Tag: Joy

TRUST

Isaiah 26
3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.

  • Trusting in The Lord is a truly wonderful way to live. Take a moment to consider what it really means to trust. It is casting EVERY care upon Jesus, literally throwing them off of you and on to Him. It is EVERY weight and care given to Jesus. It is yielding ALL responsibility into His almighty hands! It is FAITH in His Goodness, Mercy and Love!
  • Now consider what are you left with. HALLELUJAH!! Perfect peace ruling in your heart!! Joy Unspeakable and full of glory!! Rejoicing evermore and gratefulness in all things!! The freedom and liberty to look to others and serve them!! Oh, give this MUCH thought fellow believer! Oh how much Christ has won for us!! Oh how great is our salvation!! Oh hallelujah! Bless His Name!!
  • Oh what a precious promise to those who choose to trust. The Lord keeps them! He keeps their hearts and minds in PERFECT peace. A peace full and complete. A peace without question, doubt or fear. It is not earned in daily ritual or claimed by empty repetitions, nor is it simply a mindset to acquire. It is simply a choice!

Colossians 3
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

  • LET His peace rule!! LET His Word live!! Oh, brother/sister the choice is very much with you!!
  • Faith is a choice. You can choose right now to believe, repent and then rejoice! Or you can choose to keep carrying and living under the weight of your own cares, fears, sin and shame. Choose to enjoy Christ or endure Christianity. Choose to trust your life to Jesus and let Him abide and reign in your heart, the alternative is frustration, anxiety, lust, shame and the wages of sin, death.
  • Oh, may we learn to truly live in trust! Oh how wonderful life with Jesus truly is!! Abide in His presence, throw off all your cares onto Him and live in the Joy, Liberty and Peace of trusting Jesus Christ, the Almighty, Creator and Saviour! 

How Many Loaves Do You Have?

Matthew 14
16 But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”
18 He said, “Bring them here to Me.”

  • Jesus says “YOU give them”. What a command to receive. We can understand the disciples feeling perplexed. They didn’t have the resources to fulfil this order, they hadn’t come prepared to serve like this, it was so far beyond their capability. They had a desire to obey but the solution was outside of their control or comprehension! They were given a seemingly impossible task.
  • Jesus did not set them up to fail. He did not leave them to their inability. No, this was a precious teaching moment between The Lord and His disciples. The lesson is the same as one in Matthew 8 when the disciples feared for their lives in the storm. They looked immediately to their earthly circumstance and their inability to save themselves. Now, once again, they are faced with the impossible and their immediate response is to despair over their fleshy situation. In both instances however they failed to realise all that they needed was already with them. Isn’t this so often the case with us too? Oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all be because we do not realise, Jesus is already there!! Go to Him. He is SO MUCH MORE THAN ENOUGH! He is all and in all. He is the Father of abundance and He loves to bless His children to glorify His name!

Matthew 15
34 Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few little fish.”

  • How many loaves do YOU have? Brother, sister, bring the little that you have to Jesus. It’s not enough, but HE IS!! Bring who you are, bring what you have, cast your rod before His feet, as Moses did, and do not underestimate the “exceedingly, abundantly more than you can ask or think” that The Lord will do. You may not see the results but what does that matter as you rejoice exceedingly in trusting your Father and walking in His will!
  • Give it all to Jesus. Yield every part to Him! Oh the precious, wonderful joy of a yielded life! Oh the peace of a childlike trust in The Father. Oh the joy of obeying His Word and Spirit. Oh be faithful in the little that you have, be faithful in the little that you have been called to, for our God is most greatly glorified in the those little, insignificant, foolish things given to Him. Hallelujah!

A Glad Heart Feasts

Proverbs 15
15 All the days of the desponding and afflicted are made evil [by anxious thoughts and forebodings], but he who has a glad heart has a continual feast [regardless of circumstances].

C. Austin Miles
I’m living on the mountain, underneath a cloudless sky,
I’m drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry;
Oh, yes! I’m feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply,
For I am dwelling in Beulah Land.

