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.

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