Saturday, October 5, 2024:
Joy Story with Jesus (morning)
Luke 19:6
Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy.
Pondering Point
After Jesus interacts with Zaccheaus – choosing him – they have dinner together. During this time, Zaccheaus the tax collector is reminded of his place before God. Not one of offense, but of acceptance. This is the effect of Jesus. Then look what happens (see Luke 19). Joy in Jesus abounds. His relational circuit with God is turned on.
Who wouldn’t want this kind of effect – this kind of Joy. As disciples, we want joy too, but not just any joy. We want to be connected to Jesus and what He defines as JOY – and have it completely!
At Hope we describe this as connecting to one another in the contagious joy of following Jesus. Can you imagine how often Zaccheaus would re-tell this story to his friends? I see Him re-enacting his tree-climbing, talking with Jesus, coming down, eating.
OK, now it is time for your 5+minutes of joy, starting with this prayer:
Pray aloud
Tree or no tree, Jesus, You chose to come to me, not just into my house, but into my heart. I welcome You with a renewed excitement and joy. What’s next?
Five Minutes
Use your GO TO JOYS and ANTICIPATED JOYS to fill a 5-minute window. Remember: use an alarm. If necessary, review the explanation.
Read the identity in Christ
statement aloud
In Jesus, we are chosen to receive a joy that cannot be taken from us – and that grows when shared with others.
Closing Prayer
Close with thanks to God for these moments together.
Ask Him to bless the upcoming day, then…
GO – in JOY, with JOY anticipating JOY
John 15:11
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
~ Jesus
Saturday, October 5, 2024:
Sometime During Your Day
Level 3: Savoring joys of the past.
Romans 12:3
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
Pondering Point
Many people want to know what God thinks or desires. An immediate response to that is Romans 12:3, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Good advice for sure. A great addition to that are the following verses
The Mind of Christ
1 Corinthians 2:11b-12,15 tells us:
1 Corinthians 2:11-16
11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
We can know the thoughts of God the Father with the help of God the Spirit through the mind of Jesus Christ. That is a scriptural teaching.
Joyful Journey
This is a good time to introduce another book, this one Joyful Journey, Listening to Immanuel. It was written collaboratively by James Wilder, Anna Kang, John and Sungshim Loppnow. Total reading per week will run less than 15 pages. Quotes from the book have been dropped into your daily reading material.
Journal Prompt:
Joyful memories involving eating with people.
Key Words:
Joy Story with Jesus (evening)
Saturday, October 5, 2024
Luke 19:1-10
Zacchaeus the Tax Collector
Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy.
1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Pondering Point
In this story, Jesus inspires serious life change and hard-core reconciliation. How would you respond to this if Zaccheaus came to repay what he stole from you? Would this be an example of joy spreading contagiously? I love how “salvation had come” to Zacchaeus’ home and changed his life. It all started with the joy of encountering Jesus.
Pray aloud
Thank You, Jesus Christ, for the story of Zaccheaus. I want Your salvation coming into my life and changing lives around me too – starting with my own heart. Change me to be more like You.
Review
Scour the day for ANTICIPATED or SURPRISE JOYS. You are training your brain to look for joy. This builds the habit. Recall the body sensations and emotion.
This solidifies the habit. Remember: use an alarm
Read the identity in Jesus
statement aloud
In Jesus, we are transformed in our minds and able to then test and approve what God’s will is.
Evening Prayer
Thank God for blessing the day, ask for peaceful rest, then GO to sleep – in grateful JOY, anticipating new JOY tomorrow under His grace.
Benevolent Detachment
This icon represents a prayer borrowed from Wild at Heart’s daily pause App. The activity is defined as Benevolent Detachment. The phrase is easy to memorize. I encourage you to incorporate it into the beginning and ending of your day. After a few reminders, all you will see is the icon. Here is the phrase:
Benevolent Detachment Prayer
I give everyone and everything to You God;
I give everyone and everything to You.