“You will show me the path of life; [Surrender] In Your presence is fullness of joy; [Healing] At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” [Power]
As healthcare professionals we are constantly on the go, attempting to achieve, give, fix, and resolve without realizing that we ourselves are in desperate need. Whether we are helping a patient in need or focusing on our own family member, no amount of service will completely fill our cups.
AMEN’s theme this year is “In His Presence” based on Psalm 16:11 which says, “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” We all pursue happiness but all too often we look for it in the wrong places. Whether it’s wealth, accomplishments, or addictions, we try to use the things of this world to bring us pleasure. True lasting joy can only be experienced in the presence of God.
As we work to restore physical health in the lives of our patients, the only way to enable them to experience genuine happiness and complete wholeness is to bring them into God’s presence. But first, we as providers, must enter into His presence and experience this joy for ourselves. There are many distractions in our day-to-day lives that keep us from spending time with God. We then try to minister to our patients and colleagues with an empty cup. This results in a joyless experience that ends in burnout and disillusionment.
The first part of Psalm 16:11 says, “You will show me the path of life.” God’s way is the only path that leads to life, and anything that deviates from this path leads to brokenness and death.
Jesus continually lived in the presence of God. Surrendered to the Father’s will, He was a healing presence filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. As we follow His example by surrendering our lives and our wills completely to God, we will experience the life-changing joy of walking with Him daily. God then promises to transform our lives by giving us the power to overcome the things that bind us. It is only as we surrender to Him that we will experience the healing joy that comes from being in His presence. From this place of wholeness, our lives are transformed, we receive the power to overcome, and can then be used effectively by the Holy Spirit to bring others into God’s presence.
“In His Presence” we (and our patients) find rest, peace, hope, healing, grace, power and so much more! It is our desire, our hope, our prayer that each of us will take hold of God’s promise, to abide “In His Presence,” for it is only there that we will fully experience the Surrender, the Healing, and the Power that is needed to faithfully minister as He did.
Fullness Of Joy
By Ellen G. White
First Things First
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalm 16:11.
The religion of Jesus is joy, peace, and happiness.29Testimonies for the Church 5:579.
All Heaven is interested in the happiness of man. Our heavenly Father does not close the avenues of joy to any of His creatures. The divine requirements call upon us to shun those indulgences that would bring suffering and disappointment, that would close to us the door of happiness and heaven…. He [the world’s Redeemer] requires us to perform only those duties that will lead our steps to heights of bliss to which the disobedient can never attain. The true, joyous life of the soul is to have Christ formed within, the hope of glory.30Steps to Christ, 46, 47.
Those who abide in Jesus will be happy, cheerful, and joyful in God. A subdued gentleness will mark the voice, reverence for spiritual and eternal things will be expressed in the actions, and music, joyful music, will echo from the lips, for it is wafted from the throne of God. This is the mystery of godliness, not easily explained, but nonetheless felt and enjoyed.31Testimonies for the Church 4:626.
Words cannot describe the peace and joy possessed by him who takes God at His word. Trials do not disturb him, slights do not vex him. Self is crucified. Day by day his duties may become more taxing, his temptations stronger, his trials more severe; but he does not falter; for he receives strength equal to his need.32Messages to Young People, 98.
In those who possess it, the religion of Christ will reveal itself as a vitalizing, pervading principle, a living, working, spiritual energy. There will be manifest the freshness and power and joyousness of perpetual youth. The heart that receives the Word of God is not as a pool that evaporates, not like a broken cistern that loses its treasure. It is like the mountain stream fed by unfailing springs, whose cool, sparkling waters leap from rock to rock, refreshing the weary, the thirsty, the heavy laden.33Christ’s Object Lessons, 130.