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.

Benefits of the joy of the Lord when activated

Messages for November 2017: Our Month of Unspeakable Joy

Message for Sunday 19^th November, 2017

Theme: Understanding the Joy of the Lord

Topic: Benefits of the joy of the Lord when activated

Introduction: Last week we saw that the joy of The Lord is located in our hearts which is the reason it is not subjected to our external circumstances. We learnt also that when we got saved, we received the joy of the Lord in seed form and we are expected to cultivate it. When we cultivate it, it would grow to maturity so much that it becomes impartible to others just by their being around us or hearing us.  We also got to know that joy is a choice we make and that it is not really feeling generated but choice determined. In this case, we have to choose to be joyful no matter what the circumstances around us tell us.

When we offer our praise and gratitude to God, it is a spiritual law that it has to be done with a joyful heart to be accepted by God because God loves a cheerful giver. When we praise the Lord in spite of negative circumstances around us, it is called a sacrifice of praise. This is one very sure way of reaping the harvest of souls we have been called to reap. We are told that those who go to God bearing precious seed shall doubtless return with rejoicing. All these principles point to us some ways we can condition our hearts to become joyful which is why we are looking today at this great truth: Benefits of the joy of the Lord when activated. Sometimes, joy has to be activated because like other graces of God, it is contended against by the adversary thus we must contend for it as it is in the package of our faith and the word of God tells us to contend for the faith! See Jn.15:11; Hab.3:17-18; Joel 1:12; Neh.8:10; Rm.4:17 and Isa.30:29.    

Why activate the Joy of the Lord?  As we have seen above, Joy was deposited in our hearts in seed form when we got born again. We were born into God’s family spiritually by the Holy Spirit. From that day, we started a journey in time to grow into the fullness of the stature of God in Christ Jesus [Eph.4:11-15]. To be able to enjoy the fullness of the joy of the Lord, we must cultivate it. The process of cultivating it is the same as the process that brings spiritual growth that takes us from being baby Christians to mature ones who become ripe enough to be able to bear the fruit of the spirit of God. The fruit of the spirit is the character trait of the believer manifested in the quality summarized as love in Galatians 5:22 and 1Cor.13:4-8. The commandment to love is the out showing of God working in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure after we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. It is not a grievous command to keep but one that God himself implements through us as we submit to him in every area of our lives. See 1Jn.5:1-5; Philippians 2:12-13 and Rm.7:4-5.

How to activate the joy of the Lord: Activating the joy of the Lord is as we’ve been seeing in the word of the Lord. I delight to keep repeating this truth until everyone gets it. It takes some people longer than others to receive the word of the Lord. Meanwhile we must all be carried along so we shall keep at it until all of us get it together within the confines of time allocated by the Holy Spirit. Therefore the following steps are required to activate the joy of the Lord in us to the overflow:

1.     Pray always to enable you cultivate an intimate relationship with God: Prayer is the means by which we converse with God. When you spend time conversing with someone, you tend to become more closely involved with the person through the exchange. In this case, you exchange your weakness for the strength of God so that you take on His strength and begin to live like He wants you to.  In Isa.40:29-31, we learn that God gives power to the faint and increases strength to them who have none. That those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. The word translated renew here is another word used for exchange. So prayer is the place where we give up our weakness for God to give us His strength. See Heb.4:16; 1Thess.5:17 and Ps.121:1-8. Besides these prayer does many other things for us. It is through prayer we abide in Christ and dwell in the secret place of the Most High God. When we live like this, we are rewarded with the blessings of that Psalm. Also, we abide in Christ through prayer and other keys of the kingdom of God. When we abide in Him and He abides in us, we shall ask what we will and it will be done unto us. There is none of us who does not desire joy. So when we abide in the Lord through prayer, we would walk in His joy because His joy will flow freely into us and enable us to be and do all we have been called to be and do. See Jn.15:7. Finally, answers to prayer makes you joyful. See Jn.16:24.

