Dancing on the Feeling Ceiling

No mistake in the title, as you may presume.
 
Some time ago, Lionel Richie co-wrote and performed a hit song, "Dancing on the Ceiling", the chorus of which is a memorable couplet,

Oh what a feeling,
when we're dancing on the ceiling. 

Flipping this couplet upside-down by mistake, I realized every emotion (whether positive, negative or neutral) probably has an entry threshold level and also a ceiling -- a "feeling ceiling". For positive emotions, there's nothing quite like reaching, that is 'dancing on', its ceiling. I get this feeling when receiving something that was longed for. The sheer happiness and relief of its arrival triggers waves of good feelings. You've been there.
 
While it takes faith to please God, the idea of ‘dancing on the feeling ceiling’ (of positive emotions) could play an important role in our faith! Sounds strange, like nothing you have ever heard being connected to faith talk?  If disciplined and controlled in a mature heart and a renewed mind, these emotions could very well serve as an excellent faith catalyst and gauge in your life. "Say what?", you ask? "How could this have anything to do with faith at all, and how could they be simultaneously a gauge and catalyst?!" Stay tuned…
 
In Mark 11:24, Jesus lays out the simple, 5-step process for receiving God's answers to our prayers:

1. Have well-developed faith in/of God. (Start with, but go well beyond undeveloped seed faith -- according to His will.)
2. Forgive whomever for whatever, wherever, whenever necessary. (Practicing 'forgiveness in advance' may be the best way to do this -- according to His will.)
3. With well-developed faith, speak to mountain-size problems. (If we do not waver in faith while waiting, God's angels will get the job done -- according to His will.)
4. Don't doubt in our heart. (News flash: The heart and mind are well connected. Imaginations are the thoughts seeds of/in our heart, so guard them well.) 
5. Believe we receive (present tense) from God when we pray [according to His will], and we shall receive (future tense) ... afterward. (Since we live in a time warp, and everything, except miracles, works on the 'seed, time and harvest' principle, we need to have well-developed patience for God's angels to do their work, meticulously orchestrating in you and others all the precursors to His answers to prayers. See: Working With Angels (Series). 

Admittedly, the last two items on this list are my most challenging. How about you? Perhaps we all could use some help in the departments of remaining unwaveringly in faith, and believing we receive when we pray, not when the answer shows up! Both holy and evil angels must certainly have a well-developed ability to gauge faith (the product of Love) and doubt (the product of fear). Hey, what if we had such a gauge, and could help level the playing field, so to speak??
 
Would you start out driving across a desert range with insufficient fuel to get to the next gas station? Most certainly not. Similarly, we need enough of the right 'fuel' to make it across the seemingly dry, desert range of 'waiting for physical answers to prayers to arrive.' God knows this well, and has provided us with access to this fuel in abundance, as well as countless reminders in His Book for us to "fill up!"
 
This essential fuel is Joy, the emotion of keen pleasure or delight. How crucial is this fuel in our walk? Consider this:

• Joy ranks a whopping "Number 2" (right next to Love Himself!) in the list of nine varieties of The Fruit of The Spirit. (Galatians 5:22)
• During His most intimate and passionate time with His faithful disciples (His pre-departure time after Judas had been dismissed), Jesus reportedly mentioned the word, Joy, 7 times between John 13:31 and John 17:26. (Biblically, the number, 7, represents perfection and completion.)
• During this time, He thrice spoke of Joy being "full or ful-filled", underscoring the critical need for us to fill-up, and stay full of this essential fuel. (John 15:11,16:24, 17:13)
• The force or energy produced by the fuel of Joy is the verb, rejoice. This single word is cited 238 times in the Bible (179 and 59 times, respectively, in the Old and New Testaments, NKJ Version). Must be a pretty relevant word, I’d say!

Since Joy is a fruit of The Spirit, we cannot self-produce it. We can, and must, however, make ourselves available for Him to produce it in and through us. How? The Spirit produces Jesus’ joy inside us (John 15:11, 16:24), as the by-product of our continually abiding in His presence. (Psalm 16:11. See: As Long as I Abide (poem)) Fear and its by-product, doubt, cannot abide in His presence ,as His perfect love casts them out. Ergo, when we are out of His presence, we are ‘outside’ where fear and doubt reside. Read that again~ To win, we need to ‘practice His presence’ from moment-to-moment!
 
Consider this: The word, ‘abide’, and its derivatives appear 39 times in the Bible (NKJV), 29 of which are in the New Testament, and 27 times in (3 of 5)  New Testament books written by the ‘beloved disciple’, John. Since he was highly privileged to be the only disciple to write one of the four Gospels, and also to write the concluding book of The Bible (Revelation), John’s credentials must be impeccable, and his sage advice worth embracing with a vise-like grip!

So it’s a fairly clear choice. Like a magnet or compass, Joy is our faith gauge and catalyst. The more and closer we abide in/to Jesus, the greater and fuller our Joy. It enables us to ‘dance on the feeling ceiling’ when we pray according to His will, assured that He hears and answers, right then and there, and has dispatched His angels to begin patiently orchestrating and manifesting His perfect and loving answer, in accordance with His will. Our patience must match or try to keep up…with His and theirs! 
 
Rest assured, postponing being joyful or rejoicing until you see the answer to your prayer, pretty much guarantees you will be one unfulfilled, wavering soul, as far as faith is concerned. You will be haunted by the echoes of James, brother of Jesus:

…ask God… in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts
is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
For that person must not suppose that he will receive
anything from The Lord; he is a double-minded man,
unstable in all his ways.
(James 1:-7)

Find creative ways to stay joyful in The Lord~