A Jolt of JoySample

Paul, the greatest theologian and evangelist of all time, is once again in trouble! He has been caught preaching the Word of God in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, before sending him off to prison, King Agrippa himself has decided to hear Paul's side of the story. Agrippa was brought into the auditorium in all of his pompous grandeur and seated among the leading politicians of the day. As the crowd grew silent in the presence of earthly royalty, King Agrippa who was known as a powerful and demanding ruler, looked Paul's way and permitted him to speak for himself. How would you have responded to this situation? Truthfully, my heart would have been beating out of my chest! Most of us would have been wondering where God was in all of this! "Really God?! I have been preaching the Gospel for Your Name and now here I am having to defend myself before the most powerful man alive?!" I know that I would be begging God not to let me vomit or faint in the presence of this man who could have me killed or sentenced to a Roman prison with a nod of his authoritarian head. Paul calmly stretched his hand in Agrippa's direction and began one of the most eloquent defenses of all time with these heartfelt words, "I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews." - Acts 26:2 KJV Paul boldly states in the presence of the most important men of his day that "I think myself happy ..." Next time you are in a fix, will you think yourself happy? Next time you don't get your way, how about thinking yourself happy? When your life is about to implode, why don't you try, like Paul did, to think yourself happy? We can change the way that we think because we know Jesus Christ. We can change the way our mind processes our circumstances because we know that the God of Creation will always have the last word! I dare you ... think yourself happy today!