JOY
One of the words I received for this year is the word JOY.
I wanted to know what the Hebrew word for Joy is so I of course Goggled it and this is what I found.
Hebrew has several words for joy, each with different shades of meaning.
‘Simcha’ (ch is a soft gutteral, between h and the ch of ‘Bach’) means happiness in the most full sense.
‘Gila’ is a stronger sensation of joy but more transient and worldly (related to ‘gal’ = wave.)
‘rina’ is a joy related to singing and shouting.
‘ditza’ is joy related to dancing.
‘hanaah’ enjoyment (of something specific.)
When I saw the word Simcha, I was reminded that in 1983, we had decided to name our baby Simcha (Joy) if He, had been a, She. At the time, we had decided to have our baby at home. God was with us and to our delight, we had another son. That made number three. We named him Abram. God had spoken to our hearts; he was sending us a bundle of JOY! We thought for sure we would have a girl. God knew best, and to our delight, Abram was born and what a joy he has been. He is extremely intelligent and bright with a wonderful sense of humor. We love him dearly.
God wants His children to be happy and to be full of His JOY! That has been a challenge for me. I mean I can be funny and witty…but Joy has been difficult for me because I miss being around my family on a daily basis. I had to change my focus from what I want, to what God wants.
His happiness is not in things. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with “stuff” but it doesn’t give lasting happiness or joy.
Our Joy must come from the Lord! The Lord’s Joy is our strength. He wants our Joy to be full. And we can only have full Joy when we keep our eyes and focused on Him. Then when we go through trials, our trust will be in Him and we will still be full of His Joy. Joy is strength under pressure. It is His Joy that is holding us up like steel.
I will be focusing on His Joy this year. He knows what we need and He gives us what we need. Not necessarily what we want.
When our desires, become God’s desires, we will be full of His Joy!
God is a loving parent and He knows exactly what is good for us and what is not, good, for us. We can walk away from Him, and do what we want, but I can promise you, we will fall straight on our faces. We will scrape our knees, bloody our noses, get two black eyes and scream, “Why God? Why?” We are, so, very foolish as humans. If we are His child, than obedience to Him is the best way to go, every time. Stop and think about it for a moment…what are you dreaming about? What are you wishing for? What is it that’s in your life right now that makes you stressed, unhappy, burdened, what is keeping you from having JOY?
If you focus on that…you will never have what it is you are longing for.
But if you will focus on Jesus…and ask Him what it is He wants for your life…then, do, what he shows you to do. You will see everything turn around for you and before you know it you will be full of Joy!!
~Marla Shaw O’Neill January 10, 2018
John 15:11-15 The Message (MSG)
“I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.
Proverbs 12:20 “Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, But counselors of peace have joy.”
Proverbs 21:15 “It is a joy for the just to do justice, But destruction will come to the workers of iniquity.”
Ecclesiastes 2:26 “For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.”
Nothing but the Blood
No power in, or beneath earth or heaven, can penetrate
The blood of Jesus Christ, the anointed son…
His blood is, holy
His blood is, supernatural
His blood is, eternal
His blood is, healing
His blood is, salvation
His blood is poured on the souls of those He redeemed
No demon nor man, nor anything, can destroy the blood of Christ…
His blood is our protection; it is a force-field for his beloved…
His blood is mixed with love, from the very veins of God.
When the enemy pierced the body, of Jesus Christ, God’s son…
He did not realize, he’d opened up a flood gate…of love and graces, God’s super-power, won.
The souls of earthbound sinners…new life had begun
Because of the blood of Jesus, no longer will we be shunned.
Evil has been conquered, death is overcome…the grave has lost its power as the blood of Jesus runs…
In the veins of every man, woman, boy and girl, who say, “Yes.”
We are no longer captives, to this forsaken, perverted world
The blood has made us free…
No fire, no wind, no rain, no sword, no peril, no powerful word…nothing ever heard
Neither race nor creed, no evil deed, can take our birthright, when we accept His blood
It establishes us in the kingdom of God…
Stand up tall and stand up brave…His blood stained banner, raise and wave…
When Jesus sees His blood poured over his seed…
He’ll scream with all his might, “This one belongs to me!
Washed in my blood, forever loved…sealed, set apart, these are mine…and I am their beloved.”