2.     Read the word of God daily to feed your spirit so that you can grow spiritually: For instance you cannot depend on the physical food you took a week ago to take you through this week; it cannot supply enough strength to do that. In the same way, you need to feed on the word daily to receive spiritual strength to grow and live the life of God on earth. We are told in 1Pet.2:2 to desire the sincere milk of the word of God that we may grow thereby. When you grow spiritually your joy level increases so that you can have more spiritual energy to become and do all you were born again to be and do. Your spiritual development and growth would be commensurate with the level of the joy of the Lord you will walk in and be able to release. The more you grow spiritually, the more joy you can walk in and the more of the strength of God you can take advantage of. See Neh.8:10; 2Pet.3:18.

3.     Meditate on the word of God day and night to empower you to do it. Jos.1:8; Ps.1:1-3 and 1Tim.4:13-16.

4.     Do the word of God so much that your light will shine before all and they would respond to it by glorifying our heavenly father. See Mt.5:13-16 and Jas.1:22-25.

5.     Maintain the status of humility to enable you sustain divine presence and increase in this grace of God. When you maintain divine presence, then you will be joyful every day because when you are in God’s presence always, you will always hear His voice and one of the proofs that it is his voice you are hearing is that you will be overflowing with joy because in His presence there is fullness of joy. See Ps.16:11 and Jn.15:11.

Benefits of the Joy of the Lord:

The question that may be coming to our hearts as we look at this study of joy knowing how many of us have taken a lot of these things for granted, is why are we making so much of this great grace called the joy of the Lord? My answer is simple; the following are the benefits we stand to gain if we walk in the joy of the Lord:

1.     Joy confirms that God spoke to us: In Jn.15:11, we learn from the Lord that when He speaks to us, it causes His joy to remain in us and our joy is made full so that we will rejoice to the overflow and be able to accomplish any God ordained task assigned to us with excellence. This was the secret source of power Joseph had in the house of Potiphar and it helped him to maintain his godly standard even in spite of the temptations of the devil to dishonor his body. See Gen.39:7-14. When God speaks to us, our lives fulfill the prophecy in Isa.55:12-13 which is the mood God wants us to experience in this month of unspeakable joy!

2.     Joy releases the energy of heaven into our souls and empowers us to live and walk in the ways of God. The energy of heaven is the glory of God; it is the substance that empowers us when the Holy Spirit comes upon us and enables us to become witnesses unto the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the substance that turned the cowardly Peter into the great Apostle he became and began to walk in God’s power so much that many turned to the Lord when he preached. See Acts 1:8; 2:14, 41; 5:12-16 and 6:4 and 7. Another name for this substance is The Anointing! In 1Jn.2:27, He is referred to as the anointing we have received of Him. The anointing abiding in us provides the joy of the Lord which enables us to live for Him. There are three ways the anointing operates with us: there is the anointing with us [Jn.14:25], the anointing within us [1Jn.2:27] and the anointing upon us [Acts 1:8].  The anointing within us is the one responsible for generating the joy of the Lord we display for His glory. When He teaches us or speaks to us, we receive insight which results in our unspeakable joy which is the energy of heaven. See Jn.15:11; 1Cor.2:13-14 and Eph.5:17-21.

3.     Joy in the believer provides the strength of the Lord to live on earth so that the grace of God can be manifested in our lives. Grace is divine favour and ability to do what we cannot naturally do. The energy that makes this happen for us is the joy of the Lord. See Col.1:9-11; 1Cor.15:9-10 and 2Cor 8:2. When joy is cultivated, it enhances the production of the fruit of the spirit which includes joy that enables the believer to shine as a light on the earth and bring glory to God. See Mt.5:13-16 and Eph.3:10.

