Thieves of Our Joy
The places where joy is stolen from us are the very places that God wants to give joy to us.
People Our Accomplishments
Our Circumstances Our Attitudes
Our Potential Our Work
Our Future Our Thoughts
Our Finances
How to defeat 3 primary enemies of joyful thinking:
- Attack anger
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work. 2 Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. Philippians 4:1-2
3 And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life. Philippians 4:3
- Abolish anxiety
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
PRAYER SCALE
I Pray About…
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^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Nothing Crises Big Decisions My needs Friends’ Needs Worldwide needs Plans & goals God’s Purposes Everything
- Adoration: Talk to God about God – how much time do you spend telling God how great he is ?
- Supplication: Make Requests – make practical requests
- Appreciation: Tell God thank you – Paul says talk to him about both things
- Arrest abuse
8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8
9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you Philippians 4:9