STRENGTH FOR TOUGH TIMES
September 29. Amos ch 9- Jonah 1
THE JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH
[... And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10b ESV
GOOD DAY, where does one find the strength to go through trying times without losing faith in God? Some years back when things were really tough for me, God taught me a lesson in finding and maintaining strength at tough times. The scripture above was brought alive in my heart. The joy of the Lord is my strength. We used to sing it as a chorus. What is joy? How can one find joy at rough and turbulent times when contrary things are happening? Everyone needs this joy of the Lord now except a few people.
Let us look at the meaning of joy.
Rick Warren gave us this definition of joy: “Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright and the determined choice to praise God in every situation. The dictionary defines it as a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.
The true definition of joy goes beyond the limited explanation presented in a dictionary — “a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.” True joy is a limitless, life-defining, transformative reservoir waiting to be tapped into. It requires the utmost surrender and, like love, is a choice to be made.
The year God taught me about joy, He said I needed a total rest and surrender that HE IS and His thoughts towards me are thoughts of good and not of evil. Once I convinced myself that God exists and He has plans to give me the best, that was the first stage to joy. The next stage was to become like a child asking a father for something he knows that the father has. Once he asks the father, he starts enjoying the thing in his mind or imagination. So the secret to have the joy of the Lord that releases strength is to live as though you have possessed what you desire just like a child will do knowing his father will give him whatever he asks of the father. That joy is the strength that will carry you on through the tough times until things ease off. Remember that it is with joy that you also draw from the well of salvation.
“Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”
Isaiah 12:3 KJV
PRAY: Dear Lord, teach me to position myself to enter into Your joy.
Bose Olatunbosun +447399700512; +2348033355584
MAKE YOUR LIFE COUNT FOR SOMETHING FOR SOMEONE TODAY.
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