Prayer – Lord, my hope is in You. Joy doesn’t equate with happiness—I can even have joy amidst tension, crisis, chaos, and conflict. You give me joy just knowing how much You love me—and that I have the promise of an eternal home with You one day in Heaven. Until then…I’ll focus on Your love…and loving others. There is no greater joy…or hope…than You.

After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus when he returns? It is you! Yes, you are our pride and joy. 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20

 

Meditate. Consider who/what brings joy to your life and how you can share joy with others.

 

Do you have joy in your life? From where or what do you attribute that joy?

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 1 Peter 1:6-8

Going through fiery trials.

Can you imagine enduring trials…as Peter wrote, many trials? That may be what will happen for us in the future. People are predicting that there will be turmoil and unrest in the United State like we have never seen before. Are you prepared for that? It is a wise choice to consider what you will do if civil unrest occurs in our country. The best advice I’ve heard is to get out of the cities. You can already see how people are disobedient and destructive in cities like Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York…and others. If stores are broken into and goods just carried away, will home invasions be next? For now, prayer is the best defense. We can count on God to protect us and provide for us day by day, but there are even examples in the Bible where God’s people had to suffer—look at Job, Joseph, and Hagar. Paul tells the Corinthians and us that although we suffer, God comforts us.

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Comfort and Joy! Seek Jesus and the comfort and joy that He offers…and it is not even Christmas!

 

Verses of Salvation ~ The reward for trusting him (Jesus Christ) will be the salvation of your souls. This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. 1 Peter 1:9-10

 

© 2024 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm. 

 

Books by Mickey M. Hunacek

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