What can wash away my sin…nothing but the blood, of Jesus!!
~Marla Shaw O’Neill January 10, 2018
The Soul Takes Flight Poetry by: MS O’Neill
1 John 1:7 King James Version (KJV) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Romans 3:25-26 Good News Translation (GNT) God offered him, so that by his blood he should become the means by which people’s sins are forgiven through their faith in him. God did this in order to demonstrate that he is righteous. In the past he was patient and overlooked people’s sins; but in the present time he deals with their sins, in order to demonstrate his righteousness. In this way God shows that he himself is righteous and that he puts right everyone who believes in Jesus.
The Bread of Life Is Never Stale
Lord, give us today, our daily bread
Nutrients of love, grace, and faith in what you have said…
It sustains the body, soul and spirit…
When we read it and when we hear it…
Fresh from your bakery, like a sweet, fragrant pastry…
Filled with apples and cheese and jellies of goodness…
Words from God’s own mouth…
His truth is what it’s all about…
Giving hearts, peace and contentment, that refreshes the soul
Words of life, to fill my bowl…
Hot, buttered bread, to help us grow…
Whole grains, may your words flow…
Building us up in spirit and truth,
Giving us strength, on this road as we go…
Give us this day our daily bread…
Let us eat your word; devouring all that you’ve said…
From your humble table let us be fed…
Wheat fields and grains of this fertile land…
Harvested by Jesus’ own nail scared hands…
Fill us completely with your word each day…
Daily bread; living by what you say…
Teach us to live, laugh, love and pray
It’s your word that sustains us throughout the day!
When life gets difficult and we may lose our way…
Let us eat of your bread, believe and obey…
For your bread is the manna found on the wilderness trail…
And it will keep us abiding in you so we will never fail…
Daily bread is what I seek…
Resting in Jesus, as he wipes away, the tears on each cheek
We’ll eat together this bread that is sweet…
The bread of life, He makes us complete.
~Marla Shaw O’Neill January 9, 2018
The Soul Takes Flight Poetry, ~ M. S. O’Neill
Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11 New King James Version (NKJV)
But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4 English Standard Version (ESV)
Grace Land
When we come to the end of this life
And we are standing in the presence of God
His face, the face of a friend, because we’ve walked with Him…
Nothing to be afraid of, no need to feel ashamed
He has loved us from the beginning; He knows each of us by name…
When you close your eyes and go to sleep…loved ones, yes, they will weep
But the joy we will receive, as we walk the golden street…
I’ve heard that its fullness, will be, Oh, so very sweet…
The land of Grace is waiting, precious Lord take my hand…
Lead me all the way home Lord, to that place called, Grace, Land!
~Marla Shaw O’Neill January 8, 2018
John 15:15New International Version (NIV)
15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
Writers for the Anointed One
This poem was inspired by a wonderful writer and friend, Mary Harwell Sayler founder of, Christian Poets and Writers.
They came from ancient times
Scribes who gave their lives…
Writing by candlelight…the sacred holy words
Inscribed…
On scrolls they wrote the story
Each jot and tittle declaring God’s glory
Writing day and night, taking care that all is right…
Passed down through earth’s history
Words of mystery
Proclaiming life in the Light…
Inspired by the Holy Ghost, they wrote what they heard,
These writers of the Word!
You are the chosen…
Hand-picked by the Living Holy God…
To live and breathe and write your songs, and psalms, of Spirit’s life
Death and despair, struggles and strife…
Will all fade away as you sit and write…God’s words they cut like a knife…
Cutting away, sins decay, in the heart of those who will dare to obey
The words you write today…
We are writers of the Anointed One
Never stop, or give up, or think it’s a waste of time…
The ancient’s are cheering you on…
Be Writers of the Light!
~Marla Shaw O’Neill January 6, 2018
The Soul Takes Flight Poetry, by: MS O’Neill
Luke 4:18-19 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Prayers That Touch God’s Heart
What does God desire?
What is on His heart?
When looking from His, perspective, how would my prayers start?
Surely not, God I want, or, God can you please give me…
God’s desire is so much more, He looks for humility.