4.     Joy eradicates depression of any kind: Wherever there is depression, evil spirits thrive. The Joy of the Lord is the reason why unclean spirits cannot stand before the Holy Spirit. The joy of the Lord is the energy of the Spirit that incapacitates every enemy of our joy bringing them on their knees before our God and granting us our desired breakthrough. This is why in some places in the scriptures we see where unclean spirits screamed and came out or many people as they came face to face with the Lord and acknowledged His personality as the Son of God [Mt.8:28-29 and Lk.4:40-41]. Please note that in many of these instances, Jesus did not encourage the unclean spirits to speak so as not to draw attention to himself. We are to follow this example to not seek the spectacular but the supernatural intervention of God for the benefit of all. See 1Cor.12:7. The spectacular draws people’s attention to us instead of God whereas the supernatural is God’s way of getting spiritual things done through us. See Phlp.2:13.

5.     The joy of the Lord eliminates fear and causes our faith to work: One of the fruit of the spirit and also the proof of existence of the love of God in a person is the joy of the Lord. Gal.5:22 and 1Thess.5:16. Joy is faith expressed and faith is required to receive anything including joy from God because that is heaven’s protocol. See Heb.11:6; Hab.2:4; Heb.10:38; Rm.1:17 and Gal.3:11.  

6.     The joy of the Lord protects us and the works of our hands from withering: In the book of Joel 1:12, we are told that everything around the town was withering because joy had withered from the people. Whatever we do to increase spiritually is an investment that would ultimately reflect on our spiritual development. When we develop spiritually, it reflects in the level of joy we can walk in.

As we come to the end of this topic, I want to once again challenge anyone reading this blog that is yet to make a decision for to do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you will be born again by the Holy Spirit:

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 at 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.

The Location of Joy in our Lives and how to cultivate it

Messages for November 2017: Our Month of Unspeakable Joy

Message for Sunday 12^th November, 2017

Theme: Understanding the Joy of the Lord

Topic: The Location of Joy in our Lives and how to cultivate it

Introduction: Last week we began to look at the foundation of unspeakable joy and we have so far established that joy unlike happiness is a spiritual substance that has its root in the spirit realm. We saw that it is also a fruit of the recreated human spirit and therefore has to be cultivated.

Today, we shall be looking at the residence of joy in our lives and seeing how to cultivate it and nurture it to perfection such that it can grow to becoming such a huge grace of God within us that we can walk freely in. this status in the eternal life package is what we refer to as abundant grace. When we are engraced abundantly in any area of life, we can impart the same to others who are weaker than us in that area. So where can this grace be found in our lives?

Joy is a fruit of the recreated human spirit: Just like natural fruits are a bye product of cultivated plants, so are the fruit of the new creation man. They are a bye product of a cultivated spiritual man. When we are born again, we are born babies into the kingdom of God with a potential to bear the fruit of the spirit which includes joy. Like any other thing done in God’s kingdom answers to faith so does joy. We cannot rejoice in the Lord without faith. This is why joy is found where faith is found. It is found in the heart. The word translated heart in the bible is used interchangeably to mean the spirit or the soul or both. So sometimes, the spirit which is the real man is said to accommodate the soul. At other times the soul which makes up the mind, will and emotions is said to release joy. Both are correct to the extent that the spirit is the source of joy while the soul is the expresser of joy. So both have a role to play. See Ps.13:5; 16:9 and Ps.28:7.

Unspeakable joy is found in the heart of the believer in Christ: Joy like faith is located in the heart. The bible tells us that with the heart man believes unto righteousness – Rm.10:10 and also Jesus said the faith that would work is one believed with the heart – Mk.11:23. In the same vein, joy which is also a fruit of the recreated human spirit is located in the heart of a new creation man. For this reason, it does not depend on the mundane to be nurtured and fulfilled. It is unlike happiness which depends on external circumstances to be triggered and sustained. A good example of the location of joy is found in the description of Hannah’s prayer in 1Sam.2:1. Hannah said here that her heart rejoices in the Lord. So it was with her heart she rejoiced. Also, in 1Chron.16:10, we read: “… let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.” See also, Prv.23:15; Isa.66:14; Jn.16:22 and Acts 2:26.

