{"id":13647,"date":"2025-12-03T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/?p=13647"},"modified":"2025-11-05T15:50:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T20:50:24","slug":"peace-and-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2025\/12\/03\/peace-and-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Peace and Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Two-minute read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Peach-Green-Abstract-Collage-Peace-Joy-Christmas-Folded-Card-Instagram-Post-45-819x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13648\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Peach-Green-Abstract-Collage-Peace-Joy-Christmas-Folded-Card-Instagram-Post-45-819x1024.png 819w, https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Peach-Green-Abstract-Collage-Peace-Joy-Christmas-Folded-Card-Instagram-Post-45-240x300.png 240w, https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Peach-Green-Abstract-Collage-Peace-Joy-Christmas-Folded-Card-Instagram-Post-45-768x960.png 768w, https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Peach-Green-Abstract-Collage-Peace-Joy-Christmas-Folded-Card-Instagram-Post-45.png 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spiritual motivations matter more than external diets. God does care what we put in our bodies, but He cares more about how we live out our faith. Meeting Jesus, learning about the scriptures, and becoming a person of faith requires action. To live right before the Lord, we must put His commands into practice. As we venture into God\u2019s will for our lives, we discover His peace that surpasses all understanding, which brings us unspeakable joy that strengthens us. No food we eat or liquid we drink will bring us the joy of the Holy Spirit; we can only experience the divine when living it out in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Writing daily devotions helps me experience the divine. Learning the context behind the words, getting to know the authors through their writing, and discovering Jesus in the parables changes me. In the past five years, I\u2019ve learned grace, mercy, and love in a new way. The reality of Christ\u2019s love for me has grown deeper. Gaining the ability to look at the ugly parts of myself and give them to Jesus enables me to love myself and others better than ever before. Each day, I transform a little more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>God never said we would have an easy life. He promised us struggles, and the Lord didn\u2019t lie. But the Creator also showed us how to find victory over our battles by obeying His commands, experiencing His peace, and letting divine joy strengthen us. Fuel yourself with God\u2019s word, let it absorb into your being. Allow scripture to transform you from within your soul, and live your faith outwardly, one act at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Righteousness, peace, and joy, life with Christ allows you to experience the divine. From Him, all blessings flow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Journal Questions:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">How do you define righteousness?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Describe what it feels like to experience God\u2019s peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">How does divine joy strengthen you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Joyful Application:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Pick one of God\u2019s commandments and put it into practice today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two-minute read. Spiritual motivations matter more than external diets. God does care what we put in our bodies, but He cares more about how we live out our faith. Meeting Jesus, learning about the scriptures, and becoming a person of faith requires action. To live right before the Lord, we must put His commands into&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2025\/12\/03\/peace-and-joy\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Peace and Joy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13647"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13650,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13647\/revisions\/13650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}