07/05/2015
One of the most popular
passages in the Bible is
Nehemiah 8:10: "Do not
grieve, for the joy of the Lord
is your strength."
Why is joy important?
Because the "joy of the Lord is
your strength!" Joy produces
strength. And strength is
needed to fight. You are called
to "fight the good fight of
faith" (1 Timothy 6:12). I
sense in my spirit that many people in the body of
Christ are tired of fighting the good fight of faith. They
are struggling to fight because they have lost their joy.
Perhaps you are tired of fighting for your marriage.
You are fed up with your spouse. You think that he
doesn't love you any more, so why fight for his love.
You are ready to throw in the towel.
Maybe you're sick and tired of being sick and tired.
You have been sick for so long that you don't
remember what it's like to be healthy. At one time, you
battled this sickness, but the sickness seems to be
winning. So you think, What's the use, I might as well
accept this sickness and learn to live with it. I'm never
going to get well.
Possibly you once waged war against your financial
debts. But things haven't changed much, and you're
beginning to get discouraged. You think that you are
never going to get out from under all your bills.
You might be having trouble with your children. You
wonder if they are ever going to straighten up. You are
exhausted from their rebellion. Is God ever going to
change them? you wonder.
EVERYONE HAS TROUBLES
I know how you feel. As a pastor, I face many trials
every day. I do my best to be a good pastor. I teach the
word of God, counsel the distraught, visit the sick, etc.
Yet there are always people who are never happy with
my performance. People complain:
"I don't get fed spiritually." "The pastor didn't visit me
in the hospital." "The pastor was not available to
counsel me when I needed him to." "I'm not going to
church because brother X is a hypocrite." "I didn't go to
church because the Dallas Cowboys were playing an
early game." "The people at church are not friendly."
"The church is not open for me to use my gifts."
"Nobody cares about me at church."
After experiencing these and many other trials, I too
want to give up. I lament over my troubles, What's the
use of trying to be a good pastor. They don't appreciate
me. I want to say, "Forget them!" Of course that's my
flesh talking, not my heart.
My heart says, "They don't know what they are doing.
They are simply frustrated themselves. They don't
mean to hurt me. I'm going to rejoice." This is what
you need to do: Rejoice!
REJOICE ALWAYS
Philippians 4:4 says, "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will
say it again: Rejoice!" How often are you to rejoice?
You know the answer, Always! You are to rejoice
always, because "joy" is the easiest fruit to lose. You
can't live off of the joy you had yesterday. Joy can give
you strength only when you possess it.
If you had joy last week, that joy will not give you
strength today. Joy can only give you strength today, if
you have it today. This is why you must rejoice
always .
You might say, "I don't feel like rejoicing." God didn't
say, "Rejoice, only if you feel like it." No! He said,
"Rejoice always." Obviously, God knows that you don't
feel like rejoicing always. Yet you need to rejoice
always because if you don't then you lose the strength
to fight.
James 1:2 says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers,
whenever you face trials of many kinds." Pure joy is
not happiness. "Happiness" comes from the word
"happen." Happiness, therefore, is based on what is
happening. If something good is happening, then you
are happy. However, God says that pure joy occurs
even in the midst of trials--even when the car breaks
down, or when the kids get sick, or when the boss cuts
your hours, or when your spouse is in a bad mood, etc.
Why is James telling us to count it pure joy whenever
we face trials? Because joy gives you strength to fight
your trials, and if you'll fight the trials, you will
overcome. James continues, "Perseverance must finish
its work so that you may be mature and complete, not
lacking anything" (v. 4). You see, James has in mind
"victory over trials", not "acceptance of his trials." So
by rejoicing, you overcome your trials.
YET I WILL REJOICE
I love the verse in Habakkuk 3:17:
"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no
grapes on the vines, though the olive crops fails and
the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep
in the pen and no cattle in the stalls..." (Sounds like
this fellow has problems.) Look at the next verse:
"Yet...Yet...Yet...Yet...Yet."
Notice, he is not going to surrender to his problems. He
is going to do something about his problems.
He says, "Yet I will REJOICE IN THE LORD, I will be
JOYFUL IN GOD MY SAVIOR" (v. 18).
He is going to REJOICE because, "The Sovereign Lord is
my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights" (v. 19).
You see, Habakkuk had no intention of staying
defeated. He may look defeated, but he is not going to
stay defeated. The difference between the person who
is defeated and the person who is victorious is their
attitude.
An attitude of gratitude will put you over in life. This
is the kind of attitude that this prophet had. Even
though nothing good was happening in his life--no fruit,
no crops, no sheep, no cattle--yet he rejoiced.
In our modern world, Habakkuk might have said it this
way:
"Though there is no food in the refrigerator, and there
is no money in the account, though the sickness gets
worse, and the pain persist, though my children are on
drugs, and my spouse does not appreciate me, yet I will
rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior."
Regardless of the circumstances, you can rejoice!
WELLS OF SALVATION
Let's look at one last verse of scripture: "`Surely God is
my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord,
the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become
my salvation.' WITH JOY YOU WILL DRAW WATER
FROM THE WELLS OF SALVATION" (Isaiah 12:2-3).
Did you know that there are "wells" (plural) of
salvation? When you got saved, you inherited many
wells. Each well contains a unique blessing:
One well has a sign on it that reads: HEALING. Another
well says: PROSPERITY. Still another well says: SOUND
MIND. As you look around at all the wells, you notice
another one with a emblem saying: FAMILY
RESTORATION.
The more you look at the wells you inherited, the more
your heart rejoices.
Notice that this scripture says that with joy you will
draw from the wells of salvation. You need muscles--
strength--to draw water from wells. Without strength
you can't draw from the wells. This is why Isaiah says,
"With joy you will draw water from the wells of
salvation." It takes joy to draw from the wells of
healing, prosperity, soundness of mind and family
restoration. Without joy, you can't draw water from
these wonderful wells.
Joy keeps you strong and enables you to draw from the
wells of salvation.
You may be facing sickness. Yet God has provided the
well of "healing." But only through joy can you draw
from this well. So rejoice despite your sickness.
You may be experiencing poverty. But through joy you
can draw from the well named "prosperity."
You may be tormented with fear, worry and
depression. However, you can draw the water called
"sound mind"--through joy!
Don't get down. Don't get discouraged.
The devil may be able to attack you (after all, he is the
god of this age) but he has no power to steal your joy.
Joy is a spiritual force inside your human spirit. Satan
can touch your body, finances and family as the book
of Job teaches, but he can't touch your spirit. Your
spirit is off limits to the devil. And since he can't touch
your spirit, he can't rob you of your joy.
Satan can not steal your joy since it is spiritual. If you
lost your joy it is because you gave it away. However,
if you will keep your joy, Satan has to release your
blessings.