Each day, we are faced with decisions as to what we will allow our minds to focus on. I cannot expect my day or my heart to be filled with joy if I choose to let my mind dwell on sinful or ungodly thoughts, or if I fill my calendar and time with issues that have no eternal significance. 

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace . . . “ (Galatians 5:22), but the soil of my heart is cultivated and nourished day by day with those things that I think and dwell on in my life. 

Paul’s teaching is not easy, but it is right on the mark when he guides us to re-direct our focus and thinking. I really like the way in which Richard Foster expresses it in “Celebration of Discipline” when he writes: 
 

“The decision to set the mind on the higher things of life is an act of the will. That is why celebration is a Discipline. It is not something that falls on our heads. It is the result of a consciously chosen way of thinking and living. When we choose this way, the healing and redemption in Christ will break into the inner recesses of our lives and relationships, and the inevitable result will be joy” (p. 195). 

Joy begins in the heart. All of our efforts will not give joy to life if the heart is not right. The only way to make the heart right is when we are covered in the righteousness of Jesus. If we are not right in Him and with Him, there will be no joy. A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit . . . All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast” (Proverbs 15:13, 15). 

While His righteousness gives me joy, I must remain alert. I know all too well that there is someone worse than the thief who wants nothing less than to steal away the peace and joy I have in Jesus. Satan will seek to do this by filling my mind with worry. My confidence, however, rests in knowing that God’s peace, like a military sentry, will patrol the boundaries of my mind and keep me in Christ Jesus.
 

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6). 

The best way I know how to deal with worry is to stop focusing on me and to begin focusing on God. And the best way I know how to do that is in prayer and in worship. The result will be that God’s peace, beyond my understanding, will guard my heart and mind and keep watch over me. His peace then helps me to let my mind and heart be at rest. I find it intriguing that the original language for “guard” is a military term for “sentry,” one who keeps watch over something valuable. 

Rejoice. Relax. Rest. 

These three make it possible for me to celebrate. I wish I could say that joy comes simply through prayer and telling ourselves not to worry. It isn’t that easy. You know that, and I know that. I am saved by grace and grace alone. I have no part in that whatsoever. This does not mean, however, that once I am in the faith God does not have certain expectations of me. Living with a spirit of joy and celebration is rooted in the peace that God alone provides me. Yet Paul, in the way of a command, places this right at our feet: 

 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4: 8-9). 
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

The Cookie Thief 

A woman was waiting at an airport one night for several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shop, bought a bag of cookies, and found a place to drop. She was engrossed in her book but happened to see that the man beside her, as bold as could be, grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between, which she tried to ignore, to avoid a scene. She read, munched cookies, and watched the clock, as the gutsy “cookie thief” diminished her stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I’d blacken his eye!” With each cookie she took, he took one too. When only one was left, she wondered what he’d do. With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half. He offered her half as he ate the other. She snatched it from him and thought, “Oh brother— This guy has some nerve, and he’s also rude. Why, he didn’t even show any gratitude!” She had never known when she had been so galled, and sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate, refusing to look back at the “thieving ingrate.” She boarded the plane and sank in her seat, then sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise. There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes! “If mine are here,” she moaned with despair, “then the others were his, and he tried to share!” Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief. (Author unknown.) 

 That story reminds me that sometimes in life you just have to laugh at yourself and not take yourself too seriously. Being carefree is no easy thing. There is a lot that bogs us down with the cares of the day. This is what I love about God’s Word. It can be so deep while, at the same time, so practical. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” But is that practical? Paul continues, “. . . Do not be anxious about anything.” I kind of like the way the King James Version expresses it: “Be careful for nothing.” That is actually a way of expressing the negative side of “rejoicing.” Paul says that the way in which we can rejoice is to be “full of care about nothing” (don’t become filled with anxiety). Jesus was getting at the same thought when He taught: 

 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” (Matthew 6:25).
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

Our worship focuses on Jesus. Along with this, Jesus even provides us with the words to offer Him, the water that cleanses, and the bread and wine that nourish us. He gives me the Spirit to enlighten me as to His goodness. It is truly all about Him. He serves us before we can serve Him. 

