Enemies of the joy of the Lord

Messages for November 2017: Our Month of Unspeakable Joy

Message for Sunday 26^th November, 2017

Theme: Understanding the Joy of the Lord

Topic: Enemies of the joy of the Lord

Introduction: As we approach the end of this month, the series we are looking at this month would be incomplete if we do not look at the things that can hinder us from walking in unspeakable joy. Therefore today, we shall be rounding off this series by looking at the enemies of the joy of the Lord.

As much as God wants each of us to walk in His unspeakable joy, we must understand that there are some habits that if we do not get rid of would constitute hindrances to our ability to walk in His joy thereby robbing us from the heavenly energy which we so very much need on a daily basis to enable us fulfill our divine purpose. These enemies are itemized below.

Enemies of the joy of the Lord:

1.     Sin: Sin is making choices that dishonor God or standing contrary to the will of God. It is choosing not to walk in the ways of God. [Deu.30:19-20]. It is a situation where one loves darkness rather than light. In fact it is a bitter hatred for the light. The definition of sin is seen in several scriptures: Rom.14:23 declares that anything not done in faith is sin. This makes lack of faith sin.

The refusal to embrace Jesus Christ - the light as Lord and Saviour, is an eternal sin that is punishable by eternal separation from God. See Jn.3:16-19.

The choice of cursing as against the blessing is also known as sin and it results in death. See Deu.30:19

·        Whatever is going to bring and enhance joy in our lives will increase our spiritual strength which will in turn increase our faith. The extent to which a believer enjoys life as God intends is faith limited. Thus the measure of faith you can walk in is commensurate with the measure of joy you can walk in because the life of faith is the one we are called to live because the justified shall live by faith. One of the proofs that you are really living is that you bear spiritual fruit including joy because the reason we are saved is to bear fruit to God among others. See Gal.5:22; Rm.8:29-30; 1:17; 7:4; Gal.3:11; Hab.2:4.

·        How to overcome sin and walk in the joy of the Lord: We learn from God’s word that whatever we ask God for in prayer according to his will, He will hear and answer. So we can ask God in prayer to help us hate sin just like He hates it and love what He loves and according to Matthew 7:7 and 1Jn.5:14, He will answer us and in fulfillment of Heb.4:16, He will give us His mercy and grace. They will strengthen us to turn from the sins and live for God as he promised to help us do in Philippians 2:12-13. With this we can really live a joyful life unhindered. See also Heb.1:8-9 – when you love righteousness and hate iniquity, God will anoint you with the oil of gladness above your peers. The result is that you will walk in so much insight that you will be separated from the pack. The more insight you walk in, the more of the joy of the Lord that flows into and through you.  

2.     Judging God as too slow: There are hardly any promises God makes to us in our relationship with Him that He sets a time to at the beginning. We are first expected to walk in faith and our patience would have to be tested in the process to enable us build godly character in our destiny’s journey [Jas.1:2-4; 1Pet.1:4-9]. The bible is replete with examples of this truth. Some of them include Abraham’s relationship with God, Joseph’s relationship with God, our relationship with God with regards to the return of the Lord and so on. When we understand this, we do not set time for God, we just simply submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit every step of the way until we come to stand in the fulfillment of His promise. Thus knowing and walking in the ways of God is the principal factor for seeing His word come to pass in our lives without our getting distracted. See Rm.8:14, 16 and Gal.5:16.

·        One of the methods of the enemy of our souls is to try to distract us from keeping our focus on God through physical circumstances and comparing ourselves with others whether to make us look good or bad. In any way, this is contrary to faith and carry devastating consequences. See Mt.4:8-11 and 2Tim.4:10-11.

