The Joy Of The Lord Is My Strength
Nehemiah 8:10
Of all the Fruit of the Spirit of God, joy is the most important for an overcome. That is why we all should pray that the Lord give us more Joy! At some time each of us experience the sorrows, the pains, the agonies, the frustrations and the condemnations that come while serving the Lord Jesus. If we desire to conqueror all these things however, we must develop the fruit of joy, because the power to overcome is joy’s main attribute.
Why do so many church goers walk around with a glum look on their faces? Paul writes, “Come out from them ( the world( and be separate” (2 Corinthians 6:17) because our faith should make us different. Peter calls the faithful believers, “peculiar people”. In fact our faith should make us different, but not negatively different-positively different. As Christians we must commit ourselves everyday to walking in the joy of the Lord. Paul tells us in Philippians 4:4 to, "Rejoice in the Lord always". Easy for Paul to say, you might say, he doesn’t have my problems. Really? When he wrote those words he was in prison with no chance of getting our.
Happiness is an emotion, but joy is a decision. And your decision must rule your emotions, not vice-versa. Wee, maybe you might say joy and happiness, what is the difference: Well, I’m glad you asked. Happiness comes from the root word “hap” which means chance. Happiness is circumstantial. It has to do with life going the way you want it to go and the feeling we experience when that happens. Like a Christmas morning when your favorite relatives are present, everyone likes their gifts and the baby cooperates with your pre-determined schedule. Like a perfect wedding day when the sun is shining, the flower girl behaves and the groom remembers why he is there as you appear at the end of the aisle.
Happiness, it’s a good feeling based on circumstances no double, happiness is something to enjoy and celebrate on the occasions when it happens. But there are so many other moments in life when life doesn’t happen according to our plans. What do we do then? Well, where happiness is circumstantial, joy is not. Joy is more that happiness. The Old Testament describes joy as a quality of life as well as an emotion. The spontaneous songs of worship contained in the Psalms illustrates this kind of joy. Joy is something deep that celebrates God’s character despite the circumstances. Shouts of joy after a lengthy battle. Joy that come in the morning after a night of mourning and death. Garments of joy that replace grave clothes or sack cloth. True joy comes to those who have devoted themselves to something bigger than their own happiness and personal interest.
Nehemiah wrote, “Celebrate with a hearty meal and send presents ( gifts of compassion) to those in need, for the joy of the Lord is my strength” True joy involves three things:
- A conscious decision to focus each day on God’s goodness
- Reaching out to bless others every chance you get
- Understanding that joy produces strength, which explains why your joy is the devil’s number one target. If you lose your joy, you lose your strength, and he wins!
Gregg Zoschak, in his book: Developing the Fruit of the Spirit In Your Life! writes about the consequences of serving God with out joy. He quotes Deut. 28: 47-48: "Because thou servesdst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of things, Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger and in thirst, and in nakedness and in want of all things and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee".
So you see my friends the consequences for serving the Lord without joy resulted in having a curse place on you. The absence of joy in believer’s lives results in their serving the enemy, Satan himself. Believers would be in lack and in want with a yoke of iron around their necks. Satan is the only being that wants to kill, steal and destroy our lives. Jesus said that "He came that we might have life and that more abundantly".
During our times of trials, we can test the degree to which we are in bondage to the enemy by measuring the extent to which our trials over come us. This can be seen by examining our response to personal trials. For example, how do we respond when we must suffer through an extended illness? How do we react when the devil stirs up our family or friends to harass and persecute us? How do we bear up under lengthy trials as oppose to short ones? The answers are important because if a believer’s attitude or character becomes repugnant to God and to others, then we have been overcome by that trial or test. The Bible encourages believers to: “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might”. ( Eph. 6:10)
Saints, in order to be an over comer we must know the true function of the Fruit of Joy. When we choose to serve the Lord with joy, we can expect to have overcoming victory over the enemy. We can experience fulfillment in all things and be free from the yoke of bondage. According to author Gregg Zoschak, the three functions of joy are:
- Joy produces victory in our lives
- It produces fulfillment, meaning the production of all things needful for abundant living.
- Joy will protect us against oppression and free us from bondage to the enemy (2Peter 1:3)
The reason so few Christians are experiencing joy is that we have failed to take the time and expend the energy to cultivate and develop the Fruit of joy in our individual lives. Joy is the strength that enables a person to remain steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. ( 1Cor. 15:58) Joy enables a person to scoop down into the wells of salvation and draw out what ever is lacking in our lives. The fruit of joy is confidence in God. Joy is confidence in God’s grace, despite circumstances-despite what happens. Joy is the ability to hold up because we know we are being held up by God. Joy is the conviction that God is in control of every detail of our lives even when those details appear to be out of control or delayed. It is the confidence in God that no matter what happens, because we have watched God in so many other tines in our lives her has an excellent track record; and just as He has come through in the past, He will come through again.
God makes us a promise in James 1:4 for those of us who endure trails with joy; he says: "Count it all joy when you go through divers trials and temptations:” the promise is this, doing so will enable you to be:
- You will be perfect
- You will be entire
- And you will lack nothing.
Now lets praise God and Lift up our voices in a joyous shout of triumph and victory. When you are praying to Our Father, don’t forget to ask for the fruit of joy. Until next time.
Remember: "Don’t Forget To Say Your Prayers!"
