'The Joy of the Lord' is celebrating Jesus as the rock of our salvation - anytime, anywhere, anyhow!
Hey Y’all!
I know I didn’t do a blog post yesterday 😦 That was a downer for me, but I guess I just had too much else to do. I’ve been going through a rough time in my personal life, and these ‘sermons’ on here have really been helping me to focus each day. I still had time with the Lord yesterday, don’t get me wrong, but I did not have the committed time in front of a computer screen that it takes to complete one of these studies here. Today’s a new day!
Lord, may Your Fatherly advice come through Your Son and Your Holy Spirit and out of my fingers onto this screen. May Your love be evident in all that that we do, don’t do, say, think, etc. as Your children, Father. I thank you for Your forgiveness thru Your Son and that you have adopted those who believe as Your sons and daughters, making us new again, reborn as new creations in You! Hallelujah and thank you, in Jesus’ name: amen.
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Today I am feeling led to write about one of my all-time favorite verses in the Bible: Nehemiah 8:10. The joy of the Lord is [my] strength. So how is it that this can go from being some lofty idea on the pages of the Bible to being a principal upon which I can build my daily life? Let’s see, shall we!
For me, I used to hear people quoting the verse, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” (from Philippians) and hear them quoting it out of context. I heard people quoting it and essentially saying that they can do whatever they want and the power of Christ would overshadow them to do it. This somehow seemed wrong to me, but I didn’t have the Word deeply ingrained in me enough yet to say exactly why. Now, after a couple more years’ of life experience, I can say why this seems wrong: IT IS WRONG! =) Please, let me explain.
In learning the true meaning of verse 4:13 from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, I began to discover the true gem of a verse that is Nehemiah 8:10. In Philippians chapter 4, we see that the apostle Paul is talking about what the life of a ‘sent one’ is like:
I have learned to be [h](R)content in whatever circumstances I am. 12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going (S)hungry, both of having abundance and (T)suffering need. 13 I can do all things [i]through Him who(U)strengthens me.-Philippians 4:11b-13, NASB, courtesy of Biblegateway.com, emphases mine.
We can see from Paul’s writing that what he’s describing here is a life full of ups and downs. Paul has been sick, Paul has been well. Paul has had lots-o-means, Paul has been po’ (too broke to afford the ‘o’ and ‘r’). Paul has been beaten for the cause of Christ, Paul has been commended and blessed for the cause of Christ. Paul has been imprisoned and Paul has been free. What the apostle is teaching us here, then is NOT what certain other preachers would have us believe, that our lives will be calm and pristine once we know Jesus, but that having Jesus in our lives is what can keep US calm and peaceful even in extremely rough circumstances. Christ was the source of Paul’s contentedness; is He the source of ours? If He isn’t, then we may be worshiping an idol in our lives. Yes, the Lord may provide other sources of bringing us contentment, like food, clothing, shelter, friends, etc. but we gotta give credit to whom it’s due! =)
As believers, we can stand on the powerful verse in Nehemiah, “the joy of the Lord is [our] strength,” no matter what circumstance we may be facing in our lives. As an example, just to flesh this out a little bit, I am currently out of work from an injury that took place back in December. At such time, I was self-employed and carving out a hand-to-mouth type of living for myself and been doing so since about March of last year. All was going well and I was modestly happy with my life circumstances, etc. and then BAM! out of nowhere I get injured and am unable to continue doing the work I had been doing to support myself, as it was labor intensive. That was rough.
As many of us know, we men tend to rest on our accomplishments as a source of healthy pride – healthy self-confidence. This injury would have been world-shattering for me if I did not have Jesus. I can stand here bald-faced and that without flinching. I KNOW FOR A FACT that the old Seanway, before I was born again in 1998 and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in approximately 2007, would have utterly crumbled under the circumstances that life (and ultimately God) had handed to me. This time, in December 2011, however, I was able to stand firm in faith, that God has brought me to this earth for such a time as this, that I was saved in order to complete the good works that He has for me to walk in, and that everything that’s happening will ultimately be in my (and His) best interests. So what’s different now that from in the past? He has taught me how to boast only in His name, and to Glory in Him at all times (1 Chron. 16:10; Ps. 10:3; 34:2; Hab. 2:14; 1 Cor. 1:31; 2 Cor. 10:17; Gal 6:14)! So what does that mean? We’ll get to that shortly!
