#50 - J.O.Y.

Today has been an exhausting day and I'm just gonna re-post an older devotion that I had posted a while back. Please pray for my best friend's family - the visitation was tonight and the funeral is tomorrow. There were so many people to come through and share with the family the legacy that Donna has left. She was a precious woman loved by so many.
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The girls and I recently had a brief review of what the acronym J.O.Y. stands for:
J stands for Jesus
O for Others
Y for You.
This should be our standard on how we live.

Jesus should always come first in everything that we think about and what we do. When we put Him first everything else will always fall into place. We should always think of others before ourselves and treat them like we would want to be treated. Self should be last. When this order is reversed it puts everything backwards and our lives show it. There are many examples in God's Word that demonstrates this order. God is a God of order.

First example would be the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20:1-17.
One through four pertain to God:
1- You shall have no other gods before me.
2- You shall not make unto yourself any graven image.
3- You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4- Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Five through nine pertain to others:
5- Honor your father and your mother.
6- You shall not murder.
7- You shall not commit adultery.
8- You shall not steal.
9- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Number ten is all about yourself:
10- You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.

Another example would be the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23:
These fruits can only truly come from the Holy Spirit living inside of you after you have been saved.

Love, Joy, Peace all three have to do with God and we can only get these three from Him.
The next three Longsuffering, Kindness, Goodness, all have to do with how we treat others.
The last three is Faithfulness, Gentleness, & Self-Control and those apply to us!