“There is no comfort in anything apart from enjoying thee
and being engaged in thy service.”

The Valley of Vision, p. 4

This line is from a sixteenth century Puritan’s prayer. The book Valley of Vision is full of some incredible prayers to and devotional reflections on God. This one stood out to me and I go back and read this line often because something about it really resonates in my heart.

It is easy to get mechanical in a routine of life, and not really feel a lot of satisfaction about the details of the day. But I’ve been convicted at this ungodly attitude in my own life because apathy can creep in or complacency take root in my heart and keep me in a joyless robotic fulfilling of duties.

What I love so much about this quote is the intense wording used. No comfort in anything apart from enjoying thee and being engaged in thy service. What a great example this is for me, that I shouldn’t just maintain and get by. I need to be focused, wholeheartedly clocked in all hours for Him each day.

Last week my husband wrote a blog called “24/7 Christianity”. This is something Bobby talks about often seeing the danger of viewing Christianity as a “part-time job.” 1 Corinthians 15:58 says,

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that you labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Bobby wrote about this verse:

“Always” means with 100% of our time. “Fully” means with 100% of our hearts and effort. The Lord’s work demands everything that we have.

When I read this I went back and looked up the Puritan quote because I remembered that was the heart in the quote above–engaged in service. We are to be 100% pledged, 100% involved in laboring to serve the Lord. If this is what God wants from me, I want to do it! The greatest enjoyment and comfort is found in obeying Him.

When Bobby was on his recent trip in Israel, he and the team documented the ten days with daily videos. There was one part of one the videos that Tyler loved and we would watch it over and over again. In the clip there is just a few seconds of a walkie-talkie exchange between our good friend Brad Smith and Pastor Pete:

Brad: B-dog reporting for service.
Pastor Peter: B-dog, you are all about service.
Brad: Copy that.

Let’s report for service as a way of life and not try to be on and off duty. Always giving ourselves fully to His work!

Earlier this week a friend sent me an e-mail encouraging me to have joy in the Lord with a verse from Psalm 86. For the last few days this Psalm has been so helpful in reminding me that joy is a state of heart that does not rely on the happenings around me or anything physical. Joy is a product of trusting in God and the whole chapter Psalm 86 is an awesome prayer for that joy, but especially these two verses:

Bring joy to your servant,
for to you, O Lord,
I lift up my soul.

You are forgiving and good, O Lord,
abounding in love to all who call to you.

Psalm 86:4-5

A couple of things stand out from these verses, mainly who God is–forgiving, good and abounding in love toward those who call on Him. The other part that stands out is what I must do–to be lifting up my soul, calling on Him.

I think the reason I can get discouraged or complacent in my day to day life is I lose focus of who God is. Every day I sin and am in need of His forgiveness. Every day things are happening all around me and I am in need of God’s goodness to me which causes all of those things to work together to sanctify me to be like His Son. To think that every day God isn’t just loving, He is abounding in love. He is fully supplied with love that is perfect and always acts for the benefit of His children. I am definitely in need of that!

This is who God is. Why in the world would I not be lifting up my soul continually and calling on Him at all times? He is trustworthy. He has a perfect track record of caring for His children. He can forgive sins. He has created all things. He is God! Knowing Him and being known by Him is the source of all joy!

Psalm 86 has totally ministered to me by drawing me to worship God and lift up my soul to Him in prayer all day long. I hope you will take some time to read it and that you will be encouraged to have joy in your heart today!