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Go ahead and look first at Psalm 4 . See how God speaks to you individually. Then come back, if you wish, and see what God has put in my mind/heart.

Key Verse(s): Psalm 4:7

You have filled my heart with greater joy
than when their grain and new wine abound.

Title: Joy in Faith- No, we don’t have to walk around looking like worried accountants.

Observation: Joy. Today, I left the office early and went to the JFK library to study and plan the next series of sermons in the church. I didn’t get any of that work done. I was surprised by joy. I spend an hour reading in illustrated work (from the JFK library) about the Desert Fathers and Mothers. Once the Roman Emperor accepted Christianity in the 4^th Century A.D. and the Christian church became another avenue of currying favor and power. At that time a group of men and women left the cities of Egypt to live in the desert, to commune with God, and to pray for the Christians in the world.

Their simple words kept hitting home, kept challenging me and encouraging me. I want to be like them, with a simple, profound faith. Their few words spoke goodness and wisdom. I think the thing that got me most was they didn’t shirk the hard things of life, but squared up and faced them. And in living in poverty, face to face with all the fears, longings, and struggles of humans, they found joy in serving God. They did not trade giving up one sin for another; they accepted that things would be difficult and that there was spiritual power in humility. They believed that God was the one who would save them. Their total dependence on God, and their joy in spite of suffering, was an overwhelming testimony which encouraged me today.

And then I read another, very good book, on leadership, and I placed myself back in the trenches of leadership in the church. And my joy faded. It isn’t that what I was reading was bad; it had many excellent ideas. But technique and skills are not what drive the church forward; it’s passion for Jesus, integrity in living, and communion with God in prayer that power the church. Leadership skills may direct the boat and maximize its efficiency, but it is powered out of our relationships with God.

Application: Too often I have gotten involved in the details and missed the big pictures, both personally and in leadership. I need to have a strategic plan for both my family and my leadership in the church. But all the best knowledge and plans and skills are worth less than nothing (really are harmful) without being led by the Spirit on an hour by hour basis.

Prayer: Lord God let me find joy in your spirit. Thanks you for the overwhelming experience of your joy this morning. Help me to live a life of integrity and honesty as the Desert Fathers and Mothers did. Lord help me to act at the impulse of your love. Help me to plan stragtegically in the church and at home.

In Jesus Name,
Amen.