Making Your Home Sing Monday: Joy Down in My Heart

I'm joining momstheword for Making Your Home Sing Mondays.

Don't you just love that phrase?  Making your home sing...

It definitely has inspired me.  I want my home to sing!  Not whine.  Not scream.  To sing!

And I want it to be a song that God enjoys--one that blesses his heart.

Lately, He's been showing me how to do just that.  How to make my home sing for him.  How to fill my life and my home with his irresistible joy.  And it's not the answer I thought it would be because I'm all about the "quick fixes" and the "instant change".  I thought slapping a happy face on would somehow make joy appear.  And it helps, don't get me wrong ^_^  But true joy is an attitude of the heart--a fruit of the spirit.   True joy is a deep contentment, a fullness,  a freedom,  and is absolutely contagious.  It can be instant.  There are many times when I get lost in worshiping my Father and he fills me with a joy so indescribable I can't contain it.  And then thirty minutes later, I get stressed with the endless demands and needs and I lose the joy. But he wants me to abide in His joy.  To remain in him and to keep producing the fruit of joy!

Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."  John 15: 1-4

I've been posting about joy a lot lately because God, my Gardener, has taken out the pruning shears!  Much like the rose bush in my front garden, I need to be trimmed to produce more loveliness.  Certain things I do to bring temporary joy have to be prioritized so that I can get the real, eternal, indescribable joy that only my Jesus can give me.  Certain things I do that dry up the fruit of the spirit in my life have to go as well.  Such as having an unthankful attitude, or indulging in self-pity, or other selfish behaviors.  I only have to come to Jesus and remain in him to keep the joy that he so desperately wants to give me.  But what does it look like to remain in him?  

I have to draw strength from him much like a fruit draws nourishment from the vine--I must come to him thirsty and cling to Him throughout my day.  His Word is the living water that sustains me and the more my heart is drenched in it, the more fruit, the more joy I will produce.  Memorizing scripture is something I have always wanted to do because I know that the benefits will be incredible.  I only do it here and there and then I wonder why I lose the joy so quickly (and the other fruits of the spirit, too, for that matter!)  To have my Lord's words on my lips throughout my day is like sipping on sparkling water.  He wants to refresh me.  He wants me to have joy "unspeakable and full of glory"!

A friend of mine had a dream recently and in her dream a little girl was swinging so high on a swing set that she actually swung over the top of the bar (how many of us thought we could do that?) and she was elated!  The look on her face was one of complete and absolute joy.  In her dream she felt the Lord saying that he wanted to give his daughter that kind of joy! 

God is holding his joy out to you and me today.  In his hands he holds delights.  Let's grasp those hands and hold on tight!  Let's make our homes sing with the joy of the Lord!