Has Joy Abandoned?

Has Joy Abandoned?


Joy has abandoned
both poem and prose
we sing of the thorn
and not the rose
in lyics we hear
the bitterness grows
Yes, joy has abandoned
both poem and prose

Joy has abandoned
The words of our tounge
Love, Hope and Beauty
Seldom are sung.
Joy has abandoned
The words of our tounge

Let's not forget
we have a choice
Let's not forget
Lift up your voice
Give God the praise!
Let us rejoice!

His joy is my strength
It give me peace
His joy is my strentth
His power released

Joy did not run
Joy did not flee
It's waiting for you
It's waiting for me
Let joy return
in poem
in prose
Joy has returned
Jesus arose!

Corry Wauford
2013-01-26 6:30am

Through the valley with a purpose.

Our family is dealing with a financial issue right now. The first couple of days I was pretty OK, but as I tried to deal with government agencies and poorly functioning online forms and answering questions that required me to dig deep in our stacks of documents, I was getting frustrated.

I decided to take a walk and just get away from the issue for a while. I came back home and relaxed with my wife for a while. Later on, she said it had come to her that what I was dealing with, the poorly functioning online forms, was actually preparing me to help others get through the same process. You see, we already have plans to form a 501c3 organization that takes in homeless pets and homeless or otherwise endangered people. So not only the government forms, but the whole issue we're going through will serve to develop us, teach us how to deal with the government, teach us how to find additional streams of income, and probably most importantly give us a heartfelt understanding of what our people are going through.

Praise God! Not for the hardship, but for how He is using it to further His Kingdom.

Merry Christmas!

Today we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.

He died on a cross to take away our sins.

He rose again and reigns forevermore!

Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth peace and goodwill to men.

Hallelujah!

Do X if you love Jesus

I posted this on my FB Timeline:

"Do X if you love Jesus" does not glorify God. "Do X if you love Jesus" does not spread the gospel. "Do X if you love Jesus"... Sure, we ought to love Jesus! Jesus loved us enough to die for us! Sure, we ought to tell everyone we love Jesus. He loves them too!

The FB posts I'm talking about imply or outright say "If you don't do whatever I am asking you to do, then you are denying Jesus and are not a true Christian." Jesus has set us free from ALL bondage, including this one!

Trust God

I typed this as if I were giving a sermon:

---

Write this down:

ps31:1
In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.

This is my foundation scripture. I'll come back to this, but lets go over to Genisis.

read gen 8:8-12

In verse 9, Noah sent forth the dove, but she came back with no sign of dry land. Now, in verse 10 Noah "stayed." this was a very uncomfortable time for Noah. This word "stayed" is the Greek "Chuwl" (pronounced "cool" or "quel") It is the same word used elsewhere in the bible talking about labor pains. It also means "Twist". So for 7 days, Noah had a painful, emotionally twisting wait on the Lord, and sent her out again. In Verse 11 she returned with an olive branch.
Then in verse 12, the word "stayed" is "Yachal." It means wait, hope, expect. God has given him an olive branch, and Now he can wait with a confident expectation.

How much better, to wait, hope, and expect than to twist, trevail and suffer! God has given us much more than an olive branch.

He has given us his Son!

Contrast Gen 8:10 "stayed" = Chuwl = Pain, twist, trevail, bring forth, suffering, torture

Genesis 8:12 "stayed" = Yachal= wait, hope, expect
Lets turn back to psalm 31. You might want to read this whole chapter when you have time, but lets go on.

ps31:1
In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.

As I said, this is our foundation scripture. Let's see that word "trust". It is "Chacah" (pronounce "kaw-saw"). It means to seek refuge, or to put trust in God. In the next few stanzas, David kind of Puffs up God, He's like God's Hype man. He uses phrases like "strong rock", "house of defense", and "fortress".

Now, why does David need a fortress? Stanza 4 begins to explain. He talks here about "the net that they have laid privily for me". Now, we don't use that word "privily" in today's English, but that just means "Secretly" or "In Private". That means someone's out to get him.

So let's drop down to stanza 13 and read a little more

read PS 31:13-15
In stanze 13 it says "they devised to take away my life. " They were gonna' kill him!

But notice in Verse 14, It says "But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, 'Thou art my God.'"

That word "trusted" there is "Batach." (pronounced "Ba'takh" ) It means to trust, be secure, feel safe. Then see that word, "said". I like that word.

It is "'amar" It means say, speak, utter. It also means "to boast". David boasted "THOU art my God". That's why he could trust him, because David knew him as HIS God.

Now lets go down to stanza 22

read PS 31:22-24

It looks like, in stanze 22, David had run off his mouth a little, and said something he shouldn't have. Nevertheless, God took care of him.

Stanze 24, David talking from personal experience, gives us some advice. He says "Be of good courage". Who should be of good courage?

