Joy

This morning a number of us gathered at the church for a time of prayer and intercession.  What a wonderful time with the Lord.  The Lord revealed  number of things He wanted broken off the church and His people and a number of things He desired to be declared over the church and this region.  He reminded us of past promises that have been spoken over LifeWay and encouraged us to declare them manifest in this hour from this place.  One of the things He has us focus on was His joy.

Ps 16:11

11 You will show me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Neh 8:10

the joy of the Lord is your strength.

As believers our joy surpasses temporal life and enters into the realm of His kingdom and His presence.  Healing, deliverance, reconciliation, and power all emanate from His joy.  Though we may be walking through tough times we can find comfort in the words of James who said:

James 1:2-5

2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

We are all going through the process of being transformed into His image.  All of us will face various trials along the way.  Our joy comes from the understanding that as we experience these trials we know that He is maturing us, perfecting us, polishing us into a clearer image of Himself.  As we move through this process we become less and less like the world and more and more like Him and we begin to realize those things which are important and those things which are not.  As we keep our gaze upon Him He will lead us into all truth and our perception of “reality” will become sharper and sharper.  He is our tower and our strong shield.  In Him we can take comfort and rejoice that He will show us the path of life and that in His presence is fullness of joy.