I hope you are excited in this season. I don’t mean a peripheral excitement but one that goes deep down. I hope the cause of your excitement is the presence of that river that flows from deep down in your soul. Joy that is born of the fact that Jesus was born; you encountered Him and have revelation knowledge of who He is. This is joy. The bible says it is indescribable. This is not about mere happiness neither is it about mere excitement
1 Peter 1: 8B NKJ - “…..yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory”
According to the dictionary, joy amongst several other things means “to delight in something”. Thank God our delighting is not just in things but is principally in a being that never fails, never changes and lives forever. The one we delight in is the son of God and He is Himself, God. The one in whom all power resides and has come that we may always be joyous.
I don’t know what experiences you may be going through right now; experiences that may be challenging you and trying to steal your joy. I want to encourage you to hold on because there is a morning coming shortly and it shall come with an abundance of Joy with which you will draw out of the wells of salvation.
Isaiah 12: 3 NKJ – “therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation”
So many things happen that confirm over and over again that the devil is after our joy. More often than not, the first thing that shows that a man is under the attack of the devil is that He loses His joy. Whilst Jesus came that we may have joy and fullness thereof the devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. One thing he tries hard to steal is our joy.
John 10: 10 NKJ – “the thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly”
We must do all we can to hold unto our joy. Whatever it takes to ensure that there is joy flowing from inside us we need to do it. Again God has ensured that we do not have to pay a price for this joy. It comes in the anointing. The anointing is able to replace our mourning with oil of joy. The anointing is the oil of joy. It literarily translates us from sorrow to joy even before we see a physical change. Please look every painful experience you may be going through in the face and count them all joy even now.
Merry Christmas to you too Pastor B,
ReplyDeleteThis is really insightful,i like the part about "delighting....principally in a being that never fails, never changes and lives forever" because it talks of the faithfulness of God....to promise a thing and bring to pass and stay true to who He is,age after age.
I pray for myself and everyone that the oil of joy will continually flow over us,cos it is in this atmosphere that God dwells.
This is message not just for Christmas BUT for ALL times! I had to share this to my FB page cos I am not sure there is anything better I would love to share with people right now. ALL sorts of 'Grinches' are trying to steal people's 'Christmases' but like you said we MUST not let him. We must not! I will not. Thanks Pastor B!
ReplyDeletePeople, you will not believe that only yesterday, just one day after posting this article, i struggled with the enemy over my joy. The interesting thing was nothing really happened. i lay on my bed and then i felt like being sad; I started to think of things that i wished i had but did not have. At each point i knew i could stop myself but i wanted to go on though i hate being sad. Suddenly even the weather started to get to me too. Thank God who made me realize suddenly that i was walking the path that leads to loss of joy. I jumped up from my bed and went to church. Please guess what happened! The first sentence i heard as i got into church was "standing on the promises of God." The state of mind did not change immediately but that sentence reminded me to "stand" once more on the promises. Having done all to stand, i must stand on the promises.
ReplyDeleteMerry christmas you all!
Lol! I love it that you are so real Pastor B! I know that feeling so well. Its almost like you are watching yourself in a film...as this cloak of heaviness descends and begins to wrap itself around you.....you know you should dispel the thoughts and look at the half full cup but it just feels easier to sit there and have a pity party.......recently, I have discovered one trick that works. Wazobia Praise! Its one CD like this and no matter how sad I am, when I play that CD, my mood shifts to a better gear! Lol! Yes, it makes me not only want to stand on God's promises but STOMP on the enemy's head! LOVL!
ReplyDeleteMeri Keresimesi Pastor B!