lies that we will always be subject to this mess. May the God of Jacob, who parted the Red Sea, part our tears with HOPE, giving us refreshments of His presence, His will, His powers, and His dominion in the very loose ends and shattered heart pieces in our life. You see, God desires to create mosaic masterpieces out of each of our broken pieces. He’s not finished with us yet, sister. We need to quit living and feeling like the wailing wonders of our minds will be what emerges from this place of deep darkness; and please note, I am preaching this to myself. We will see the light, we will sing again; we will see hope, healing, and restoration in the places of our ashes! This is not the end - God has the final word!
Psalm 46:2 NIV
May His Mercy Hands meet you today in an intimacy greater than you’ve ever expected, dreamed, or asked, allowing His infinite love to break down any wall of pain and adversity.