How to cultivate the Joy of the Lord: Since the joy of the Lord is a fruit of the recreate human spirit which is deposited in us in seed form at the new birth as part of our redemption package, it must be nurtured so that it can grow and become a plant in us so as to multiply. The process of nurturing is what we call cultivation. This is why we must cultivate it. To cultivate the fruit of the spirit therefore, we can observe the following principles:

1.     Spiritual growth: Just like babies have to be fed milk to grow, everyone who gets saved must desire the milk of the word to grow. The growth process leads to maturity that brings the believer to a place where fruit bearing leaves the realm of being merely a potential to becoming a reality in our lives. See 1Pet.2:2; Gal.4:1;  

2.     Walk in the spirit: To walk in the spirit is to make choices based on the revelation of the Holy Spirit from the word of God. When we do this, we are making godly choices and these choices honor God and draws us closer to God who in turn draws nearer to us. The result is that we bear much fruit to the glory of God because we would not fulfill the desires of the flesh which have a tendency of drawing us back in the race of destiny. See Gal.5:16-17; Jas.4:7-8; 1Cor.2:12-14 and Deu.30:19.

3.     Sit at the master’s feet and hear Him: A graphic picture of this truth is painted to us by two sisters in the word of God in Lk.10:38-42 when one of them was too busy serving to listen to the word of God while the other sat at the Lord’s feet hearing him and receiving instruction. In that account, the Lord said of both of them – Martha and Mary that Martha who complained of her sister’s decision to sit at the Master’s feet to learn was told that the sister’s choice to sit and learn was a better one. He said that which she was learning cannot be taken from her. Meanwhile her activities in serving can be taken from her and what would she have to fall back on if that is done? This incident teaches us that while it is good to serve in the house of God we must not neglect the time we should sit at the master’s feet and learn. What we gain therefrom is priceless. The persecutors of John the Apostle shut him up in a lone island thinking to isolate him and break his will when they could not kill him. This brought him closer to God and he was able to receive the revelation from God now part of the cannon of scriptures. Apostle Paul was incarcerated for so long that two third of what we now have as the New Testament came out of the letters he wrote to the Churches was instrumental in planting. There is value in separating time to be alone with the Lord! Anytime we hear from the Lord, joy is released into our hearts and we become joyful. The more we hear Him, the more joyful we become and when this is consistent enough, being joyful becomes a habit with us to the point where depression would be completely eliminated from our lives. At this point one could be said to be growing in the grace of God which encapsulates the total package of the fruit of the spirit which includes joy. See Gal.5:22; 2Pet.3:18 and Philippians 4:4.

4.     Keep the right company: It is often said that a person is known by the company they keep. This is so true that we are enjoined by Apostle Paul not to be deceived that evil communication corrupts good manners. To be wise we must keep wise company. All a person needs to be destroyed is to keep the wrong company. See 1Cor.15:33; Prov.13:20. When you keep company with people who are joyful and investing in cultivating the joy of the Lord, you will be joyful and enjoy heavenly energy all the time because joy is the energy of heaven. See Ps.1:1-3 and the graphic picture painted by the relationship between Amnon David’s first son and his cousin Jonadab described as a subtle man through whose counsel he lost his place in destiny and had his life cut short. He counseled Amnon to seek pleasure through rape and he took his counsel and lost his life untimely to the vengeance of his brother Absalom. This story was one very sorrowful one in the bible proving that evil communication corrupts good manners indeed. 2Sam.13:1-35. In this case we see how wrong company can create sorrow instead of joy.   

5.     Pray in the spirit always: when we pray in the spirit often, several good things happen that reflects positively on a joyful life for us. First, we edify ourselves, second, we edify God third, we build up our most holy faith and we pray the perfect will of God by the help of the Holy Spirit. The result of this is that we increase the level of unspeakable joy we can walk in which is a great help for the race we are called to run because this habit promotes spirituality. See Jude 1:20; Rm.8:26; 1Cor.14:2, 4, 14, and 28.