For me, the joy of worship is that it gives me the opportunity to celebrate His goodness and faithfulness with other believers. I hear someone once in a while say, “I can worship God at home or in the woods.” I suppose they are right, but why would you want to, in place of celebrating it with other believers? The questions I want to ask someone who says that are, “Would you want to celebrate your birthday alone?” “Would you want to celebrate a Super Bowl win alone?” It is only natural that at times of celebration we seek to share that joy. This, to me, is the beauty of congregational worship. It adds to our joy while, at the same time, uniting us as one Body. God asked Israel in the Old Testament to gather together three times a year to celebrate His goodness. Those were festival holidays. Those moments gave them joy and strength and unity. 

The Christian Church of the twenty-first century needs this no less. One of our most enticing mission responses that we can offer the world is the witness of believers in the celebration of worship. 

On a clear night, look up at the stars and try to count them. Stand in awe of Him. Look at your eye in the mirror. Your retina is thinner than paper, yet its tiny surface contains 137 million light-sensitive cells. Blink your eyes in wonder. Then look into His Word and see Him on the Cross. He is there for you. See the empty Tomb. You need not fear the grave any longer. Then, with other believers, let your soul magnify Him in worship
 

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

It is the Word of God, as Luther says, that is the very “cradle of Christ.” Each page is a lens through which I see Christ and the unfolding plan and wisdom of God. 

 “No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him,’ but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2: 7-10). 

The Word of God alone enables me to answer the question that God asked to Adam and Eve in the Garden: “Where are you?” Ever since then, people have been trying to respond and answer that question. Scripture alone is able to give us the answer. It is one that can only be found at the foot of the Cross. 

As the Lord is revealed through the lens of His Word, we are then invited to magnify that view through one more lens—the lens of worship. 

God-pleasing worship is about Him. When Mary was told that she was pregnant with the Christ, she worshipped. Her first words were, “My soul magnifies the Lord.” What a great definition for worship: “My soul magnifies the Lord.” Helping me to get a handle on this, I find these words helpful from the King James Version of the Bible: 

 “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (Revelation 4:11). 

 “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom and strength, and honour, and glory and blessing . . . Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever” (Revelation 5:12-13).
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet all flocks and herds, and the beast of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth” (Psalm 8). 

The earth and the universe celebrate the majesty and glory of God. Talking rocks and clapping and singing trees. He is a God that just makes you stand back and smile and stand in awe. The awe of God is different than the fear of God. Fear makes us shrink back while awe draws us in. The awe of God is “to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in common and the simple, to feel in the rush of the passing, the stillness of the eternal” (Heschel, p. 75). 
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

Microscopes and telescopes caught my interest as I was growing up. What is not to love for a junior high kid looking through the lens of a microscope and seeing all types of crawling and creepy things? It was as if I was looking at another world within a world. As for the telescope, I stood in wonder looking through it at the vastness of the universe. I suspect that in seventh grade the word “vastness” was not in my vocabulary. “Huge” and “gigundo” are words that better describe my thinking at that time. 

Whatever the words, the lens of the microscope and the telescope gave witness to God. Microbes and stars shouted out with His praise: 

 “Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy” (Psalm 96: 11-12). 

It is a pretty amazing universe when you think about, where rocks can talk and trees sing and clap their hands (Isaiah 55:12). Just the picture of that in my mind makes me laugh. I especially like the way Psalm 96:11-12 reads in the translation from The Message: “Let’s hear it from Sky, With Earth joining in, And a huge round of applause from Sea. Let Wilderness turn cartwheels, Animals, come dance, Put every tree of the forest in the choir.”
 

At the speed of light, you could travel from Earth to the center of the Milky Way in 33,000 years. It is estimated that the Milky Way contains about 100,000,000 stars. It would take you more than 3,000 years to count them at the rate of one per second! That is just our galaxy. There are thousands of others. 

 “For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary” (Psalm 96:4-6