Joy and Strength (Christian life and music)

If I focus on people more than Jesus, then they become the center of my life.  My life is my inner life first and foremost: my thoughts, emotions, desires.  What or who am I allowing into my heart?  How do I practically guard my heart? "Halt!  You cannot enter here!" I can speak these words out loud to anyone or anything trying to overstep my boundaries.  "You are not allowed into my heart, for it is holy ground because Jesus lives there." Things that cannot abide in the same place where Jesus is: - hurt - unforgiveness - lust - pride (being "right") - fear - doubt - people's opinion of me - confusion - worry over a perceived lack of resources - fearing the future based on past experience - comparisons This is not an exhaustive list, but you get the point.   But when I let Christ rule in my heart as the center of my heart and life, I am trading the above list in for this list of rich benefits: - peace - love - joy - boldness - courage - wisdom - knowle

So years ago, I sat down to write an old-fashioned style hymn.  This is what the Lord inspired in me. I just sat down to sing it and whenever I do, I can't make it through with dry eyes. It is such an awesome truth and Reality that we will one day see Jesus face to face.  It is such an awesome Reality that we will be there in His glory with Him, though we have done nothing to earn a place there.  Out of His mind-blowing grace, we will be allowed to enter in where the streets are made of gold.  We will reign there with Him.  We will wear crowns. To imagine the next life in comparison to life as we know it on earth, well the difference is unfathomable. In Revelation 1:17, the apostle John says,  "When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man." God is that awesome and holy.  So falling at His feet when we see Him as He is is a Reality.   If any of you grew up singing the great hymns of old, the chord progression of my song will make sense to you.  It may even be comfort