6.     Win the lost to Christ: When you win the lost to Christ, it brings joy and satisfaction to the Lord and as He rejoices, He will also cause you to rejoice. If you make a habit of bringing joy to the Lord in this way, you will be increasing in joy to the point of overflow. See Jn.15:1-5, 8 and 18;  Lk.15:7 & 10 and Lk.10:1, 17,

7.     Choose to be joyful: Whether or not you are joyful is choice determined. Joy is a fruit of the spirit and therefore comes from the spirit and is not based on physical circumstances to happen. Just like any destiny action you take requires the involvement of your choice, so does rejoicing. You can choose to rejoice and you can choose not to. If you choose to, you will reap the rewards but if you choose not to, you would also have to bear the consequences and believe me, they are not good. In several places in scripture, we see the Psalmist either choosing to rejoice or commanding his soul to do so. See Deu.30:19; Ps.103:1; 9:2; 63:7 Hab.3:18.

8.     Attend Church services especially to praise the Lord: when you attend Church services, you bring yourself into God’s presence and in the presence of the Lord, there is fullness of joy and His right hand brings us pleasures forever. So abiding in God’s presence is maintaining an environment where joy can be cultivated to the overflow. See Ps.16:11; Acts 2:46; Ps.133 and Heb.10:25.

9.     Sing to the Lord: Apostle Paul gave this candid counsel to the Church in his letter to the Church at Ephesus in Eph.5:17-20. The reason for this is that singing to the Lord is very strategic in the use of our mighty weapons in the conflict of life. Joy is the energy of the spirit and anyone with it will have enough energy to prevail in the conflicts of life. God resides in our praises. As we sing to Him, we authorize him to take over all our battles and when God takes over our joy will know no boundaries and victory will be guaranteed. See Ps.22:3; 2Chron.20:21-25 and Ps.149.

As we come to the conclusion of today’s message, let us not forget that while we are talking about the joy of the Lord today, these principles are timeless and all beneficial. These same principles can be used to cultivate all aspects of the fruit of the spirit at the same time, but since we are not looking at that today, I will not be able to talk about all the scriptures for each of the manifestations of the fruit of the spirit.

Meanwhile someone is reading this today who is yet to make a decision for the Lord. This is your opportunity to make the most of your life as access to real joy is by the new birth experience. If you want to take advantage of this privilege today, you can do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you will be born again:

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 at 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.

The foundation of the Joy of the Lord

Messages for November 2017: Our Month of Unspeakable Joy

Message for Sunday 5^th November, 2017

Theme: Understanding the Joy of the Lord

Topic: The foundation of the Joy of the Lord

Introduction: Once again I welcome you to the month of unspeakable joy. As we begin this great month, I am led to look at this very special theme: “Understanding the Joy of the Lord”.  Sometime ago, while looking at the subject of the joy of the Lord, my studies showed me that; joy unlike happiness, is a spiritual substance. As a spiritual substance, if well nurtured, it becomes such a strong force that it provides the energy required for bringing faith to pass always.

Today, we shall be looking at the foundation of the joy of the Lord with the intent of finding out how we come about joy and why it is such a force that both heaven and hell reckon with it. See John 15:11; Gal.5:22 and 1Cor.13:6b.

Access to the Joy of the Lord:  Our access to the Joy of the Lord is a new life. The reason for this is that man of himself cannot have real joy and enduring happiness because of sin. Man became a sinner by nature when Adam disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden in eating the forbidden fruit. Since then, man became lost and the only solution to his problem was to be the sacrifice of a sinless man. However, all had sinned and fallen short of this demand of sinlessness; so God had to become man in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He lived on earth for thirty three and a half years pleasing God always and paid the price of our redemption with his own blood on the Cross of Calvary. Please understand that without the shedding of blood; there could have been no remission of sin for man. See Heb.9:23; Lev.17:11. The blood is the means by which we can make atonement for our souls on God’s altar and we had no access to the right blood for man so God in His infinite mercy offered His blood which is why we can be saved from the consequence of Adam’s sin today. The reason was that man was made in God’s image and after His likeness. Thus access to joy is the new birth. When we receive Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord, the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and makes us New Creations so that our old life is passed away and replaced by the new life. This new life has the nature of God contrary to the old life which had the nature of Satan due to man’s sin. See 2Cor.5:17.