  • Is my heart glad? Are we sitting at the banqueting table, communing with Our Father in Heaven? Are we feasting on the Spiritual manna from His bountiful supply? Some of these things are easy to sing in church but are we living that reality? Are we daily singing God’s praises and rejoicing in His Salvation regardless of our circumstance?
  • Truly we battle principalities and powers, but most of all we battle our flesh and its constant desire to leave the secret place of the Most High. These past two weeks my situation at work has become very tense and isolating. I have been sitting, writing this during my breaks at work, in a room with three work colleagues who are conspiring against me, looking to find any way to bring me down. This truth has been a beautiful encouragement but also a sharp conviction. In whatever situation I find myself, as a child of God I have access into His presence where I can call upon Him and acquire all that I need to endure. Jesus Christ has given us His gladness. But will I live in it or will I let my flesh determine my actions?
  • The gladness comes before the feast! It is faith that trusts in God’s Word that allows us to enter His banqueting house and allows us to feast at His table of communion. It is by singing praises unto Him that we eat! Paul and Silas had that faith. Despite their circumstance, with beaten and bound bodies, before there was any tremor in the prison walls, their glad hearts were feasting on the goodness of God!

Acts 16
25 But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the [other] prisoners were listening to them,

  • Paul and Silas were freed within a few hours but, of course, God’s people can find themselves bound and beaten down for much longer. Consider Joseph serving as a slave or David constantly running from hiding place to Hiding Place. They, along with others, endured terrible circumstances, but by faith, they feasted on The Lord despite what they were going through!
  • David often writes from a painful and broken disposition, with his heart breaking and a desperate cry for deliverance. Times of sorrow and grief come to us all, we will all be led into the valley of death, in the world Jesus tells us that we WILL suffer tribulation. There is no teaching against sorrow, grief or weeping in God’s word… Jesus has come to tenderly bind up and heal the brokenhearted (Isaiah 61:1) God created us with emotions and we have been designed to feel them. Each of them is designed to lead us to The Lord and, through faith, He has given us the power to discipline, control and overcome them.

2 Corinthians 6
4 But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses,
…
10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

  • The key to such gladness of heart is faith! It is a very simple choice to either believe God’s word or not. Regardless of our circumstance will we choose to sing His praises, just because we love Him? Not just in church but will we praise Him through the day when the enemy is coming in like a flood and all seems to be against us? David recognises this battle between flesh and faith. He recognises that his flesh may sorrow but he determines that his heart will praise!
  • This is the day that The Lord has made! (Psalm 118:24) I choose to believe that! He will never leave me nor forsake me! (Hebrews 13:5) I will believe that! I believe His Word! I believe I am HIS! I believe the battle is HIS! I believe He will protect HIS testimony in Me! I will trust in The Lord and cry out for HIS will to be done and trust that He will fulfil it! Happy are those whose God is The Lord! (Psalm 144:15) I believe that!! Oh Hallelujah! I will believe it!!

Psalm 42
11 Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

  • Sometimes we can feel like Lot, with our souls tortured every day, greatly worn out and distressed; Sorrow and grief may overwhelm us, and sweep the ground from our feet; The enemy make come in like a flood, conspiring, and plotting and it may seem that everything is against us! The Word of God tells us to “weep with those who weep” Romans 12:15 And may we, as God’s body and messengers, be quick to comfort and support the members who need it. I can truly testify and thank The Lord for how His body (loving friends and family) have prayed with and for me and I stand today in the power of Jesus prayers through His body! May we give a shoulder to the weak, strengthen the hands of those who are weary, comfort the sorrowing with tenderness and lead each other to the presence of Jesus where He will minister, for He has come to bind up and heal that broken heart. In Him our hearts can be glad! In Him we can rejoice! In Him we can feast on the bread of life and living water! Whatever our outward circumstance our hearts can be glad in Jesus and feasting on His fullness!

Absolutely Everything!

2 Peter 1
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the [true, intimate] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 For His divine power has bestowed on us absolutely everything related to life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by and to His own glory and excellence.
4 For by these He has bestowed on us His precious and magnificent promises [of inexpressible value], so that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the moral decay and corruption that is in the world through lust.

