LOVE

Don't worry.
I'm not talking about the lovey-dovey, kissy-huggy stuff.
I'm talking about the most powerful, and most awe-inspiring love of all; God's love. And how loving people changes their life, and your life too.

Love changes everything. 
I know so many people(myself included) who probably wouldn't be here today if no one had taken the time to love them. Have you ever been having a terrible day and then someone said something really nice to you, or simply smiled sincerely at you and it completely turned your day around? That's happened to me countless times!
I know that I should be uplifting to everyone I encounter, and some days that's really difficult. But not if you rely on God's strength instead of your own. Sometimes we encounter people that make us think "There's no way God wants me to love this person, cause they treat me like dirt! And I just don't like them..." But when did this become all about ourselves?
We love others because God loved us first, even though we treated Him like dirt. Not noticing Him working in our lives, not listening to Him. He loves us anyways.

When we love someone it changes things. Sometimes you don't even notice it. But when you genuinely love someone, great things are bound to happen. God is Love(1 John 4:16). When we love, God is present. God works THROUGH LOVE. 

1 John 4:7-8

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

1 John 4:12

No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.

Christians often forget that they should still love people who aren't believers in Christ. Think of it this way: Who's going to have an open mind to a religion that appears to be a bunch of haters? "Oh look, they hate me! I wanna hang out with them!" Hah, no. That's not how it works. God works through LOVE, not hatred! God ain't no hater! God loves every single one of His creations. Even the ones who don't yet know Him.

1 John 4:20

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

Yep, that's why you should love people.

All you have to do is love people, and God does the rest. It's so awesome! Loving people isn't that hard! Certainly not when you have God in your heart, since He is love, so you also have love in your heart.

Proverbs 10:12

Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.

We weren't sent here to hate and try to change people into our own little molds of what we think all people should be like. We were made to love. 

To love everyone as they are. 

When you were first saved, were you perfect? Did you have it all together? Heck, I was three when I was first saved and I know I didn't have it all together. I only wanted to be saved so that I could take communion! And I was three. That's another good reason I didn't have it all figured out. 

But we never really have it all figured out. So it's a good thing God loves us! 

Here's a "biblical diss" I came up with, "It's a good thing I love you, since love covers a multitude of sins!" 

Yeaahhh... I know, it's awful! I thought it fit in with this blog post though. And it makes me happy.

1 Peter 4:8

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Anyways, thank you for reading! I really hope you enjoyed this blog post. :) Have a lovely day.

~ Joyously Devoted To Jesus ~

~ Herachio Joy ~

What am I living for?

So my sister sent a letter from Air Force Basic Training.
One of the things she said really made me think.
It went something like this:
"We aren't here on earth for ourselves. As long as we're trying to live only for ourselves, we'll always be unhappy."

This definitely puts things in perspective. What am I living for? Am I living for myself? Or am I living to serve God and to help spread His love to every person who I encounter?

Psalm 37:4 

Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

When we delight in the Lord, He takes care of the rest. Delight in Him, praise Him. Don't worry about anything. God is in control of your needs and even your wants. He knows the desires of your heart better than you do. Leave all that up to Him. It's better in His hands than in ours. We need to focus on God, not ourselves or our own needs. 

 John 13:37

Peter asked, "Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for You."

Peter was willing to completely lay down his life for Jesus and follow Him, this is what we should do. Lay down our lives for Jesus. Because Jesus gave His life for us.

The other day I wrote a simple little rhyme:

It matters not what you do,

But what He does through you.

We focus so much on everything we do. We gloat when we do something good, and we pout when we do something bad. When what we should do is humble ourselves and thank God for all that He does. We can't do a thing without God. He is so faithful, He's the reason for every good thing. Even when something bad happens it's cause He let's it, but only for our own good, usually to protect us from something else and to prepare us for the future that He has planned for us. Of course God isn't to blame for the bad things that happen to us. He only allows what we can handle to happen to us. He makes those bad things into something good. And remember, we can do ALL things through Christ. 

We aren't saved by our works. We're saved by Jesus dying for us. We're saved because God loves us so much, He cares for us for eternity. He gives us everything we need. He guides us and teaches us. Be thankful, rejoice! He is ALWAYS there for us. Always protecting us and helping us. 

Let Him work through us. Let Him use us. Be vulnerable to God. Live for Him, not for yourself.

