THE JOY OF THE LORD
Ivan
Pattison,
Nehemiah 8:10 Then he said unto them, Go your way,
eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing
is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the
joy of the LORD is your strength.
The joy of the Lord is our strength, and as
Christians, we need all the strength we can get both from each other and
especially from the Lord. Some one wrote to me recently, and said that the
Jesus in me, helps the Jesus in them, you might agree
or disagree with this statement, but it is an interesting statement. The joy of
the Lord does not mean we have to be jumping around all of the time, but a
peace and joy within, even where things are not going well. Though it does help
sometimes to be able to do a bit of dancing, and hopping around it helps to
free us up in the spiritual. Having the joy and peace of the Lord down inside
feeling of a deep satisfaction of being in Jesus, whatever situation we are in.
1 Thessalonians
When you know that you know that you have that
inner faith in God and in His Word, then there is that peace and joy within. Do
we give thanks as we should, in every situation, or do we take what we think is
the easy road and go under the circumstances, which in the long run is not the
easy road, but puts us under our circumstances.
Deuteronomy 28:13a And the LORD shall make thee
the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above
only, and thou shalt not be beneath;
The Lord shall make us above our circumstances,
and above those negative words spoken over us, if we obey His commandments, and
do what ever we can to do all of those things written in His Word, and one of
those things is praise Him in all things. It is not always easy to give thanks
in everything, but if we want that inner peace and inner joy, then we need to
be giving thanks, what ever happens in our life.
Psalm 22:3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of
God lives in the praises of His people, whether
we be Israelites or whether we be Christians, when we praise Him, God lives in
our praises to Him. Even if praising does not change our circumstances, which
it usually does, it changes us, and our attitudes.
Psalm 100:4 Enter into his gates with
thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless
his name.
If only we would enter His gates with
thanksgiving, and praise, what a lively group of people we would be, in each
church group. Just imagine going to church and in entering the church we
started to praise God. How the service would be different, how our worship
would be different
Ivan