Long ago before we were born God set all in motion
His heart’s desire was that His children would give Him all their devotion…
His desire for you and me is to be a Holy Nation…
A people set apart, to live and laugh and love in total adoration
His love for us is limitless,
To love Him back is all He asks
He’ll carry us on eagles’ wings, and treasure us as His own living beings
Because, He, is God…
He is the creator of the universe, and Oh how His heart sings…
When He hears the voice of the redeemed…praying
For when we acknowledge who He is and how His blood has made us clean
Why there isn’t anything…He wouldn’t give…if you know Him, you know what I mean…
God, wash me and I will be whiter than snow
Cleanse me so that I may know
The beauty of your Holiness,
Let your desires be mine,
To be Christ-like, let me have your mind…
To forgive, and love, and offer you, all that I am or ever will be
Let your love shine abundantly through me…to offer love, so others may see
You living; don’t let them see me…
This is my prayer, I pray to thee!
My dar’lyn child you’ve touched the heart of God…
~Marla Shaw O’Neill
January 5, 2018
The Soul Takes Flight Poetry
Deuteronomy 7:6 New International Version (NIV) For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
Exodus 19:1-6 New International Version (NIV) ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’
1 Peter 2:9-10 New International Version (NIV) But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Ephesians 2:10 New International Version (NIV) For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 1:5-10 The Message (MSG) The God of Glory How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.
What If A Flower had No Flower
What would a flower be without the flower, just a stem?
Why, there’d be no sweet fragrance, no need to even look at them
They wouldn’t produce seeds; they wouldn’t even be a plant we call a weed.
And what about a tree, if it had no leaves
Naked in the elements
A tree without leaves wouldn’t be a tree…
And what about a fish that had no water to swim in
Or a lion without a den, or his roar that never begins?
What if chickens couldn’t cluck?
And what about a duck, without webbed feet
He couldn’t travel very far at all, and what if he had no beak
What would he eat…?
What would the giraffe look like if he wasn’t very tall?
He wouldn’t be a giraffe he’d be too small…
What about the bee, if he didn’t have a hive
How in the world would he ever survive…?
If birds couldn’t fly
And wolves couldn’t howl
If eagles couldn’t see
And spiders couldn’t weave…
Finally,
What about you and me?
If man had been created without a brain, and woman without a rib
What would that look like?
The world certainly would be strange
We wouldn’t have to explain…
It sure is a good thing that God arranged,
All the animals, and all the flowers, trees and bugs, seas and earth, sky and universe…
So, why is it that man tries to change everything?
God in His infinite wisdom follows His own plan
So you and I can grow and thrive and hopefully comprehend
That there is someone greater who designed this world before man
Flowers, to give seeds
So birds and bees can carry them on, as life repeats its cycle…
Trees to hold the earth by its roots, shaded by leaves that do not pollute
Animals all have their purpose;
Giraffe, lion, eagle, wolves, fish and birds and all the rest…
The cycle of life set in motion
But this was God’s best…
Made in His own image, for all time,
Perfect design,
His love, is mankind!
~M.S. O’Neill January 4, 2018
The Soul Takes Flight Poetry by MS O’Neill
Genesis 1 King James Version (KJV)
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the third day.
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Long Suffering
Tied to the earth is body and soul
Layer upon layer as years pay the toll
Leaving the message when we are old
That life is, worth living…
Traveling through time and space
Aging upon each face
Of those weary travelers who have suffered long in this place…
Some come haggard from the weight of the race…
Some only sit and stare…
But some come joyfully with soul and grace…
They know the one, who showed them He cared…
Putting their faith and hope in Him, no need to fret; no need to despair
Shadows cast over lives; they are people of prayer…
It keeps them on their way…
Suffering long is part of their song…
Knowing and trusting that He will bring them home
Long suffering; obedience, taught…
Their lives are not lived for naught…
For they are in the mind of God, He carried them in each thought…
The ones who endured, and overcame, who lived for God and fought,
Evil’s cunning game…
Will receive their just reward!
Rejoicing in the Lord…
Long suffering, a friend on whom they could depend
God’s grace is sufficient for them!
~Marla Shaw O’Neill January 3, 2018
The Soul Takes Flight Poetry
Ephesians 4:1-4 Tree of Life Version (TLV) Therefore I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you were called—with complete humility and gentleness, with patience, putting up with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Ruach in the bond of shalom.
There is one body and one Ruach, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling;
Sixty-four Years
Psalm 91:16 New King James Version (NKJV)
With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”