joy – Page 19 – Broken Believers

Joy is Not Optional

“The test of Christian character should be that a man is a joy-bearing agent to the world.” –Henry Ward Beecher

The last several days have been quite difficult. I have lived in a separated state with the Lord and that is not anything that I can long tolerate or endure. I have gone into this period of self-hatred with eyes wide shut and quite ashamed with my own stupidity. I am not a saint, I am a 100% sinner, through and through.

I have come to see Nehemiah‘s ministry was only superficially building up the walls of Jerusalem. Rebuilding the walls was just a pretext to rebuilding a people. They were defeated and overwhelmed. Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength” (Neh. 8:10).

13 Things About What the Bible Says About Joy:

Jesus’ aim in all He taught was the joy of His people (Jn. 15:11).
Joy is what God fills us with when we trust in Christ (Rom. 15:13).
The kingdom of God is joy (Rom. 14:17).
Joy is the fruit of God’s Spirit within us (Gal. 5:22).
Joy is the aim of everything the apostles did and wrote (2 Cor. 1:24).
Becoming a Christian is finding a joy that makes you willing to forsake everything (Mat. 13:44).
Joy is nourished and sustained by the word of God in the Bible (Ps. 19:8).
Joy will overtake all sorrow for those who trust Christ (Ps. 126:5; 30:5)
God Himself is our joy (Psm. 43:4; 16:11). Joy in God outstrips all earthly joy (Ps. 4:7)
If your joy is in God, no one can take your joy from you (Jn. 16:22).
God calls all nations and peoples to join in the joy He offers to all who believe. No racism. No ethnocentrism (Ps. 67:4; Ps. 66:1).
The whole Christian message from beginning to end is good news of great joy (Lk. 2:10; Isa. 51:11).
When we meet Christ at His second coming we will enter into his indestructible joy (Mt. 25:23).

List by John Piper

I believe that joy should mark a person of spiritual health. Joy is to be embedded into our character for all to see. Without joy we no longer can rebuild our walls, and we toss aside our tools. The work of restoration is intense, and unless we take joy in the Lord we will falter and fail.

“God threatens terrible things if we will not be happy.” –Jeremy Taylor

Shield Your Joyous Ones (brokenbelievers.com)
My Favorite Psalm (brokenbelievers.com)
Nehemiah (walkinstep.wordpress.com)

Shield Your Joyous Ones

Watch, O Lord, with those who wake or weep tonight, and give your angels and saints charge over those who slumber.

Tend your sick ones, O Lord Christ,
Rest your weary ones,
Bless your dying ones,
Soothe your suffering ones,
Pity your afflicted ones,
Shield your joyous ones,
And all for your love’s sake. Amen.

St. Augustine of Hippo

Woven into this ancient ‘evening prayer’ is an idea of God matching up our every need with overflowing grace and kindness. There is a pretty strong sense of God watching everyone! And there is also a “tending” sense that He has over all. God matches up to our every need, and His flock can be incredibly needy.

As I read this prayer, I seem to focus on the single phrase, “shield your joyous ones.” To think that this joyful people need protection strikes me as odd. Why do they even need a “shield?” Of all people, don’t they have it together?

As I thought it through, I started to realize that joy is standing in the shadow of warfare. The joyful ones are companions– “buddies” who share the same ‘fox hole’ on enemy lines. Nehemiah told those trying to build the city walls, “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh. 8:10). Joy connects with the desperate need of the moment; it is the muscle of all ministry. And as a result, perhaps more vulnerable.

He didn’t say that the joy of the Lord is our happiness, or cheeriness, or merriment. But rather, it would impart strength, and stiffen ones ability to go to war for our brothers and sisters, our churches and communities. There are certain epoxy resins that will only harden when a special light is used on them. Maybe joy transforms into strength when we step toward our Father.

We need to spiritually protect and cover those who are His “joyous ones.” They can be found sprinkled throughout our churches and ministries. And they need us to shield them. They seem to be quite exceptional, and seemingly invulnerable. But that isn’t the case. We need to pray for them. Joyful people inspire me in the battle. They are the “special forces” in our fellowships.

The Lord is My Strength (justificationbygrace.com)
I Got Yo’ Back! (godlovesteenagers.com)
Strength When You Need It (brookeespinoza.wordpress.com)

Our (Eternal) Compulsion

Strangely compelling. This morning I found waiting for me a series of verses that link with each other. Together they are both irresistible and indispensable. Combined, they form and establish the eternal perspective for the believing Christian. And it is all very real.

Look for what links them. (All verses are from the New Living Translation.).

“Because I am righteous, I will see you.
When I awake, I will see you face to face and be satisfied.”

Psalm 17:15

“Your eyes will see the king in all his splendor,
and you will see a land that stretches into the distance.”

Isaiah 33:17

“Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!”

John 17:24

“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”

1 Corinthians 13:12

“Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.”

1 John 3:2

“And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads.”

Revelation 22:4

Living forever, and being changed irrevocably is the sole privilege of the believer. It’s what we long for– sort of a (good) divine madness that continues to drive us; a splinter in our hearts that we can’t expel. But even if we could, would we?

Eternal life has already started for us; I believe far more awaits.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Yule Time Humor

This is a very eclectic gathering of Christmas humor. These cartoons really shouldn’t offend. But if they do I ask for your forgiveness and forebearance. More then anything else, have a jolly Christmas full of light and faith.