Redemption is a total package which includes the ability to bear the fruit of the spirit which is love and includes joy. Redemption is therefore the source of joy. When we are saved joy is sown in us as a seed in the new creation package. We are expected to nurture it to maturity so that we can walk in the joy of the Lord always. See Rm.7:4; Gal.5:16-17 and 22.    

Joy is a spiritual substance: A substance is that which underlies all outward manifestations. It is the abiding part of any existence. It is that which constitutes anything that is real. In other words, the substance of joy is spiritual. Therefore, you cannot talk about joy in relation to carnal things; it is a product of spiritual materials that can only come from God. This is why the Lord said he spoke some words to the disciples so that his joy might remain in them and that their joy might be full. See John 15:11 and 16:23-24. Joy emanates from God so that whenever we experience it without an explainable reason, we are merely reflecting heaven on earth. For instance, the word teaches us that there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents. This is the reason why anytime we win a sinner to Christ, we always experience joy from deep down in our hearts. The joy we experience is an offshoot of the joy of the Lord in heaven as He rejoices over a repentant sinner. See Lk.15:7, 10.

Joy is a spiritual fruit: The word of God teaches us that we are born again that we may bear fruit unto God [Rm.7:4]. God’s will is that we bear much fruit and that our fruit should abide [Jn.15:8; 16]. A list is given to us in the book of Galatians of the fruit of the spirit. When we nurture our new creation life in the manner prescribed by God, [have a strong desire for and read the word, meditate on it and do it] then we grow spiritually to the point of bearing spiritual fruit one of which is joy. The benefits of getting joy this way cannot be over flogged because joy so received grows to the point where it becomes impartible by the beneficiary to others who are not as strong in that grace as he or she. A person like this can be instrumental in the hand of God in communicating the oil of joy to others and they can be instrumental in ridding people of depression in their lives and that of others. See Isa.61:3; Gal.5:22; 1Pet.2:2; 1Tim.4:13-15; Jos.1:8; Ps.1:1-3 and Jas.1:22-25.  

Joy is a spiritual force: A force is something that has the capacity of exerting an influence or producing an effect. It is also defined as an unusual degree of energy or strength. As a spiritual force, joy has the ability to produce the following effects:

1.     It is a catalyst for harvest: When there is no joy in the hearts of men, the harvest is not possible - Joel 1:12; Hab.3:17-19.

2.     It is the spiritual force for receiving the blessing: For instance, it is only the offering given joyfully that has the guarantee of a harvest. See 2Cor.9:6-7; Joel 2:23-26.  

3.     It is a catalyst for accessing the presence of God:  The presence of the Lord cannot be accessed with a mourning heart. Without gratitude for instance, we cannot gain God’s attention in prayer. It is the password to gain access into God’s presence and gratitude is impossible without the joy of the Lord in the heart irrespective of a person’s circumstance. See Ps.100:1-2, 4 and Lk.10:21.  

How we get Joy: Since joy has its origin in the Spirit of God, one cannot expect to give an accurate answer to this question without getting it from the manual of God for mankind and his environment because we are discussing joy here in relation to man. To break it down to little bits, we can receive joy in the following ways:

1.     Through getting saved and nurturing our salvation by reading, meditating on and doing God’s word. Jn.3:3-7; Jas.1:22 and 1Tim.4:13-16.

