Friday, July 8, 2016

The Joy of the Lord Is My Strength!





"Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." (Nehemiah 8:10)

Joy is not happiness! Happiness is temporal.  Those of you who have been around me for any length of time probably know that I am fond of saying, “happiness is highly over rated!” And it is dependent on your circumstances and the comfort of your flesh, whereas joy is quite the opposite!

Joy, like faith, is a spiritual force which needs to be actively stirred up. As Christians the Bible instructs us to “walk by faith and not by sight” so even if your world appears to be crumbling down we are told not to focus on our circumstances, but on God’s saving power to deliver us from our circumstances. It would be best if we remember that the aim of the enemy (Satan) is to shift our focus from dependence on God and onto our current situation. When we do this we are not walking by faith, instead we are walking by sight which essentially causes us to walk in fear.

The “joy of the Lord” is a place where we can go be guaranteed, that for God, there is no situation too hard for Him to deliver us from (Jer 32:17), and that only He has the ability to accomplish it. (Psalm 20:7)  When we get to this place we experience a supernatural peace which stirs up joy within our heart. We are to cast all, not some, of our burdens upon Him so that He can exercise His full power in our lives! (Psalm 55:22)  Some of us are so busy trying to do God’s work that we are constantly frustrated and tired with life—we are all guilty of this!

However with “the joy of the Lord” it doesn’t matter the circumstances, you and I can feel rest, assured that a brighter day is to come. The knowledge and experience of this can be compared to a person who walks down a lonely street with a big smile on their face. You may think that they are deluded, or have just remembered a joke; however this person knows the secret. They know how to possess this supernatural strength which is a product of experiencing joy even though their circumstances contradict this.

Have you experienced “the joy of the Lord?” If you haven’t, then you need to shift the focus from your current situation, and back onto God. This joy is not exclusive and is available to all who have faith, and dare to believe that there is nothing too hard for God.

Praise the Lord!  For when He takes over the battle, the battle is over!

“Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's.” (2 Chronicles 20:15b) 







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