Are you happy or down and out? Do you find yourself without motivation at times? Does happiness seem to be a rare occurrence in your life? If you answered yes to these questions then you need the Joy of the Lord in your life. Christians should be the happiest people there is on the face of the Earth.

You might say Bro. Meherg we are living in troubled times. Uncertainty in government, leaders, economy, and the threat of terrorism hangs over our head, not to mention the price of gasoline. How can someone be happy with these factors occurring in life each day? I give you one name where our joy comes from, Jesus. In Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse 10 the Bible says, “ Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is our strength.” Notice the last part of the verse, the joy of the Lord is our strength.

If we have no joy, we have no spiritual strength. Strength to stand against the tactics and temptation of Satan. Joy is not overrated in your life. The fact is that joy is underrated in most believers’ lives. If you don’t have joy then there is nothing you can give anyone else. Don’t share what your relationship with God to someone, that is not a Christian, without joy in your life. With no joy, you don’t have a testimony that will make an impact on others.

There is one common factor in everyone life that has fell out of Church and the grown cold in their relationship with God. They first lost their joy. Everyone that I have seen backslide out of a relationship with God seemed to have lost his or her joy first in their lives. Then they seem to drift away from God spiritually. See its no secret, Satan knows that if you lose your joy then you lose your strength.

Well Bro. Meherg does joy come automatically in my life? Do I just sit there and wait for joy to come upon me? No, there are things that we have to do. In Isaiah 12:3 the Bible says, Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the sells of salvation. Giving our heart to Jesus gives us a bucket we can lower into the well of salvation. We have to draw the joy out of the well. We do so by attending Church, reading the Bible, praying, praising God, and obeying the will of God in our lives. One of the best ways to get joy out of the well of salvation for me is to go about the day singing a song, both hymning and in my heart. Psalms 27:6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therfore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.

The problem with a large majority of people today is that they are substituting joy in their life for pleasure. Pleasure is a poor substitute for joy. Pleasure can fool someone into thinking they have obtained joy. Many people are addicted to drugs and alcohol trying to find joy. They only obtain a small amount of pleasure for a short duration of time that brings them crashing down to reality. The Bible in the book of Hebrews says that there is pleasure in sin for a season. Sinful pleasures require more of the sin the next time to obtain pleasure. That is why people get addicted and their lives devastated with the seeking of pleasure.

A Christian life grounded in salvation brings joy, even in the hard times of life. Peter said in 1st Peter 1:8, “that ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” How better to describe a born again experience than being joy unspeakable and full of glory. That is God’s plan for your life. The joy of the Lord gives us the strength to go on each and every day. No matter if we are sick, hard times, death of a love one, tempted, or whatever may occur in our lives, the joy of the Lord is there giving us the strength and the smile to push on. My friends let the joy of the Lord be your strength today and every day of your life.

May God Richly Bless You,
Bro. Meherg
hmeherg@radiantlifeassembly.com

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