Smile Anyway

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Good evening and welcome back to ICAR Let's Pray Ministries. I'm so excited that we are able to go back to the Lord, being in His presence, just to hear His voice, just to be in His embrace, just to be still for one moment, to learn more about Scripture, learn more about joy and peace and happiness, and to learn more about breakthrough, amen. And we invite God into our space this evening. We invite God into the Word. We invite God into the microphones. We invite God into your listening. Today we're going to talk about smile anyway, a joy that won't break. I thank you all for sticking with me and listening to the episodes. I want to start with a moment. You ever have one of those days where everything just feels off? Like nothing terrible happened, but nothing feels right either. Your energy is low, your mind is crowded, and even the ideal of smelling feels like work. Yes, that was me not too long ago. I remember sitting there quiet, just stirring, and I caught myself reflecting, right? And I noticed I looked exactly how I felt. Heavy, drained, and exhausted. Stake a fork in me, and I was done. And then I just had this one simple thought. What would happen if I would just smile right now? What would happen if I just made myself laugh right now? Not because I felt like it, not because anything changed, just because I chose to smile through my pain, through the heaviness, through the ups and the downs, through my heaviness. I just decided to smile. So I did. It was a small one, then it grew into a big one. It was kind of awkward, but honestly, it shifted. When you can just laugh, it lightens the mood. When you can smile, you just feel more better. And I just thank God that I was able to smile in that moment. So I'm definitely encouraging you to smile when the load is heavy. Smile when you just don't know which way to go. Just smile and know that weeping may endure for a night, but joy will come back in the morning. Amen. I know when I was smelling, not everything changed, but something changed in that moment when I smelled. And that got me thinking about scripture, right? Philippians 4 and 4 states, rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again. Amen. Rejoice always, even in that moment, even in your pain, even in your tears, even in your frustration. You have to find joy and you have to rejoice before the Lord. Because I don't know about you, but my first reaction isn't always joy. It's confusion. It's not understanding. It's frustration. It can be stress. And I'm a real overthinker. And if you are overthinking, we'll be running, our minds will be running a malamine. But that verse doesn't say rejoice when it makes sense. It says rejoice always. Always. And here's where it hit me the most. When I was sitting there thinking about it, joy isn't a reaction, it's a decision. We can smile through our pain or we can cry through our pain. We can look at the bed or we can look at something good. We have to learn how to uplift ourselves. We have to learn how to encourage ourselves. We have to learn how to just be okay in that moment. Amen. There's another verse I want to share with you all, and that's Nehemiah 8 and 10. And it said, The joy of the Lord is your strength. Amen. It didn't say your mood, it didn't say your circumstances, it didn't say whether people treated you right all day. Your strength comes from God's joy. So what if on your weakest day, joy is actually the thing that holds you up? Amen. Joy can lift you up, joy can give you peace. Joy can give you direction. Joy can help you to accept the things that's going on around you until God makes a change. I remember something else too. I was going through some stressful times in my life, and there's been multiple. And I kept on waiting on the Lord, but I kept on smiling, I kept on laughing, I kept getting in the corner, and I started feeling better. And one of my biggest things I used to do to get close to God when it was all hellbreaking loose in my life, I would literally go get in the corner and say, Lord, I'm in the corner. If Hezekiah can beg you for some years back on his life, so he didn't die no time soon. Lord, I know I'm getting this corner, and I can ask you for this, this, this, and that. And Lord, I'm crying out to you right now. My kids thought I was crazy, but it made me feel better. It made me feel closer to God because I'm crying out to him, right? So this is why we have to find ways to lift the heaviness off of us so we can feel joy. And it starts with our actions, right? We have to react, we have to do something to help us to walk in joy. Amen. And I want you to know that stress tries to keep us down, stress tries to break us, but we have to find a way to keep on pushing, keep on praying, and keep on believing. Proverbs 1722 states a cheerful heart is good medicine. Amen. That means joy isn't just nice, it's necessary. We all need joy, we all need peace. We all need a cheerful heart because it's good for our soul, it's good for our mind, it's good for our spirit. So we have to learn how to rejoice and have a cheerful heart. It heals things we don't even talk about, it heals things that people can't even see, but it also quiets the stress in our bodies, it hides the anxiety and the emotional weight we carry around like it's just normal because we have a joyful heart, cheerful heart. But I understand sometimes joy is easy when life is good, but what about when it's