Joy! Sunday 23rd Aug 15

I have continued to reflect this week on some of the things I shared last Sunday, when I spoke about ‘the joy of the Lord’. Here then are two brief things to consider.

Firstly, ‘the joy of the Lord’ is not an additional extra to your salvation, nor is it a spiritual top up or an ecstatic charismatic experience to be had in a highly charged meeting. Rather, this joy comes from a deep appreciation of God’s perfect, eternal and incomparable being and in the fellowship we have with him through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Secondly, ‘the joy of the Lord’ cannot and should not be equated with happiness. Now that may sound somewhat contradictory, but this is my logic. Our happiness is so often dependent upon our own outlook, situation or circumstances which seem to change with alarming regularity. Our joy however finds its source and its focus in the one who has not and will not change.

In this light I encourage you to spend time in meditation, appreciating and delighting in God and in his love and grace. I encourage you to listen the wise words of Nehemiah who instructed his weary troops by telling them that the joy of the LORD is your strength’ (Neh 8:10).

God bless, Gareth