Are You Practicing the Art of Joy that God Intended for You?

The Turquoise Pillar

I recently had some dreams where everything was black and white except for a single column or pillar, which was turquoise in color. 

(This pillar was long and rectangular.  I wasn't fluted and did not have a fancy top.  It was simple in all aspects except it's turquoise color.)  

I came under the conclusion that I was only to pay attention to what this turquoise pillar meant.

So I sat down and began to dig quietly with God’s spirit as my guide. 

·       A pillar is a witness….  Genesis 31:52

Have you ever heard the saying, "They are pillars of the community"?   We as Christians are to be pillars...  We are to be ambassadors of God and children of God.   We are witnesses to the world of God's love and the real "hope" he gives us.   

We are not colorless as the world- where we believe in the false of hopes of the world that soon fade making us indifferent to everything!!!   


We once were indifferent, lost and hopeless as the world.... we didn't have anything to stand on and we know only by God’s goodness, grace and mercy that He saved us from that hopeless colorless hole that once entrapped us.  We called out to him in all sincerity and he went beyond our expectations in rescuing us.   He not only pulled us out of that hopeless bit but he set us
"upright".
  

·   A pillar is something that is set "up-right".
   

Like a caring parent God heard our sincere cries.... he came and picked us up, lovingly embraced us, brushed and washed the burdening hurts off our spiritual scrapped knees and elbows and in doing so gave us a new understanding of His love.
  
"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." Ezekiel 36:25-27

This new understanding by His Spirit set us upright in His love.   Faith began to grow from that once hard seed that had laid dormant when our soul was created.   We had a new realization of God.   
  

“For the LORD is righteous, he loves righteousness; the upright will behold his face.”  PSALM 11:7

It is amazing to think this all started when faith and God collided.  

As the scripture says "And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him."
 
Jesus... through all things were created made this possible for us.   He was the gift to the world. He is the true gift,  a gift not given because we earned it or because we were good enough but because we are loved.   But like all gifts it has to be accepted.   Can anything be more profound then that? 

Jesus speaking of himself said:

 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.  There is no judgement awaiting those who trust him.   But those who do not trust have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God.  Their judgment is based on this fact:  The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved darkness more than light, for their actions were evil.  They hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness.  They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished.  But those who do what is right come to the light gladly, so everyone can see that they are doing what God wants."  JOHN 3:16-21

 Jesus Christ, the gift to the world, is what brings our life upright.  From gray ashes to a crown of beauty.  

  
Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  JOHN 14:6

And without Jesus "this" pillar (you and I) cannot stand.  For God is the source of our strength. 

The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.  PSALM 28:7

He is our firm foundation.  He is our rock in which we can stand.  

A relationship with Him gives us inner strength to endure. 

Have you ever noticed a pillar and the enormous loads it carries?  And how many times have we gone into a building and totally overlook the pillars and just see everything else?      

Sometimes I look at these pillars in some of these buildings and I wonder how can they hold up so much weight?  

Sometimes we overlook individuals in the church who are pillars.  Sometimes we look at other people's lives and think how in the world can they handle all that is happening in their life and still have peace?  

Again I am reminded only submission to God's love can we accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope for.  And the acknowledgment of God's love in our lives brings glory to Jesus Christ.  
   

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” HEBREWS 4:16

“In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” EPHESIANS 3:12

We are a witness of God.   God is our life… for without Him we do not have life but everything that is opposite of what God wants for us. 

God's everlasting love- empowers and encourages and enlightens us.   

Paul wrote: "I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.  And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him.  May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love.  and may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love really his is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.  Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now glory be to God!  By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.  May he be given glory in the church and in the Christ Jesus forever and ever through the endless ages Amen."   EPHESIANS 3:16-21

A relationship with God gives us hope "color", inner strength, but also shapes and molds us. 

TURQUOISE

Did you know the turquoise stone is easily shaped and polished?

Reminds me a bit of what happens as a Christian matures in Christ.

"And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What's more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God." 1 PETER 2:5


Turquoise also represents the tribe of Judah/ Yehudah in the priest's breastplate.

Judah means "Give praise to the Lord." Yehudah in Hebrew means: to submit, the center of the Divine, the Way, humility inspired by submission to the divine, gratitude, thanks, and kingship.

Once again we see.... "the Way."  Who is the Way? Jesus Christ.

I have found this true as well... through humility inspired by submission to the divine, come wisdom, and gratitude. 
 
Judah also is represented by the symbol of the "lion".

WHO do we know as the LION OF JUDAH and King of kings?

That's right... Jesus Christ.  

"Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals." REVELATION 5:4

"On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords." REVELATION 19:16


And we as Christians belong to Jesus Christ,  the LION of JUDAH and KING of kings!

You might be asking, so does this turquoise pillar represent Jesus Christ?  This pillar is a witness of Jesus Christ.

Let us conclude with this scripture.

“I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.  Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.  Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  REVELATION 3:8-13