·        Apostle Paul tells us that when we compare ourselves with ourselves we are not wise. See 2Cor.10:12. The result is loss of the right values and gradual distance from God that if not checked in time could cost the fulfilment of our glorious destiny. This kind of life style breeds depression, envy, jealousy and an inaccurate measurement of our actual progress in life. The reason is that we are supposed to measure our progress by how much of divine plan for us that we have actualized and not the plan of God to others. This is not where any right thinking person wants to be because all these vices are recipes for reduction of joy that if not stopped would result in a total loss of joy. If this happens, the person would fall into depression and that can result in different kinds of infirmities. See Prov.15:13; 15:15; 17:22. The enemy knows that the way he can break your spirit is to bring you to a state of depression but if you refuse him, he cannot get you down and you will maintain your joy which protects your spirit from being broken. See Jas.4:6-10 and 1Pet.5:6-11.

·        To overcome this vice, understand the nature of God: He is faithful, compassionate, loving and so kind as to ensure that the right things come into our lives when we have built enough capacity to manage them so that His blessing in our lives do not become curses. If we do, then we would submit ourselves to His perfect will and guidance every day of our lives. He will surely take us to the right place at the right time proving all His promises to us to be true as at when due. See Isa.55:8-12; Ex.34:6-7; Deu.7:9; 1Chron.16:15 and Ps.105:8,

·        Understand that God is always on time and never too slow: In fact His word tells us in Heb.4:12 that He is quick and powerful and goes on to make us see that He goes into details in bringing us to our divine inheritance.

3.     Ingratitude resulting in murmuring and complaining: Each time you find yourself murmuring and complaining, at the back of it is ingratitude. The reason is that this attitude is a result among other things of not appreciating the general blessing of the Lord like the miracle of being alive, being able to sleep and wake up and all the many things you have that money cannot buy. This is the love of this world that can only bring sorrow upon sorrow and therefore loss of joy all the time. See 1Jn.1:15-17 and 1Tim.6:10-11. The love for this world is such a wicked enemy that tend to take our eyes from all these blessings of God and distract us from His purpose and this is not a healthy way to live. If we live this way, we can provoke the Lord to anger and this could rob us of fulfilling our destinies. See the example of the children of Israel being denied of the promised land for this purpose in 1Cor.10:10-11 and Num.14:26-35

To overcome this: we need to:

Meditate on God’s word day and night and keep our minds on the many good things God is doing around us and believe and expect that God who has done these that we can see will do all that He has said He would do because He does not change and cannot lie. See Ps.103:1-5; 1Tim.4:13-16. 

Follow after righteousness, godliness and faith: see 1Tim.6:11-12 and Rm.14:17-19. The result of living this way is walking in faith which increases our spiritual joy level and therefore strength to always overcome in the conflicts of life.

4.     Fear: Fear is meditating on satanic information which always conflicts with the word of God. It is a spirit that cripples destiny. No one can accommodate fear and faith at the same time because both of them have conflicting sources of information. Whereas faith is based on information received from God resulting in boldness and joy, fear is based on information received from Satan resulting in cowardice and defeat. Satan’s information are usually false and even when they appear true, are used in the wrong context. The intent is to steal, kill and destroy your joy. See Jn.10:10 and 27.

How to overcome fear:

Understand that fear is an evil spirit; don’t let it stay in your soul. We are expected to cast out devils so you cast it out of your mind and environment. See Mk.16:17 and 2Tim.1:7.

Fear has torment and whatever has torment will rob you of your joy. 1Jn.4:18 and Mt.25:24-30.

Walk in love. This would mean living a life of obedience and the love walk is the only commandment we are given by God. The best of us would only manifest as we walk in love and when love is advanced, it has the power to cast out fear and when this happens, we would be joyful always. Jn.13:34-35 and Jn.15:12-13.

Further, when we are obedient, we always enjoy answers to prayer which means joy all the time because God answers our prayers so that we can be joyful.  Jn.13:34-35; 16:23-24.

Faith can only work by love so when we walk in love, our faith will work and this would always eliminate fear from our lives. See Gal.5:6 and 1Cor.13:13

We shall draw the curtain for today’s message here for want of time and space. However, for the reader of this blog who sincerely desires to walk in the joy of the Lord unhindered, I believe this would be a good starting point to begin your research if you are yet to start doing so or you are still struggling with it. But if you are not born again yet, you can do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you will receive eternal life which carries the seed of the joy of the Lord with it then you can begin the journey of cultivating it:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter @alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.