Sunday, January 6, 2013

IS JOY THE SAME THING AS HAPPINESS?


These One A Days are added to daily.  There are over 1100 stories and commentaries on this blog began Nov. 24, 2009.  It is added to daily.

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              Click on http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com to read selected Sermons from over 50 years of Rev. Wyrick's ministry. (STARTING NOV 1 "HOW MUCH DOES A PRAYER WEIGH)  Below...other recent Sermon Titles


       To view Rev. Wyrick in 4 of his highly acclaimed One Man Dramas  ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN CHARLES WESLEY, MARTIN LUTHER (NBC Special) click on the link below

                   http://www.speakerneil.com/

        Below the thoughts below read a quote from Rev. Wyrick's applauded 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ARAHAM LINCOLN...AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM AND ON KINDLE

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       Did you wake up this morning with a prayer to have a miserable day?   To be completely miserable and be bereft of joy?

       Not unless you have a screw loose.

       The Lord wants you to be happy.  H spelled it out crystal clear now didn't he.  "I am come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly."

       He also said, "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

       So let's look at your susceptibility and what you are doing to become compatible with the concept and gift of joy.

       First, let define the difference between "joy" and "Happiness."  "Happiness" is a good afternoon of golf or tennis or laying on a beach. It is good but it is only tentative.

       "Joy" is fueled by the "peace that passeth understanding."  It is an ongoing attitude that has a permanent relationship with the word "gratitude."

       Happiness demands that everything that is happening to me or you be good...people, places and things all lining up to shout out a great big YES to teach and every desire.

       True Joy is bigger than that.  True Joy transcend events.

       Paul gives a good beginning explanation how to find Joy in Philippians 4:12: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

       Let's put down a thought and see if you are successful in wrapping your mind around it, "Contentment doesn’t come when we have everything we want but when we want everything we have.

       A person once asked his friend… “How are you doing?”
       His friend was upset about something that had happened in his life and replied “Oh… all right – under the circumstances.”
       To which the 1st man replied “What are you doing UNDER your circumstance?”

God doesn’t want us to be burdened UNDER our circumstances
       God wants us to be OVERCOMERS...to rise above our circumstances.

         "Love thy neighbor as thyself" spoke our Christ but we have a too long "dislike list" we will end up being on our own list and there is no joy in that.

       By working to love some who are sometimes unloveable we become OVERCOMERS.  At which time our is not superficial because we have become overcomers.

       And oh yes...do you keep an itemized list?

       Of what?

       Of people who mess with your mind and your days...not content until you can name every wrong they have wronged against you...real or imagined.

       To seek after joy with a misaligned spiritual GPS is foolish, ineffective and a waste of that vital heavenly commodity called life.

       And yes...in your request for joy confess your sins.  You're certainly not going to get rid of sins that you are calling by other names...

       ...and since sins are a burden and nowhere near what they seem cracked up to be...getting rid of them is a fast track to joy...guaranteed.

       I'm, of course, talking about getting rid of joy busters.

       We all know people who claim to be Christians who look like they are recovering from some deadly disease.  The great evangelist of a century ago, Billy Sunday commented, “The trouble with many people is that they have got just enough religion to make them miserable. If there is not joy in religion, you’ve got a leak in your religion.”

       God's attitude toward you is great.   Rejoice in it.

        A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself over the edge.

The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.

Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man then saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other.

How sweet it tasted.
Zen Poem

       “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)

       Remember:
"Said the Robin to the sparrow,
I should really like to know,
Why these anxious human beings rush about and hurry so.
Said the sparrow to the Robin, Friend, I think that it must be,
That they have no Heavenly Father, such as cares for you and me."

QUOTES ON JOY

        Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
Marcel Proust

       When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.
Cherokee Expression

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TO GO TO COLUMNS WRITTEN ON go60.us  BY NEIL...CLICK ON THE URL BELOW

                                                http://go60.us/

          THEN CLICK ON "VOICE" AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE...THEN CLICK ON "MEET OUR WRITERS."

