THE JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH

“This is the day which the LORD hath made;  we will rejoice and be glad in it.”   (Psalm 118:24)

Such a timely reminder of the state of spiritual contentment that must continually reside within each of us.    As we experience this season of unparalleled and overwhelming assaults on the peace that comes from a personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus, we must press towards this mark of the high calling by submitting ourselves to God and resisting the devil daily.   Each one of us will be called on to fight the good fight of faith, battling the demonic forces of temptation and persecution, withstanding evil by putting on the whole armor of God and confidently proclaiming that we resolutely stand in the true grace of God.   And then, after you’ve done all you can do to stand, what then?    Keep standing in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free!

May the Lord bless you to realize how you can rejoice and be glad in this day that He has made even though this day that He has made may be filled with difficult challenges to overcome and fiery trials to endure.   Jesus knows all about what you are confronted with and has said,   “In the world ye shall have tribulation:  but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”   (John 16: 33)      Understand and believe that He has already overcome not only the world, but death, the devil, depression, delusion, deception, distress and any other damaging disorder that dares to desecrate your doorstep.

Your joy is the direct result of a strength you have been infused with that takes your weak, incapable, insufficient self and transforms you into a spiritual warrior who exudes the power of God.   And it is in your weakness where God puts His strength as He told the Apostle Paul,  “for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”   (2 Cor 12: 9)   It is when we acknowledge our own inabilities and inadequacies, humble ourselves before God and rely exclusively on His divine power that we can understand the seemingly contradictory statement recorded by the Prophet Joel declaring, “…let the weak say, I am strong.”  (Joel 3: 10)    When we humble ourselves before the mighty hand of God, it is then that these decaying, decomposing and dehydrated dregs of dirt that we call bodies are transformed into perennial and productive powerhouses of perfection where God gets all the glory.   “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”   (2 Cor 4: 7) 

And all of the above was miraculously materialized and made available to us all by the martyrdom of Christ on Mount Calvary where He exchanged His life for ours.   With that unparalleled act of self-sacrifice, God has made it possible  “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;  Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:   Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son:   In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:”  (Col 1: 10-14)

You were created to manifest the joy of the Lord perpetually as God has given us the ability to choose either the wages of sin or the gift of eternal life.  (See Romans 6: 23)    Don’t let Satan deceive you out of your God-given privilege of righteousness and holiness through the Spirit by luring you into the world of sin.   As  2 Chronicles 7: 14  reminds us,  “If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways;  then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

And when we make the effort every single day to be holy, we should not be ashamed of the joy that the Lord has placed in our hearts.   We must be determined in mind and purposed in heart to be obedient to God’s commandments so that we may truly, genuinely and confidently participate in the following:    “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.  Serve the LORD with gladness:  come before His presence with singing.   Know ye that the LORD He is God:   it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves;  we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.”  (Psalm 100: 1-3) 

 When we commit ourselves to serving the Lord with all of our hearts we are authorized and expected to  “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise:  be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.” (Psalm 100: 4)   And why?   “For the LORD is good;  His mercy is everlasting;  and His truth endureth to all generations.”   (Psalm 100: 5)

And when it’s all said and done, when we’ve reached the end our road and we stand at the precipice of eternity, may we without reservation or hesitation be able to say,  "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day:  and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing."  (2 Timothy 4: 6-8)