Do you like to be a cheerful person? I do, lately when I get up and start my day, I notice a dark cloud hanging over me, then I remember that Satan is the cause of that and I turn to God and ask Him to protect me from Satan's power and it goes away. I am very sensitive to the devil and his tools of discouragement and a downcast spirit. I don't like it at all. If this happens to you which it will if you are living a life of fulfillment with God. Satan doesn't like it at all and will try to discourage you to give up and let him have control. Don't do it, call upon God immediately, if all you can say is 'Jesus Save Me' that is enough to send Satan running. He can't stay around at the name of Jesus. Sometimes you may have to do that several times a day until the devil knows you mean it and even then he doesn't give up on trying to destroy us. So ask God to fill you with courage and cheerfulness and He will do that and we are also told to, 'Resist the devil and he will flee, and to draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to us'. So let's cause him to flee and be filled with heavenly joy. The following verses will help you.
Psalm 15:13 "A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance; but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken."
Proverbs 17:22 "A merry heart does good like a medicine; but a broken spirit dries the bones."
I would like to comment on these two previous verses. Sorrow of heart does cause a broken spirit and a broken spirit does dry up the bones. A little testimony to this fact. Years ago I was in my fifties and some friend of my son-in-law came by and started sharing some cultish ideas with him and almost before I knew it they had convinced them to join them, in the process of all this they took three of my children and their families with them. I cannot tell you the sorrow of heart that followed. If you know anything about cults, you know that they are not allowed to remain in contact with their families because they might be influenced to stay away from them. I wept for weeks over that and tried to get counseling and it just wouldn't work out. In time I came down with Osteoporosis and since have broken all my vertebrae twice, broken ribs over twenty times, a broken hip and am still breaking vertebrae, just a couple weeks ago, our car hit a bump on the freeway and one snapped.
I have had surgery and had seven filled which has helped the pain, but let me tell you the pain has been out of this world. All because I let stress take over my life for twenty years, I only saw my children very rarely. And it just ate away at me that long. A broken spirit needs God's healing hand immediately, and I didn't understand that, or anything that would help, I was so broken. I needed help but there was no one to help me through it. My husband was broken too, but it didn't affect him the same way as it did me. But he was so good to me through all the breaking that my body endured and took care of me in the kindest way. One doctor that saw my Xrays said, 'Lady, you have to be in a world of pain', and yes I was, for sure. So just let me say, 'A merry heart is good like a medicine', it has taken me years to understand how to have that 'merry heart'. God is the only One who can give us that kind of heart. Please, don't let stress break your heart like I did. There are ways around it.
John 16:33 (Jesus speaking) "These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
Acts 27:25 "Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me."
Acts 27:36 "Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat."
Peace in a world of woe is so precious to me. I have learned lots of lessons through all this and hope that my little testimony has helped you see what stress does to us if we don't turn to God for help. I thought I was a Christian and living a life of a Christian but it took something awful to wake me up and turn me around and I have only had this kind of peace a short time out of my 86 years. So please if you don't learn anything else, learn to let God have full control of your life and you can be of good courage and have the peace that passes all understanding and have a cheerful heart too. It is possible!
Grandma Joan
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