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Below is a quote from Rev. Wyrick's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

      It is little wonder that once the war was over, wretched memories fed anger loud and long.  Neither side could be proud of some things that happened during the war or at their many prison camps.  The meanness in some men had multiplied.  They felt their uniforms allowed it.

Andersonville, or Camp Sumter as it was officially known, in southwest Georgia is remembered as one of the worst. 

By the end of the war, it had held 50,000 prisoners on a piece of land no larger than twenty-six acres. 

Some men had called pits in the ground their home.  During its short fourteen-month existence, 13,000 soldiers who had survived in battle died in captivity under the most terrible conditions. 

When the war was over the superintendent was hanged.

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      WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE BOOK

       "Positive, powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and appreciation of Lincoln while revealing the Divine source of his strength."

       Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)

       "The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'

       William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn

       "Wyrick has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of American history's most devoutly religious leaders...a pleasant and readable book that has a rich depth of information."

              Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian minister

        "When it comes to invoking religion in support of any of their decisions, politicians need to sit at the feet of Abraham Lincoln. Reinhold Niebuhr once called him 'America's greatest theologian.' Why so great? Because he invariably distinguished between human works and the works of the Almighty. As Wyrick says, 'He wore the mantle of humility easily: because he was more impressed with what God was doing in the world than with what he, president of the United States in the midst of an awful crisis, was doing. That is why in his last major speech he distinguished between both human causes in the Civil War and the Almighty's 'own purposes.' Lincoln would have agreed that it is better to leave God-talk out of politics than to decorate human proposals with divinity. This is a book for our American time. Through his careful study of Lincoln's career, Wyrick compels us to remember that piety belongs in politics only when piety transcends politics."

       Dr. Donald W. Shriver

       Emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Author of An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics

        "V. Neil Wyrick's fine work allows the reader to appreciate Abraham Lincoln's Christian commitment and his prophetic role in American history. Should have a wide readership."

       James H. Smylie Professor of Church History (Ret.) Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia

       "Neil Wyrick's The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln should be read by anyone attempting to understand the man who was probably the most complex person to ever hold the office of president of the United States. Dr. Wyrick is intent on demonstrating that the spirituality so often expressed in Lincoln's writings and speeches was not merely lip service to a Deity, but rather expressions of a profound faith in a real God. It was this faith that provided the wisdom, compassion, insight and sometimes steel that Lincoln would need in full measure as he led the United States through the Civil War. Dr. Wyrick's clear and unpretentious style of presentation is very much in keeping with the character ofhis subject, and in so doing, Wyrick makes his point very well that Lincoln, his beliefs, and the faith that formed them, are as relevant to a troubled America in 2004 as they were in 1863."

       Daniel Allen Butler, author of "Unsinkable"; The Full Story of the RMS Titanic, The Lusitania and The Age o f Cunard

       

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      Neil also writes for go60.us to check out his writings...

            CLICK ON  www.go60.us   IT WILL TAKE YOU A NEW WEBSITE FOR SENIORS....

       click on "Voice" on the home page and then on the list of authors click on Neil Wyrick

Recent articles Rev. Wyrick has written for this web site are:  REFLECTIONS


·         Here Comes Summer (July 2012)

·         Spring (May 2012)

·         Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow (April 2012)

·         Wayward and Windy (April 2012)

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      Some of the sermon titles posted recently on Wyrick's Writings


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BELOW ARE MORE QUOTES FROM NEIL'S RECENTLY POSTED SERMONS on Wyrick's Writings

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A QUOTE FROM THOUGHTS POSTED ON MY OTHER BLOG WYRICK'S WRITINGS ON SUNDAY APRIL 15. ENTITILED

 

       Two stores faced each other across a very busy street.  Their owners were in constant competition with each other.  One day, the owner of one store put out a sign that read – If you want it, we have it!

Almost immediately the other owner put out a sign –If we don’t have it, you don’t need it!

 

      

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      Click on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY AND MARTIN LUTHER


       To Order and Read Neil's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN

       GO TO amazon.com

       QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE book

       STILL RECEIVING RAVE REVIEWS 8 YEARS AFTER IT'S PUBLICATION.

      

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