More Joy

From God's Word:

The whole assembly then agreed to celebrate the festival seven more days; so for another seven days they celebrated joyfully. 2 Chronicles 30:23

I love this verse!  If I were to break the verse down I would say it this way:

the whole assembly agreed...to celebrate..seven more days...so...they...celebrated..joyfully.

That is just way cool.  They had been celebrating for seven days, had so much to celebrate about so they all agreed to extend the celebration seven more days.

To find out what they were celebrating, click here.  You can read the whole story. 

Since the word JOY is my buzzword for 2011, it was fun to stumble upon a verse that spoke of a whole assembly (which if you read the whole story boils down to "a whole country") was celebrating.  At their king's suggestion.  The people had much to be thankful for and their king knew that God was behind it all.  I'd encourage you to read it the whole story.
 
Have I ever given out a homework assignment on this blog?  I'd like you to read verse 26 in the chapter alluded too.  
 
You will get extra credit if you read the whole chapter (picture a smiley face inserted here). 
 
For those of  you that just won't or didn't click to read the whole chapter, here is a link to verse 26.  Click here
 
Now, I want you to read the first 6 words of that verse and where it says Jerusalem, insert the name of your country.  Read the words a second time as if you were proclaiming it...with your country's name inserted. 
 
How about we change the past tense of "was" to "is".
 
Read those six words again in present tense.
 
Every day this week, repeat those words.  Go ahead.  Proclaim JOY for your country.  All countries need more JOY.
 
There is great power in the spoken word.
 
If you do this, if you make a point of speaking forth JOY, you'll be amazed at what happens.