Seven Sacrifices of Joy

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Oh, happy day to you! Thanks for joining me for more of this series on our search for joy! Grab your coffee and your Red SOF (Strand of Faith) and come on in. We’ve got some knots to tie in our SOF so let’s get back to a great communicator who shares his gift of communication, koinonia!
We have been given another great example of someone who valued communication; he was actually an amazing communicator and spoke not only from his knowledge, which he was rich in, but his heart! He could have “coined” koinonia and koinonio for as much as he spoke about it and lived it. Can you guess who I’m talking about? Give up?
Paul! Koinonia was his favorite subject and one of the things he talked about the most in the letters he penned during some of his most difficult times, times where all he had was the gift of communication. Oh, what a great example of Romans 8:28, using Paul’s incarcerations to His glory and our benefit!
In 1^st Corinthians 1:9 Paul reminds us that God is the one who has called us into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. I don’t know about you, but oftentimes, it is hard for me to allow that truth to sink in, that God desires koinonio with the likes of me, but He does! He chose to communicate with us before we ever chose Him, and He proves it by pursuing us relentlessly. Romans 8:1 keeps coming to mind where Paul shares with struggling Christians who wrestle with not feeling good enough: He says that there is now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. Now, I don’t know about you, but in my first years as a Christian, if I felt I wasn’t behaving appropriately, or felt like I wasn’t measuring up, I usually stayed away until I had earned my way back. Have you ever felt like you shouldn’t show up until you cleaned up?
Coffee Hour friend, can I share with you how wonderful it is to truly understand these words of “no condemnation”? See, no condemnation is a three-prong promise that keeps the line of communication open: This means He’s not angry with us; He will not reject us, and He’s not going to punish us – despite us thinking that He’s a cause and effect kind of God. But – yes, there’s a “but” -- :) we must allow His Spirit to guide us and not our flesh to overtake us. Here’s another way to sort of simplify the whole no condemnation and living by the Spirit concept: I can’t; He can; here’s how!
Show up daily to communicate with Him. If that sounds really foreign to you, begin with just ten minutes … a tithe of your day. Start by thanking Him for at least three things that often we take for granted. Trust me when I say that when you make this a habit, three will turn into four, five, six … Maybe listen to one or two worship songs to soften your heart and align your focus. After you thank Him, mentally press the rewind on the events of the day before and be still, seeking to understand if there was an attitude, an action or anything that was out of line, missing the mark. He will be faithful to reveal so you can then ask Him to forgive and to heal you.
See when we acknowledge it, we will be more aware of it. When we become more aware of where/how we miss the mark, then we can avoid the detours that take us there to where we shouldn’t be.
This ten minutes you take to give Him will wake up His Spirit within you, helping you to be guided by His Spirit and not overcome by your flesh.
It takes thirty days to make a habit and only one day to break it! This is a Sacrifice of Communication!
Join me tomorrow for Debbie’s Faith Filled Fridays. ..
Love,

Evinda