This foundational verse from Nehemiah began to ring very true to me back in approximately 2009, while I was scouring the Old Testament line-by-line for motivational verses. I think I found it during the time when the Lord had me to experience the Gospel of John over and over again. I say ‘experience’ because I had a DVD at the time which I watched 30-40 times in the course of a month, along with reading that Gospel and listening to it on an audio Bible. In obeying the Spirit’s leading, I had a breakthrough, a thunder-thought, at that time: Jesus was the first ‘normal guy’ person to ever be fully filled with the Holy Spirit. He is thus a model for how we as believers are to live, and what, with the Holy Spirit’s empowerment, we can achieve as well! This was and still is HUGE for me. Once I understood that Jesus was fully human, tempted in all ways like us, yet did not sin, AND even undid a bunch of the devil’s works while He was here on earth, that FIRED ME UP! I believe this was the beginning of the ‘season of joy’ for me.
Once I realized the depth of the revelation that God had given me for that time in my life, I just about burst! I could not wait to go out and share the good news with people, that Jesus Christ, the one who was appointed by Our Father to come and live a sinlessly obedient life unto death on a cross and resurrection three days later by the Holy Spirit’s power, will come to live in us if we will only believe in His name. It’s His name and His name only that gets us saved. By His name, we have access to all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (as the Father wills). By His name, we have access to all the fruits of the Holy Spirit (wrought in our character by tests and trials). By the mighty and precious name of Jesus we have the power to choose righteousness over sin at every point in time for the rest of our lives. In the name of Jesus, we have found complete and utter forgiveness as a gift to us and one to be freely distributed to all who will believe in His name. In His name we have power over demons, sickness, disease, poverty, relationship issues emotional distress (all as the Holy Spirit leads). How much Our Father has done for us in JESUS!
Now I knew what all the joy was about! Now I knew why we were commanded to praise the Lord so often in the Bible, and ordered to remember His good works, His good deeds completed in our sight: the Joy of the Lord is a joy that no one can ever take away from us! Joy cannot be stolen because our salvation cannot be stolen from us. The devil can tempt us, but he can’t make us sin. The world can set up systems that betray us, but they can’t make us join with them. Our brothers and sisters can speak evil of us without cause, but they cannot take our eternal rewards away from us. Thieves can steal our belongings and murderers could take our very lives, but none can steal our SALVATION or the joy that comes along with it: hallelujah! When no one and no-thing can steal something from me, that’s a place of strength. This is why I can understand now that the joy of the Lord is our strength – it’s our only source of everlasting strength!
When I’m down and I’m going through something, ’cause it seems like there’s always something I’m going through lately, I know that can choose the joy of the Lord. No matter how I might be feeling, I can choose to enter into the joy of the lord again and again and again. I don’t have to let my emotions control me; I can choose to REjoice – to enter into the joyful place of mind once more(Phil. 4:4). I can choose to let all the negative circumstances NOT be my ultimate reality because the word says the just shall live by faith (Hab. 2:4). By faith I am righteous in my Father’s eyes (Phil. 3:19). By faith is how I will walk near Him, with Him, and in Him (2 Cor. 5:7). By faith is the only way I can enter into the mansion which has been prepared for me (Jhn. 14:2). My joy, my hope, my love, my life is IN THE LORD (Col. 1:27). Jesus’ name means ‘ROCK OF SALVATION’. I will glory in the fact that Our Father is Holy and that His Holiness chose me to enter into that holiness by faith in His only begotten – won’t you too (Jhn. 3:16)?
Come all ye saints, we must GLORY in the LORD!
–Seanway
seanway 