Understanding The Joy

Beads of Joy 01-25-10

Understanding The Joy
©2010 James Dacey, Jr. SFO

Hello Everyone,

If there's anything I have tried to accomplish or gain with all these blogs; it's the chance to really explain and share the very JOY inside of me. I have written about this before, I thought maybe I'd approach it from another angle. Now many of you know a lot of the basics. Our religion isn't at all about a "religion" it's all about a "relationship". Our faith is love. Our desire to follow our faith is all based around the love in our relationship with Jesus. It's not a faith we sin against, rather it is a person we offend and hurt when we sin. Let's first understand what JOY is, the way I see it in my own life. The center of JOY is "Others". With that being said, know that that's the center core to my JOY.

In my prayers I sincerely pray that this all makes sense, and that you to will be able to embrace JOY as I have. To start with we must have a sincere focus in our life on Jesus. That relationship must come first and foremost in our thinking and living each day. We must see Him and know Him as a person, as God, as our Savior. We must give Him thee utmost respect and love as if He were standing before us right now. This key aspect of JOY to me is so important. I also have a couple of other activities in my life to keep that flame of JOY glowing in my life. For starters I have a very rich, very alive bible study routine (habit if you will), that keeps my heart filled with JOY in the word. I also watch: The Passion, King of Kings, and The Jesus Film, over and over and over and over, to the point that I know these movies almost verbatim. Strange, maybe, but there is a purpose. I want His image alone etched in my brain and my heart, out with the bad, in with the good. And yes I cry every time at the Scourging and the Crucifixion, a true cleansing. And lastly I try my best to fellowship with many believers, so that the synergy of excitement for Him is magnified.

Those three activities are such a critical part of who I am spiritually; and they all play a role in keeping the JOY I have in my heart overflowing. In my life Jesus comes alive everyday in those three ways. In His Word, In His Image and In Fellowship honoring Him. I do all I can to incorporate all these activities as frequently as I possibly can everyday. I believe sharing Him is the greatest gift I can ever give in return as my Thank You. Nothing in this world compared to Him has any value whatsoever. Nothing! I place no value or hold on anything in this life. "For His sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him," Philippians 3:8. Another very powerful part of my life is minimal physical materialistic attachment to this world. Yes a mouthful. LOL, but another vital key to my JOY: minimal distractions.

Finally my brothers and sisters I say rejoice and praise Him in your every waking hour. When we think of our parents in our hearts, we have such JOY and we love them. Even after the thought of love has left and other thoughts flood our mind, subconsciously we continue to love them. That special connection of never "not" loving needs to remain in us with our love for Jesus. Embracing Him as if He were standing right here, right now is so important. Allow the power of the Holy Spirit to have Him become so alive in your heart, that your soul can't contain the overflowing JOY it'll produce. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27. Others !!! Must come first, not only in fellowship but in mercy and love. Here is the order: Jesus always first, Others always second, You always last. JOY

Allow the JOY of Jesus to overflow your heart and soul.


Your brother in Christ Jesus & His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr SFO