Some things, which speal your joy (2nd part)

5. You procrastinate
You put things aside to do and then you make your duty is heavier. You increase your disappointment 
6. You think if your dreams will come true you will be the happiest person in the world. But you forget about today and today's joy and enjoyment. Instead you live in future, dreaming about future, which is not here yet
7. You owe to somebody. If you have debts it doesn't help you to be happy. Debts are making you stressed and steal joy from everyday life
8. You don't feel like it is enough. You always are like: "If I would do it for a little longer it would be the best", or "If I would have more of these I would be happy", etc.
In a reality this pit doesn't have a bottom. :( 
To be continued...

Some things, which steal your joy

1. You are worrying all the time
 The Bible says: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:52-34
2. You compare yourself with others

Ps 51:13-19

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    so that sinners will turn back to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
    you who are God my Savior,
    and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
¹⁵ Open my lips, Lord,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is^[b] a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.

¹⁸ May it please you to prosper Zion,
    to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
    in burnt offerings offered whole;
    then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Psalm 51:1-12

Psalm 51

For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
² Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
    and justified when you judge.
⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
⁶ Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
    you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins
    and blot out all my iniquity.

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

10 Reasonable Biblical Expectations for Marriage (7th-10th)

7. My mate will be faithful and committed to me.

• You shall not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14 NKJV)

8. Either of us will be able to initiate marriage counseling and the other will be willing to go.

• A scoffer does not love one who corrects him,
  Nor will he go to the wise (Prov. 15:12 NKJV)
• The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,
  But the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness (Prov. 15:14 NKJV)
• He who heeds the word wisely will find good (Prov. 16:20 NKJV)
  The sweetness of man's friend gives delight by hearty counsel (Prov. 27:9 NKJV)

9. We will have regular, satisfying sexual interaction.

• The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife's body does not belong to her alone, but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other (1 Cor. 7:3-5 NIV)

10. We will enjoy a spiritual life together with prayer and Bible study.

• If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach (James 1:5 NKJV)
• Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church...cleansing her by the washing with water through the word (Eph. 5:25-26 NIV)
• Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. ... Continue earnestly in prayer (Col. 3:16; 4:2 NKJV) 

10 Reasonable Biblical Expectations for Marriage (5th and 6th)

5. We will take regular vacations and honeymoons throughout our marriage as we mend and enhance intimacy.

• There is a time for everything,
  and a season for every activity under heaven...
  a time to tear down and a time to build...
  a time to mourn and a time to dance...
  a time to search ad a time to give up...
  a time to tear and a time to mend (Eccl. 3:1, 3, 4, 6, 7 NIV)
• When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and bring happiness to his wife (Deut. 24:5 NKJV)

6. We will use credit carefully as we become wise stewards of our finances.

• Owe no one anything except to love one another (Rom. 13:8 NKJV)
• Then he who had received the five talent went and traded with them, and make another five talents. ... His lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter the joy of your lord" (Matt. 25:16, 21 NKJV) 

10 Reasonable Biblical Expectations for Marriage (3rd and 4th)

3. We will leave our fathers and mothers and create a new, independent, special family unit.

• For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh (Eph. 5:21 NIV)

4. We will have one healthy fight a week. Confrontations around our unmet personal needs will be believed and not dismissed.

• Correct, rebuke, and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction (2 Tim. 4:2 NIV)
• Speak the truth in love.... Therefore putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor."... Do not let the sun go down on your wrath (Eph. 4:15, 25-26 NKJV)
• For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it (2 Cor. 7:8 NKJV)
• Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it (Heb. 12:11 NKJV)
• Brothers, if someone is caught in sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently (Gal. 6:1 NIV)
• Exhort one another daily...lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Heb. 3:13 NKJV)
• Make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather healed.... [Look] carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled (Heb. 12:13, 15 NKJV) 

10 Reasonable Biblical Expectations for Marriage (here is first two of them)

10 Reasonable Biblical Expectations for Marriage

From A Celebration of Sex: A Christian Couple's Manual by Dr. Douglas E. Rosenau (Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers:1994)

1. Each of us will have a partner and soul mate offering unconditional love, understanding, and support. We will be best friends.

• The LORD GOD said, "It is not good that man should be alone" (Gen. 2:18 NKJV)
• Husbands, ... dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife. ... All of you be of one mind (1 Peter 3:7-8 NKJV)
• Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. ... No one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it.... And the two will become one flesh (Eph. 5:28-29 NIV)
• A friend loves at all times,
  and a brother [mate] is born for adversity...
  but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Prov. 17:17; 18:24 NIV)
• Love is patient.... It is not rude, it is not self-seeking.... It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (1 Cor. 13:4-5, 7 NIV)

2. Neither of us will expect the other to meet all needs or take sole responsibility for personal happiness. We will give each other space to breathe.

• Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13 NKJV)
• Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load (Gal. 6:4-5 NIV)