Isaiah 6:8

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

~ Joyously devoted to Jesus ~

~ Herachio Joy ~

He Is Faithful

Sometimes the people who you thought would ALWAYS be your friend don't stick around.
Unfortunately that's just the way it is. The only One who will always be there is God. Which is great, because He's all we need.
He will love us through every trial. He never leaves, and His love NEVER fails. We can always look to God and He will always help us.

That is a comforting fact, especially when you are suddenly smacked in the face with the realization that not all of your "Faithful Friends" are even friends at all. Maybe this has never happened to you or maybe it has. Consider yourself lucky if it hasn't happened to you, but most likely it has. It's a painful experience, sometimes the truth REALLY does hurt.

But no matter how much it hurts, if you're dear friend decides to leave you, you can't force them to stay, and it's probably better if they leave. Why would you want to be with someone who doesn't want you to be with them?

There is a reason for the changes that take place in life. Everything unfolds in the way it does because there is a bigger plan behind it. God let's things happen for a GOOD reason. Have faith. He's not going to let the devil do something bad in your life if you can't handle it. Neither satan or you know what the outcome will be, but God does know what the outcome is and He has it all under control.

Numbers 23:19 

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

Yup, God always fulfills His promises. He's good. Really good. He'll NEVER say that He's going to do something and then not do it. He will NEVER abandon you or forsake you. Don't depend on people more than you depend on God because He won't fail, and people will fail. You can't expect people to always stick around. Sometimes God has somewhere else for them to be. That's okay. Leave it in God's hands. Not everyone needs to be your friend. God is all we need, and the rest comes after Him, given by Him. 

Deuteronomy 4:31 

For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.

Seek God first. Seek Him most. He's always there, just look to Him. He will provide all that you need. 

He will always be there. Even when no one else is there, He is still there. We can always expect God to be with us. But we can't always expect people to. That's why our relationship with God is the most important relationship to invest in. 

Isaiah 54:10

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

-Herachio Joy-

-Joyously Devoted To Jesus-

Fearless and New

Hey ya'll.

Life is definitely an adventure. It's a wacky, beautiful, messy mix of ups and downs, smiles and frowns, fars and nears, and laughter and tears.
It can be so difficult to remember that our lives are in God's hands and not our own. He's got it all figured out and if we aren't listening to Him then we aren't doing the right thing for ourselves or others.

God made us and He has a plan for us, it's gonna be wild, it's gonna be great, it's gonna be full of Him(paraphrasing a song, Come Away-Jesus Culture).

I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.

Isaiah 46:4

There are blessings that God is just waiting to pour out on you. All you need to do is ask for them. 

Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Matthew 7:7

See? It's just that simple! God loves us SO MUCH and He's SO good to us. He will never forsake you! And He'll always be there to provide whatever it is that you need.

Lesson Learned:

It can be painful to let God close a door in your life. But it only makes it more painful if you put your foot in the door. Don't fear that door closing and don't fear entering a new door. Fear is destructive and is never from God. Trust Him. He's going to lead you to something far more AMAZING. You've just got to follow Him and don't look back on your past. 

"God never consults your past to determine your future."

Pastor John Hagee

Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.

Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.

You will forget the shame of your youth

and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

Isaiah 54:4

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7

God has a beautiful, amazing, wonderful future in store for you. That's right, YOU. Believe it. Embrace His glorious blessings. Go with HIM. He'll never leave your side. He'll always look after you and take care of you. Just let Him. Even if He needs you to close some doors to continue your journey. Don't stick your foot in the door, let it close and see where God takes you.

-Joyously Devoted to Jesus-

-Herachio Joy-

His love - In action!

Hey everyone!

A lot of this post will be things I learned from Jesus Culture and a message from church.

We spend so much of our time and energy picking out what other people are doing wrong. Since we waste all of our time doing that, we don't have much time left to really show God's love to people. It's about time we start demonstrating Christianity the way we should!

First of all, no one is going to be motivated by fear. Motivation from fear is TEMPORARY and kinda worthless. I mean, God didn't give us a heart of fear so it's time people quit using fear when they should be using LOVE. Love is an ETERNAL motivator(credited to: Scott Thompson).

There's WAY more to a person than their past sins and mistakes. We should love people no matter what they've done in the past, that's what God does. Jesus paid for EVERYTHING they did. Why can't we think of them how God thinks of them? That's what we should aim to do. We're letting Satan drag us down to his level when we start saying or thinking awful things about other people because of their mistakes. All sins are equally wrong. And Jesus died for every single one of them.