"all ye that hope in the LORD. " That word "hope" is "Yachal" That's the word we saw earlier, Translated as "stayed". It means "wait, hope, expect", not "twist, trevail and suffer". So Let me ask again, who should be of good courage? All those who wait, hope & expect in the LORD.
Remember, this is coming from someone with great experience. If I say "You can trust Billy Bob, he's a good guy." You might believe me, but if you know that I've been around Billy Bob for a while and then I say "You can trust Billy Bob. He's stood by me when everything was falling apart. He helped me when it looked like it was helpless. He put his life on the line for me. Yep, you can trust Billy Bob." Well, now I think Billy Bob's trustworthiness just skyrocketed. Same thing applies here to God. David had, at this point, known God for a while. They'd been through some stuff. God had been his rock, his refuge, his fortress. David can vouch for God's trustworthiness because he has seen it for himself.

We can trust God.

---

I updated the verse links, this time I used Blue Letter Bible.

The end of the world?

I doubt it!

But maybe it's the start of a new one.
I'm make the rounds of all the blogs I've started and never kept up on. I'd love to see them all actually develop a readership, but it's kind of hard to attract readers when I post once in about 18-24 months.
We'll have to see where God takes me in the coming weeks and months.

I'm learning a lesson right now about trusting God. Not that I don't, but that there's a situation in my life that will prove whether or not I REALLY trust him. Those that know me can ask for details if you feel a need to know.

Right now I'm in a mode of doing EVERYTHING I know to do on the situation, but knowing that without GOD, all my doing is worthless. Only GOD can actually do it. Praise Him! I do have a peace that passes understanding. God's got this!



As I write this, it's 12:44am on the 21st. I'll post again tomorrow, after the 'end of the world'.

I'd love to get feedback on this conversation I had with one of my church sisters. (She now goes to a different church than I do.)

I edited this only enough to give some annonymity to HER.

HER:
Minister this, minister that... Prophet, Teacher, Pastor.... blah blah BLAH! Everyone is so caught up on titles, they forget their NAME! Smh, you're gift will be evident by how you live. It's okay if people call you by your birth name. I proooooomise, it doesn't change anything! We are ALL ministers of the gospel! #JustSayin #IDontCareIfThatOffendsYouShrug

...

ME:
I was just talking about how even calling each other "Brother" and "Sister" is un-natural. I have a natural sister. Her name is "Susan". Do you think I call her "Sister Susan"? NO! I call her "Susan" or "Sissy". If anyone at church wants to... call me "Corry" instead of "Bro. Corry" I'm fine with it. (BTW, most (I say most, not all) of the ministers I know aren't tied up in their title. I still call Bro. Marc "Bro. Marc" (Now Minister Marc) and I correct myself. He doesn't.) Let's balance this, please respect the position God has placed them in, and call them by title when appropriate.

HER:
When is it appropriate? Why nor just call them by their name? Calling them by a title does what, exactly? Your gift with be very evident in your lifestyle... its not necessary to call someone by their title.... if you do, out of respect... I guess that's cool, but I don't sew why.

ME:
You said it, Out of Respect. I used my sister as an example before, and I just thought of the other side of this, again with the family. When I was young, we always called our aunts (We pronounced it "ants") and uncles "Ant so-and-so" or "Uncle so-and-so" out of respect. I guess I'm flip flopping in my position on this one 'cause I see a little of both sides. If I walked up to my pastor and said "Hey Tom, Can I talk to you a minute?" I think it'd be disrespectful. I'd probably get a cross eyed look at the least. Do I think that he's caught up in his title? NO! He is submitted to God and has a position of respect and honor* in my life. *1 Timothy 5:17 supports this- Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. So, That's why I said we should balance it. Let's not lose our reverence for the position they hold, but at the same time, if you find yourself in one of those positions, don't get the BIG HEAD!


HER:
That's because you're taught to call them by their title, not because its biblical... you can honor without esteeming a title. If he got upset for you calling him Tom, that's a heart check that needs to be done in him... the GIFT is what deserves the respect, the person is the vessel... and when you set yourself up so high that you feel you need to be honored, you've missed the mark. I understand the respect thing, and that's cool, it just shouldn't be enforced... ie: introducing yourself as "minister/ pastor so and so"... that's not your name... that's taking it too far.

ME:
If I were a doctor, I'd expect my patients and the nurses to call me Dr. Corry or Dr. Wauford. If I were a seargent. I'd expect my soldiers to call me "Sgt. Wauford". If I were a police officer, I'd expect my co-workers and civilians to call me "Officer Wauford" when I was in uniform. Using the title gives evidence for the respect and honor we give to each of those positions. If a person has trouble giving that honor, then that is also a time for a heart check.

HER:
I would have to disagree... think there's too much religion in the church today... and just an FYI, I call my pastor, PASTOR Ed... but not always, and if I didn't, he'd have NO problem with it... and he calls himself Ed... cause he knows his name... and his patents didn't name him pastor anything -____- #shrug its all good, though... much prayer needed in the body.