🎁 The Joy of Pouring Out

Joy rises when our hands are open—not to receive, but to bless.

📚 Devotional Credit: Days of Heaven on Earth
📸 Photo Credit: Unsplash

Today’s devotional from AB Simpson reminds us that real joy is found not in being served, but in serving—forgetting ourselves in the lives of others, just as Christ did. He didn’t seek to please Himself, but bore the weight of our offenses out of love and obedience. That same posture—“I am among you as one who serves”—is the posture of heaven.

When we drop our self-focused burdens and pick up His light yoke, we find unexpected rest. The heaviest weight we carry is often our own self-importance or our concern with how we are perceived or treated. But when we agree to the quiet exchange—“You will abide for Me, and I will abide for You”—we step into a rhythm of grace, where ministry flows not from effort, but from union.

This self-forgetting service doesn’t mean becoming invisible or denying healthy boundaries—it means becoming transparent, letting Christ in us love others freely. In doing so, we experience the heavenly joy of being poured out with purpose. As today’s poem reflects, when our days are spent for Him, they become like the Days of Heaven: busy, loving, united, and full of divine usefulness.

The goal isn’t grand acts of service—it’s a heart yielded in love, alert to the Spirit’s promptings, and ready to respond not for approval but because we already belong.

📓 Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture

My beloved, I do not measure your life by how much you have preserved, but by how freely you have given yourself in My love. I am not asking you to lose yourself—I have already found you. You are Mine, and in Me you are whole. So now, be free to live outward, not inward.

When others misunderstand or forget you, remember—Christ did not seek to please Himself. He bore the insults and kept walking in love. You are joined to Him, and His posture is now yours. You have His patience, His compassion, His lowliness of heart. Walk in that rest.

Let go of your striving, your comparing, your fears about being overlooked. The weight you feel was never yours to carry. You have My joy, My yoke, My Spirit. As you walk in step with Me, I will gently direct your gaze outward—not to win favor, but to overflow.

Do good today, not because it is required, but because you are free. You’re not serving for recognition, but because love always gives. In each unseen kindness, each creative blessing, I am living My life through you.

Scripture References: Romans 15:3; Luke 22:27; Matthew 11:28–30; Galatians 2:20; Philippians 2:3–7; Colossians 3:12–14; 2 Corinthians 4:5–7; Hebrews 13:16; Titus 3:1–2; 1 Peter 4:10

🧺 Real-Life Analogy

It’s like emptying a basket of fresh laundry into someone else’s arms. You’ve carried it, folded it, prepared it—not to store it away, but to serve. There’s joy in the giving, not because the basket is empty, but because it was always meant to be passed on.

In the same way, your life is not meant to be hoarded or polished for display—it’s been folded by grace to be given away. So when you encounter someone discouraged today, or find a small opportunity to offer kindness, simply yield. Whisper in your heart, “Lord, live Your life of serving through me now,” and trust that He will express His love in the very moment needed.

🙏 Prayer of Confidence

Father, I thank You that in Christ, I no longer need to guard my time, my image, or my worth. All that I am is already held secure in You. You’ve given me the lightness of Your yoke and the joy of walking in love. Today, I rest in the freedom of pouring out what You have poured into me. You’ve already supplied every grace I’ll need, and I trust You to live Your life of service through me as I abide.