  • THERE IS NO LACK IN GOD! There is NOTHING lacking in the Life and Spirit of Jesus Christ in a believer! If we find that we are lacking, dry or without His Joy then very simply but very sincerely we need to acknowledge that we’ve been in unbelief! We need to repent, confess and turn again to the promises and testimonies of The Word of God and take by faith the victory and provision given us in the resurrection life of Jesus Christ! Hallelujah!! Praise His precious name!! Sing again His songs of victory and declare HIS Salvation!
  • HE HAS ALREADY GIVEN!! He is not holding back until we are ready! He has ALREADY bestowed on us EVERYTHING that pertains to HIS LIFE and GODLINESS! We already have access to all that we need! Jesus has given us HIS LIFE, HIS VICTORY, HIS ACCESS to The Father, HIS POWER, HIS TESTIMONY!! It is for us to simply have the faith to believe!! Do we live by faith? Do we truly believe that Jesus Christ is all that He says He is… IN US!!
  • WE HAVE NO EXCUSE! The ONLY reason we lack is through our failure to believe! We doubt His provision, we doubt His promises, we forget all that He has done and all that is ours in Him! Have we forgotten to grow in a “true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by and to His own glory and excellence”? We have forgotten to praise and magnify The Lord!

John 16
33 I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have perfect peace and confidence. In the world you will have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

Romans 8
37 Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.

1 Corinthians 15
57 But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory [making us conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 2
14 Now thanks be to God, Who always causes us to triumph in Christ, and by us makes manifest the fragrance of his knowledge in every place.

1 John 5
4 For whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith.

•⁠ ⁠Oh brothers and sisters in Christ, may we be stirred up in our faith! May we arise and leave the place of despondency and self. May we exalt The Lord Jesus and not magnify our problems! Let us rise up in faith believing that Jesus has won every victory, that He has already gone before us, that He is casting out the enemy… Let us be found ever rejoicing and giving thanks in all things, knowing that we are more than conquerors because the battle is already won! Let us fix our eyes on The Giver, not the gifts. Let is offer our sacrifice of praise, for when we offer to Jesus the little praise we have, we will always leave full of Him!!

I Shall Yet Praise Him

Psalm 42
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, my Help and my God.
6 O my God, my life is cast down upon me [and I find the burden more than I can bear]; therefore will I [earnestly] remember You…

  • THE QUESTION: Why?! Why are you cast down? Why are you fretting? What is wrong with you?! Why are you looking at yourself, or the enemy, or the storm? “Consider your ways”, analyse/understand your battle. Answer the question accurately and specifically… Why are you cast down?
  • The question suggests that it is unreasonable to be downcast. Sin is no cause or reason, because we are promised it shall not have dominion over us and, upon repentant confession, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from ALL sin; Satan and his temptations are also no reason to be cast down. God is mightier than the devil! The Spirit of Jesus Christ, who abides in the believer is greater than he that is in the world! Satan can go only as far as God allows. There is no justifiable reason for the believer’s soul to be cast down! We have every reason to look up and wait expectantly in hope!
  • The implied answer is that we are downcast because we have moved our eyes from looking at our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We have taken our eyes off of all that He is, all that He has done and all that He has taught and promised! And we have started to perceive by our own logic and lean on our own understanding. We have magnified the problem/flesh and not The Lord!
  • THE RESPONSE: I shall yet praise Him! I will praise Him anyway!! Despite my circumstance, despite the enemy, no matter the storm, I will yet continue to praise The Lord with a set and determined heart of faith and trust. I will not let the enemy, the world or my flesh take me from abiding in Christ, the secret place of The Most High! I will not heed distraction but cling to The Lord, His promises and His faithfulness.
  • But also, I will yet have a testimony of paise in this situation so don’t be cast down… For praise is coming! Victory is coming! Joy is coming in the morning! A testimony of The Lord’s sustaining grace; providence; provision; goodness and mercy is coming! I will yet praise Him because I know that “surely” I will always look back and see His goodness and mercy following me. His Glory shall be my testimony!
  • I shall YET PRAISE HIM!! I will remember Calvary! I will remember that victory is already won! I will remember that we have been delivered by a Mighty Hand! I will remember that my name is written in Heaven! I will remember His So Great Salvation! I will remember His complete deliverance from Egypt; His promise to never leave me nor forsake me; His loving kindnesses and tender mercies… I will remember my Redeemer, my Saviour, my loving Heavenly Father and that Almighty God lives within me!! And then I will ask myself… Why are you cast down??

Matthew 28
20 “I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.”

  • ⁠If we have the faith to really believe that this is true then how/why are you downcast oh my soul, my brother, my sister? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for we shall yet praise Him, our Help and our God!