It’s a quiet morning here in Phoenix today. Quiet… Is just what I needed today. God has revitalized my spirit and focused my attention on him once again. His compassion for me is “new every morning.” (Lam. 3:23) Great is His faithfulness indeed! I pray for everyone the joy that I am feeling now; the joy of love received and given.
I’m just about to complete a two-day event called “Iron Sharpens Iron” at Frontiers and I find myself feeling honored to call the other 11 participants my new friends. A few of which will go out from here to sell their possessions and go far away to preach the gospel. All so that Muslims may have a chance to know the hope found in Jesus Christ. But before we close, I will commission them for this grandest of adventures, knowing I may not see them again for a long time. I will count my time with each of them as a true joy and blessing; my happy thought.
In the movie “Hook,” there is a scene in which the father (Peter Pan, grown up) says to his estranged son, “I’ve found my happy thought; it’s you.” This scene has stayed with me for many years (perhaps because my family watched “Hook” a lot when we lived in Iraq in the 1990s). I always feel revived when I think of God saying, “You’re my happy thought.” And I hope everyone can get revival by thinking about God’s love, especially after we have been disobedient.
I’ll continue by sharing with them the words of Isaiah 45:22-24 where it says:
Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself, I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance. “Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength.”
Finally, I’ll close with one of my favorite prayers from the “Book of Common Prayer.” “O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far and to those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you. Bring the nations unto your fold, pour out your Spirit upon all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.”
Original article: www.frontiersusa.org/blog/article/joy-comes-in-the-morning