not? I get it. What about when you're dealing with disappointment, uncertainty, or just exhaustion from trying to hold everything together, trying to be Superman or Superwoman? We have to learn how to find pure joy in our trials and tribulations. That's what James 1 and 2 tells us. It says, consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds. Amen. And if you're like me, you really want to let things go to just have peace of mind and joy, and you can find joy in your stillness, you can find joy in the word of God, you can find joy in worshiping in spirit and in truth, you can sing songs of praise, and out of nowhere, your soul is uplifted, right? It doesn't mean that the pain is gone away, it doesn't mean that the confusion that's going on around you is going away. It just gives you peace to get through it, right? So we have to learn how to be still and to trust on the Lord. Trust on trust in Him to make a way, trust in Him to give us that joy that we truly need each and every day. We need God's joy every day, God's joy every second, every minute, every hour, every second. And I want to challenge you tomorrow when you wake up to find joy. Do not let your circumstances take over, don't let your thoughts run rapid, but find a moment to say, God, thank you. I accept your joy. I'm walking in your joy. I don't care what's going on around me, I'm walking in your joy. Because I need your joy to help me to get through. I need your joy to help me to breathe. I need your joy to take this weight off my shoulders. So we have to ask God for joy. Joy, joy, joy. Because joy isn't fragile when it comes from Him. Amen. It's steady, it's deep, and it's unshaken. And we have to understand that God can give us all things. He said in Psalms 24. He said, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and everything that dwell within. So if the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, that means everything in this world belongs to Him. If we just ask Him, it shall be given. Amen. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Honey Father, I thank you so much for this moment in time that was not promised. Honey Father, I thank you so much for every moment that you breathe life back into our bodies, into our souls. We thank you, oh God, for meeting us in those moments when it's heavy in our lives. Hunt Father, just count it out joy when the world is crashing. You're still a light in the crashing. And we thank you for that, Holy Father. God, you are the great I am. You are our comforter, you are our Prince of Peace. Teach us how to choose joy even when it's hard. Help us to feel your presence, to seek your word, and to be still in your presence, so you can give us a strength to be in your presence. Because if you give us the strength to be in your presence, we can smile in faith, we can trust you with no hesitation, and we will have a peace which surpasseth all understanding. The joy that overflows in every part of our lives that touches other people, Henry Father. God, we thank you in this moment for your grace and your mercy. God, we just thank you right now for forgiveness. Please forgive us of our sins seen and unseen, oh God. I pray. God, you know what they've been going through. You know what they've been stressing over. You know the fears that try to creep in in the middle of the night. God, calm the raging seas in their life. Steady the sea before them, Henny Father, and let them be able to walk on water during this time in their life, Henry Father. Let them know that you are with them. Let them know that you are guiding them. Let them know that you are holding them in your arms, Heavenly Father. Let them know that they are not alone. You said when we are weak, you'll make us strong. And I thank you for that, Henny Father. God, I pray right now when they lay down and go to sleep, that you will lay down right next to them, oh God, and give them peace. God, fill the hearts over joy when they wake up in the morning to know that they had an encounter with you through your presence in the middle of the night. God, I just thank you so much for the gift of prayer. I thank you so much for your love that surpasses all our understanding. I thank you, Lord, for being the creator of all things. Honey Father, you know our hearts cry. Holy Father, I pray that you answer every prayer that goes up tonight for everyone who's listening and who's not listening, Holy Father. God, I'm praying that you listen to their prayers and you answer according to your will and way, Holy Father. God, I pray for this government, I pray for this world, I pray for the foreign countries. God, I pray for everybody who needs prayer, Henry Father. I'm standing in the gap tonight for anyone who feels lost, anyone who feels like they don't have anyone to pray for them, Henny Father. I'm standing in for that person right now and saying, touch their heart, touch their mind, and let them know that you hear them, Henny Father. Let them know there's someone out there that is praying for them. There's someone's out there believing that you're going to turn around for them, Honey Father. Build up their faith, help them to have more hope and trust in you, oh God, and help them to walk by faith at night, but not by sight. It's in your darling son, Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. I hope you all have a blessed evening. I hope you all have a peaceful sleep. Until we meet again tomorrow. Take care. This is I care. Let's pray ministry.