2.     Praying without ceasing especially praying in the Holy Spirit. 1Thess.5:16-17; Jude 1:20-24

3.     Speaking the word of God.  We learn from the word that you possess what you say. Therefore, what we fill our thoughts with, begin to form the utterance of our mouths and it is only a question of time before our lives begin to conform to same. The word of God has exceeding great and precious promises for us by which we become partakers of divine nature which nature includes the joy of the Lord and the means for activating these promises is saying them in faith. See Mk.11:23; Rm.10:9-10 and   

4.     Meditating on the goodness of God. People become what they think as we are told in Prov.23:7. Therefore when your meditation is on the goodness of God, it is automatic that you are joyful. See

5.     Seeing life from God’s perspective. This happens a lot when God speaks to us by any means He chooses. His voice comes to us and adjusts our perspective to view things His way and the result is the release of His joy in our hearts. See Jn.15:11 and Acts 2:25

6.     Hearing the voice of God. One of the proofs that the voice we hear is God’s voice is that it has the capacity to release joy into our hearts.  see Jn.15:11; Ps.16:11 and Lk.24:46-53

We shall draw the curtain here for today for want of time and space. We shall continue to look at this message next week by looking at location of the joy of the Lord in our lives and how to cultivate it. Meanwhile someone may be reading this blog who has been experiencing constant sorrows because you are not yet save or if you are you are not yet free in certain areas you are ignorant of. You can choose to make a fresh start with God today by enlisting into the family of God. if you want to do so, you can right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you will be born again:  

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 at 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.

Welcome to the month of November 2017: Our of Unspeakable Joy!!!

Welcome to the month of November 2017: Our Month of Unspeakable Joy!!!

“For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 

Instead of the thorn shall come up the fire tree, and instead of the brier tree shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. ” Isa.55:12-13

“Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:” 1Pet.1:8

Precious Family, I welcome you to the month of November 2017 which God has graciously tagged for us our month of unspeakable joy. As I searched the scriptures to receive understanding of what this month holds for us, my heart was so overwhelmed with gratitude to God for such a precious gift as this month. For me, every change in time is a gift from God providing us another opportunity to fulfill our destiny in grand style. So many people had planned for this month without receiving the opportunity to see their plans actualized. God has graciously shown us that he does not just want us to experience a new month but to experience it in fulfilment.

From our text above, we see the prophetic word issued by God through the prophet Isaiah showing us exactly how this month is going to be for us. God’s heart for us this month is that we shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace and that the mountain and the hills will break forth before us into singing and the trees of the field will clap their hands. In my opinion, no clearer picture can be painted of the mood God wants us to experience throughout this month.  This speaks of a month of high energy; the instrument for getting things done in the kingdom of God.

We all know that vision is as good as a day dream if it is not pursued. It is the pursuit of vision that brings about its actualization. This makes joy an indispensable asset in the journey of life. This is the reason why we shall be studying to gain understanding this month of this great asset meant for realizing our divine abilities.

This month therefore we shall be looking at a series I title: “Understanding the Joy of the Lord”. Sincerely, the joy of the Lord is loaded with countless benefits among which are: strength, fruitfulness, momentum and all that makes the word of God to produce for us. From our text scriptures, the mood the Lord wants us to enjoy this month is quite clear; as the good news translation of the bible puts it: “… Rejoicing with a great and glorious joy which words cannot express…” The beautiful thing about the joy of the Lord is that it can be answerable to our choice. Therefore we can always choose to rejoice. [Ps.9:2; Hab.3:18 & Php.1:18]. I believe that for many of us, this truth can become our life styles for the rest of our lives. There is no greater cause for joy indeed than the salvation of our lives from the chains of Satan. [Col.1:13 and Jn.5:24]. In addition, as we continue with the Lord, our souls are saved daily when we receive light and understanding from the word of the Lord. [Jas.1:21 & Jn.8:36]. This month therefore, everything that has been withheld from you because of your ignorance of this truth would be released to you with the help of The Lord God Jehovah – the Covenant keeping God in Jesus’ mighty name!!!

For the benefit of someone reading this to whom this to whom this looks  out of place because for some reason, joy has been a luxury to you, I have good news for you; it does not have to remain a luxury; it can become your reality today but you must start by belonging to God’s precious family today. Should you desire to take advantage of this opportunity to belong, you can do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you will become born again at once:

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 at 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.