DAILY HOPE DEVOTIONAL: DECEMBER 13 PRAISE: A PATHWAY TO JOY SCRIPTURE: Psalms 5: 11
The world has thousands upon thousands of suggestions or myths about what could give mankind joy. These suggestions are so personal, individualistic and relative to the proponents of the suggestions. This again makes some of the theories on sources of joy clumsy to some certain degrees. In order to be joyful, many took to excessive consumption of alcohol. Others go for merriments such going to parties, night clubs, casinos and places of indiscriminate sexual satisfactions. At the end of it all the expected joy is not received.
The summary here is; real joy cannot be guaranteed in what the worldly people believed that joy is contained. The Preacher, the writer of Ecclesiastes attested to the fact which shows joy cannot be gotten from acquisitions of wealth, many wives, live stocks or great wisdom from the world. He concluded that all human pursuits are vanity upon vanity. It has been proven that engaging one in what the worldly people believed will bring joy usually turn to grieves.
But to the Christians, the pathway to joy is in giving genuine praise and dance to God every day. In a Christian meeting where singing, praising and dancing are involved, the entire members are overwhelmed with joy. Under this phenomenon, one’s sense of failure, despair, fear of death and the like which robs off joy from the mind disappear. Most often, the joy abides in the minds of the people for weeks, unlike that got from world gathering that is mostly temporal.
Lovers of praise in churches are never overpowered by despair or emotional traumatic experiences. Nothing drives away sorrow from the minds and hearts of people like good praises and dancing. You reading this devotional today can find lasting joy from engaging yourself in singing, praising and dancing for God. Allow yourself to enter the gate of your house, that of your church and the gate of your office with thanksgiving, then your living room, your church hall or the building of your office with praise. In so doing, you will find joy. Even in hard times, find joy by praising God. This is the best way to take refuge in God. The Psalmist wrote in Psalms 5: 11 that: “Let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy…”. Doing what Psalms 5: 11 says is just the pathway to joy. Try it from today and you will be blessed forever.
PRAYER:
ALMIGHTY FATHER, I have learnt from this devotional how I am responsible for my not living in joy. Baptize me with heart and lips of praising you so that I live in joy continually in the name of Jesus.
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