JOY OF THE LORD
Friday – March 31, 2017
Greetings to the partners and friends of this ministry and The Three Minute Word publications. God is so good. Before I return to our Bible Study be reminded to pray for the Church, the Church are the ones who have answered the call to come out from the world into the Kingdom of God. We must align our thoughts, speech, and ways with those of the Lord and not just at the Church house. I will now continue with our Bible Study from the book of Ephesians and a few of the things that are ‘of God’. I am laying a foundation for our study of the armour of God
Ephesians 6:10-13 (KJV)
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
I have mentioned briefly about the Kingdom of God and two of its three components, the righteousness of God and the peace of God. Today we will turn our attention to the third (of three) component of the Kingdom of God which is the joy of the LORD. The following is a familiar passage for most Christians concerning the joy of the Lord. Our joy is identical to God’s however ours is way underdeveloped compared to His. This joy is designed to produce the same fruit as God’s joy which is strength providing the same benefits to ourselves and others. The more we develop our capacity for joy the stronger we become. This joy and this strength has everything to do with our focus on Him, faith, love, practicing thanksgiving, praise, and worship, doing the Word of God, and forsaking trash thoughts and talk. This produces great joy in our Father and His power is loosed through us for His purposes, the furtherance of the Kingdom of God.
Nehemiah 8:10 (KJV)
10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
We find here in Nehemiah that the people of God had strayed far from Him however now they were gathered to hear the Word of the Lord.
Nehemiah 8:1-2 (KJV)
1 And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.
2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.
It is fascinating and meaningful that the people were gathered before the ‘water gate’. Water is a symbol of the Word of God a cleanser for the soul as natural water is a cleanser for the natural body. They gathered on the first day of the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar which is New Year’s Day and the day the Lord designated as the Feast of Trumpets or Rosh HaShana. When the people heard the Word of the Lord they choose repentance.
Nehemiah 8:6 (KJV)
6 And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
The people chose to repent, humbling themselves before the Lord, choosing His way and not their own. Nehemiah is the sixteenth book of the Old Testament and sixteen is the number of love, the love of God. They saw God’s love towards them in His Word and made a conscious decision to love (be obedient to His Word) Him. Eight is the number of new beginnings, and six the number of man. The love of God gave these people a new beginning in their submission (worship) to Him.
Nehemiah 8:10 (KJV)
10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
Just as we have the natural DNA of our natural parents we also have the DNA of God for our living soul. We find the organs produced by that spiritual DNA in Galatians 5:22-23. Among the nine fruits we find joy and peace. The other seven fruits are essential component parts of righteousness (love, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance). I have already spoken of peace which is union or oneness with God. Now we are looking at joy and understanding how intricate this is to our strength. Our total submission to the Lord allows Him to flow through us with His power, this is real strength. However the LORD’s joy is not present if our joy is not present and our joy comes in our submission to Him.
Nehemiah 8:9 (KJV)
9 And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.
I think we can all see that this business of mourning (indicating loss), weeping, and feeling sorry are not paths to supernatural success beyond perhaps the first few moments of repentance. What we have lost in those moments of repentance is the grasp Satan (the curse) had on us and we are not to mourn the loss of sin or him. Weeping is not for the victors unless it is tears of joy. An ongoing attitude of being sorry is a failure to receive forgiveness. We are to immediately choose to be joyful in this new alignment or re-alignment with our Father understanding we have a new beginning.
The absence of joy is the absence of an understanding of who our Father is and who we are in Christ Jesus. When we do not choose joy, or to understand who our Father is, we choose not to know who we are in Christ Jesus. Therefore we are not in faith powered by love (obedience to the Word). A life filled with the curse will be our lot, the sad thing being that this cursed life is of our own choosing.
The word ‘of’ also means from or out of, in this case from and out of God. Our joy is from God, choose to be joyful and great power will be released for the glory of God. God does nothing independent of us, in this case our exercise of joy triggers His joy and infinite power (strength), and resurrection power will flow in our lives.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
Remember that I have published two books recently. First was the 
book titled “Temptation – The Battle for our Thoughts”. Perhaps this book will illuminate temptation in ways you have not imagined. Second is the book titled “And God Said – The Creator’s Provision”. This book illuminates the will of God from the beginning. These books are available at Amazon Books.
