Everyone just wants to be happy! That's it! we just want to be happy!
That's all we are searching for that's all we are striving for, a state of joy and peace, just complete contentment. This is why we do everything we do, it's all to reach that state of fulfilment and newsflash! That's exactly what God wants for us aswell
Nehemiah 8:10
"The Joy of the Lord is my Strength"
Note how it doesn't say the strength of the Lord is my joy? Cause that's sort of how we live our lives, we think :
God strengthens us-to endure -in order to be happy
But that's not what the word says
The word says
He gives you His Joy -in order to Strengthen you
It's important to get the order right, His Joy comes first and then you are strong, and it's not just joy it's -The Joy of the Lord
There's teachings that God strengthens and grows us by using hardships, this upsets me cause it's such a misrepresentation of my Father and it's not biblical in so many ways but today we'll discus one:
"The Joy of the Lord is my Strength"
God gives you His Joy in order to strengthen you, so when you are weak, when you need strength He fills you with His Joy! not hard times, He doesn't 'send them' He doesn't 'allow them' in your life He Does Not!!!
God is a good God, not only is He a good God, but He is goodness itself, He is made up of everything good and therefore He operates in goodness, that's why when He created everything it says "and He saw that everything was good" that means He didn't create anything bad everything He created was good, this tells us that Everything bad that we see or experience is not from God
And anyway are we saying that God in all His majesty and greatness can't find a way to teach us without hurting us? Really? So He killed your mom, He broke off your marriage, He made you a joke all in the hopes of making you a better person? That's ruthless and that's not my Father that's not the God I serve He doesn't kill people, He doesn't take lives he receives, protects and flourishes them when we surrender ourselves to him He doesn't break marriages off
Points on how to receive the Joy of the Lord
#1. We need to Know Him
Quick question: if someone came and told you that the one person you trust, love and look up to killed a person, showing you pictures and showing you newspaper articles and all the proof that the person really did this what would you say?
Well I know I would deny that with every breath in me, not having any proof whatsoever to support that she wouldn't have done that, I would still deny it based on the fact that:
'I Know Her!! I know my mom/grandpa/sister wouldn't do that' I just know her man!
That's how God wants you to know Him, thats how deep the relationship He wants to have with you. He wants you to know Him in such a way that when someone says something about Him that isn't true, and they have all the verses to back this up meanwhile you have nothing from the bible but! You Just Know!
You know and you know and you know that the Father you have a relationship with, the God you serve, the Father you've experienced is not like that and He just wouldn't do something like that, and you know that if it weren't for the depth that you've experienced Him, how He's revealed Himself to you then you'd actually be believing the fact but because you've encountered Him you know He wouldn't do something like that and you know that's not how He operates
This knowing
This kind of intimacy you can only have with God if you have His Spirit inside of you, my lil brother said something deep the other time that:
"It doesn't get any more deeper and personal than that"
Like he's literally inside of you, He knows your thoughts, He knows your doubts, He knows your confusions, He knows your concerns, He knows your insecurities, He knows how you think and therefore He knows exactly how to speak to you in a way that only you understand! He knows how to help you deal with your issues
#2. When you know Him you will Trust His promises
Do you agree that everything you want and need God has a promise fulfilling that? Absolutely everything you need and want (You can give this a try if you up for the challenge ask them what they want and find the verses in the bible)
So why don't we have joy in that He is God and will not lie and if He says I have it then I have it? Why don't I trust His promises concerning my life, Faith!
Quick question: If a stranger came to you and promised to love and take care of you, would you believe them?
Probably not, cause I mean you don't know them😞
Well God knows how we operate and He knew we would need to know Him personally in order to wholly trust Him like He wants us to, so He made a way (as always)...
1Corinthians 2: 10-13
"The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you're thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he's thinking, but he lets us in on it."
John 16: 12-15
"I still have many things to tell you, but you can't handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is"
John 15: 26
"...The Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father will testify of me (Jesus)"
The Point I'm making here is that when Jesus left He sent down the Holy Spirit to be our friend, not only is He our Friend but He is here to have an intimate friendship with us
These verses tell us that the Holy Spirit
• Reveals to us the deep things of God's heart
• Leads us to ALL truth there is and
•Testifies of Christ, and teaches us about all Him and the father
Now take note that these are just some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit the Bible says in Romans 5: 3 "we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!"
#3. When you know Him and trust Him you Act likewise!!!
Quick question: Do you believe any of the things I've just said? How does it make you feel?
Well if it makes you feel hopeful about the future, and happy then you just received a gift from God- Faith
Faith in itself is actually a gift, a gift that comes by hearing the word of God when it's preached or revealed to you by the Holy Spirit Romans: 10:17
But Faith requires an action, it's logic, if you believe that you are healed you will get up joyfully and walk, if you believe you are freely blessed you freely give, if you believe that God loves you and "His plans are to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a good future" like he says in His word, you will be happy, you will not worry about anything, you will be content you will receive His Joy, and His Joy will give you strength
You need to make that act of faith it also encourages you personally, it emphasises to you that you really believe, it allows you to exercise your faith and grow it, faith to faith
If you won't walk when He says you are healed then it's your faith that you should question, but the faith we have is the same faith that Jesus had and used to heal the blind and raise the dead, the bible says in Romans 12:3 "God has allocated to each -a measure of faith"
Someone said faith is like a water in a tap, it runs freely on and on but it's at your control, one person could open up the tap to the last point and use up all their faith but another could open the tap just a little, using little faith. That control of our faith is what makes all the difference when taking all that God has freely given us through Jesus
Therefore you need to hear the word somemore, for a start I suggest reading that word that gave you faith the first time and believing the Holy Spirit for revelation and for Him to make that word alive again in you
#4. Total Surrender
Surrender and Humility is something I'll probably forever emphasise forever, because cause honestly that's the point you get to encounter God cause if anything God is touched by a humble heart, a heart that only wants Him, a Heart longing to know Him
Proverbs 22:4 "The payoff for meekness (humbleness) and Fear-of-God
is plenty and honor and a satisfying life"
Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth
Proverbs 23:4 "Do not overwork to be rich, because of your own understanding, cease!"
•Surrendering means that you stop trying, you give up your efforts, you give up your knowledge, you give up your credentials
• Surrender has a corresponding act, letting go
It all begins at coming to the end of yourself, realising that you need His Righteousness -Jesus.
Paul in Phillipians 2 (read it) calls all His efforts of righteosness- all those things that people think are credentials for a right standing with God? He calls it all rubbish "in order to gain Christ and be found in Him not having my own righteousness" you can't gain Christ if you are still self righteosness, you need to surrender your righteosness for His which is Perfect -There's no Striving in His Grace
We need to get to that point, a point of absolute Humility and Surrender, there's nothing your efforts or performance can ever do for you that surpasses what you gain through Jesus' crucifixion
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