We need to look at the potential of every person and EXPECT GREAT THINGS. Don't expect people to fail. That's destructive. The last thing we need is more destroyed people in this world.

Remember, "Bitterness is the poison I drink to get back at you." It's hurting ourselves(and others) to be bitter.

Start putting God's love into action. Show it to whoever you encounter. Treat people how you want to be treated! Especially if you're having a bad day. When you rise above your own circumstances AMAZING things happen!

Now go change someone's day. No, change someone's LIFE. 

~Joyously Devoted To Jesus~

~Herachio Joy~

This Is The Future.

Hello All.

Yes, I quoted an Owl City song in the title of this post... I like Owl City.
And the song has a lot of truth in it. You're not alone, and the future is right now. Stop waiting for something else to happen for you to be motivated or something. Right now is the time to act and do whatever it is you've dreamed of. At least start working toward it.
Those are just a few thoughts that have been going through my head lately. THERE"S NO BETTER TIME THAN RIGHT NOW TO BEGIN. To begin doing whatever it is that you KNOW you need to do!
Of course, this doesn't apply to everything... But many things like getting a career, letting go of the past, cleaning your room, working out, breaking a bad habit, getting better grades, and having a better attitude.
I know it's cliche but attitude REALLY is everything. Our reactions to difficult situations reflect who we really are. How you behave should reflect your beliefs. If you believe that violence is wrong you aren't gonna go around beating people up, right? Because the point of believing that is to make a statement and hopefully with how you are behaving you can get more people to believe what you believe.
Today is the day to start. TODAY. Today you can look out at the dark, rainy day and say "This is beautiful." Because, well, IT IS! Rain grows things, rain brings rainbows, rain makes it better. RAIN IS BEAUTIFUL.

Life is learning to dance in the rain. Not mope around singing "Rain, rain, go away." Enjoy it. Next thing you know you could be stranded in a desert dreaming of that rain. Don't take those tough times in life for granted. They're helping you GROW. They are sustaining you. Ups and downs just mean you're alive. It's all going to work out wonderfully. Just TRUST. <3

-Joyously Devoted To Jesus-

-Herachio Joy-

It's a whole new year!

Hey guys, did you miss me?!
I missed writing on here. It's one of my favorite things to do. One of my New Years Resolutions is to write a blog post AT LEAST once a month. :) I'll try my best.

I'm so psyched for this year! Last year there was a lot of good and a lot of bad. But looking back, it was a great year for growing. I've grown a lot this year. I've learned a lot about myself, about my friends, about my family, about the world, and about God. Many things changed, some of it hurt, and some of it didn't. I know that all in all, last year was a huge step toward growing up and knowing my purpose.

God works ALL things together for the good of those who love Him(Romans 8:28). :) That is something I've had to keep in mind all year. All of these things, whether they're a trial or a triumph, it is being worked together for good. It's a beautiful mess. It's a joyful trial and triumph. It's all filled with joy no matter how difficult, or how different from what I WANTED. Maybe some of it isn't what I wanted, but it's what I NEEDED. I'm sure you can all relate to that. God's plan is often different from our own. It's unexpected, it's mysterious.

I wrote this poem, it's about me, God, and all of us. I just wanted to write a poem describing some of what God has been doing in me, some of the things I've learned over the past year/years. Enjoy!

Poem: Who I am because of You.

I have struggled through hardships, as everyone has. 

 I know God still loves me, no matter what anyone says. 

I have mastered the art of dancing in the rain. 

 I can see through the eyes of those who are in pain.

I can look back and honestly say that I have no regrets.

 I've been ransomed with blood, Jesus paid ALL my debts.

You made us all different, with a purpose in mind.

 You made us with passions, traits, and gifts we have yet to find.

You forgive countless times and help us through it all.

 You pick us up all of the many times that we fall.

You make it all better if I give it all to You, 

 And somehow You make every day brand new.

I can only be completely sure of You.

  I know You will always see me through. 

If we love God, He truly does work things together for our good. Even when it seems like it isn't for our good, it is. If it's God's work, it'll turn out great. And when something awful happens and it feels like the sky is falling, give it all to God. He'll turn it into something absolutely beautiful. 

~Joyously Devoted To Jesus~

~Herachio Joy~