A little explanation...

I posted an entry a few days ago stating that I haven't been 'happy' for a long time. Some people liked it and others completely misunderstood it. Let me try again.

When you walk with God, and you ask to see what He sees, and to feel what He feels, one can be overwhelmed with sorrow. Jesus Himself was described as "a man of sorrows" so it seems fitting that His people would be also.

I live in a nation where my God-given right to pursue 'happiness' is stated in the Declaration of Independence, but it does not guarantee that I will be 'happy'. The intent of our Founders was to provide a nation where everyone had the freedom to pursue their life's vision. Even so, that freedom is but a shadow of what God has provided to each person through Jesus Christ.

As a born again Christian, I am also a citizen of another Kingdom, from which the essence of happiness is derived. As I walk in the freedom provided by the Spirit of that Kingdom, the joy of the Lord is my portion, and He is my strength. In the midst of all God's sees and knows, which brings Him great sorrow, He is a God of joy!

The more intimately He allows me to know Him, the more sorrow I have because I see things as He does, and I feel as He feels, but diluted so as not to destroy my mind and body. His heart grieves over the state of the human race, but at the same time, He is overjoyed at the provision His Son has made to every person on the face of the earth, if they will receive it. To those who do, and learn to love Him and one another, His joy is made complete.

I walk in deepening sorrow each day, but ever buoyed by the joy of the Lord.

As human suffering continues to expand, so does God's ever stretched hand. His arm is not too short! He will pull us out of the mud and put our feet upon a rock. He will clean us up and show us how to fly on eagle's wings. His Spirit will set us free and strengthen us to love Him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love others as ourselves. This is how Jesus walked.

My sorrow is in witnessing those who reject Him, and continue to live in a miserable state of mind, soul and body, even though His free gift is right there for the taking. I will never understand it with my natural mind.

My joy is in witnessing those who accept all of Who God has for them, as well as the what. To watch a person go from destroyed to restored is a great miracle of God's love. There is no freedom under heaven like the freedom He provides through His Son and by His Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!

I pray you will know this freedom, for it was for freedom that He set us free.

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For those who are new to this type of walk with God, it requires a humility and maturity that only comes from walking with Him through many, many valleys and mountain tops. It is not for some elite group, and especially not for those of the hyper faith. Those who's hearts are after God's heart will naturally be led here, but simple desire is not enough. As your heart becomes wholly His, He will display His heart and strength through you in ever increasing measure. Trust Him for His wisdom, mercy and timing in all of this. Only He knows when you can walk this walk and not be crippled (or destroyed) by it. Glory to glory, and ever increasing glory be yours!