With Joy...
Aug. 19, 2023 .3 min read
Joel 1:12: *The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.*
“Joy” is not just one of those things… it is vital! It is the second component of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). It comes immediately after “love” and just before “peace.” It is the love of God that births joy in us, and without joy, we can’t have peace or other things. No wonder David cried in Psalm 51, “Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation…” So Joy starts from Salvation. If you’re not saved, forget about it. But I invite you to taste and see that the Lord is good!
A lot of things go wrong when we allow our joy to be tampered with. What can tamper with our joy? What causes our joy to wither?
- Inconsistency in our Communion with God. Psalm 16. It is in the presence of God that we find the fullness of joy.
- Sin (Every u righteousness/disobedience to God’s written/spoken instructions). I John 5:17
- Defining our lives by what we have rather than by who we are in Christ. Luke 12:15
- Comparing ourselves with others. 2 Cor. 10:12
Before the devil tampers with your joy, he will negatively impact the way/why you love God and men. When he is done, he makes every other thing more visible than what God has spoken. Then, he begins to touch every other thing. As subtle as he is, you won’t realise it early. You’ll just think you’re being “realistic.” Nothing is real, for us as God’s children, except that which He has spoken! Any other thing is something we must hold God’s hands for until His words prevail. We must be women, who rather than allow “reality” to define us, we enforce our reality in Christ.
…until the Spirit be poured out and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field and the fruitful field a forest. Isaiah 32:15
See that word “until”. You must keep keeping on, keep drawing from His presence, from the various wells you need water from. Don’t yield to the lies of the devil. He has a motive, and he has a goal. Once he can get rid of that joy that the Lord gives, you become weak, and everything about you becomes vulnerable to his attack. Let nothing cause your joy to wither.