Wednesday, November 5, 2014

JOY


 That Your Joy May Be Full

Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things,  So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. Psalm 103:4-5

"And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. "Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:23-24

Our crucified and risen Christ is alive today!  He is at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. When Jesus took upon Himself the suffering of the cross and willingly became our sacrificial Lamb, He won for us.  He became our High Priest, and we can ask what we will through His name.  Hebrews 7:25 says, "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.."  What a wonderful Jesus we serve!  Yes, Jesus is alive, and He hears the cry of the righteous.  We can take our burdens to Him and leave them there and believe for God to move and answer prayer. The Lord knows just what we need and when we need it.  He is always on time. And God is faithful and just.  Where would we be today if it were not for Jesus' sacrifice on Calvary, His death and His resurrection?  He is truly our High Tower, and our everything.

Sis. Evangeline Paul Dhinakaran of Jesus Calls Ministries in an article "God Who Cares" writes:

God is love. He cares for us because He loves us. The Almighty God came down to earth as Jesus Christ to deliver mankind from sin and give them eternal life. During His days on earth, there lived a man who was invalid for thirty eight years near the pool of water called Bethesda in Jerusalem. The pool had five porches and a great number of people with various sicknesses lay in them. They waited for an angel to come down and stir the water and whoever stepped into the pool first was healed of his sickness. When Jesus Christ came to Jerusalem to attend a Jewish Festival, He saw the invalid man and had compassion on him. He asked him, “Do you want to be made well?” The man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me." Immediately, Jesus said, "Rise, take up your bed and walk" (John 5:1-9).

Dear Friend, the Lord loves you and cares for you too. He looks at the heart of every one of you. The compassionate Lord shall perfect everything concerning you.. As He asked the invalid man, “Do you want to get well?” He asks you, “My child what do you want Me to do for you?” He will perform the desired miracle in your life however worse the situation may be because there is nothing impossible with God. Our God is the One Who “calls out things which do not exist as though they did” (Romans 4:17). The Bible encourages you to cast all your burdens onto Him. “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you” (Psalm 55:22). The Lord will certainly grant all the blessings you desire and make you happy.

According to Jesus Christ, if we lack things in our life it’s our fault because we don’t ask. Our Father God has everything that we need and more than enough of it. And He delights to give good things to those who ask Him especially the Holy Spirit and “The Kingdom.”  Of course our enemy, the devil, will try to do everything to stop us from asking, including showing how unworthy we are of anything. And then he will even try to steal from us what God has given to us. And many people, even God’s people, just freely let him steal their health, their riches, their good name and other gifts that God has given them. Nevertheless God’s word is unchanging:

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  "Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  "Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Matthew 7:7-11

"Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luke 12:32

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. James 1:17

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" Luke 11:13

The kingdom of God is not only righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit but is also divine health, divine favor, divine blessings, divine prosperity, divine health and divine victory! And it’s all wrapped up in Jesus Christ who became poor so that we might be rich. It’s a fact that we are immensely rich because we have Jesus Christ and He is priceless. He is our all our, our brother, our friend, our Lord, our reward and our all. He is the best thing that we ever have or will have! And there is no one like Him or greater than He is. God’s word is unchanging:

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.  For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth.  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. 3 John 1:2-4

But the other side of the coin about lack is that we cannot treat what God has given us freely unwisely and be unfaithful with the different gifts. One day we will give an account to God for all the gifts and giftings that He has given us. So we need to ask the Father for wisdom and discernment to handle the wealth and gifts that He give us and to use them all wisely. God’s word is unchanging:

And Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?" Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. "You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you." And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt."  Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph's hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.  And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, "Bow the knee!" So he set him over all the land of Egypt.  Pharaoh also said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." Genesis 41:38-44

And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous. Exodus 23:8

For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,  being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:8-11

We must be filled with the Spirit of the LORD and be discerning and wise just like Joseph was if we want God to promote us and to use us greatly. We must discern good and evil and not be perverted and corrupted by others including the enemy.  We must have an understanding heart to judge God’s people and to understand to discern justice and the unsavory. Yes, we must cry out for discernment, and lift up our voice for understanding. God’s word is unchanging:

Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment, But a man of understanding walks uprightly. Proverbs 15:21

Strike a scoffer, and the simple will become wary; Rebuke one who has understanding, and he will discern knowledge. Proverbs 19:25

"And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. Ezekiel 44:23

Then you shall again discern Between the righteous and the wicked, Between one who serves God And one who does not serve Him. Malachi 3:18

For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 1 Corinthians 11:29

Yes, we must discern between the unclean and the clean, between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. Otherwise we will find ourselves in the judgments of God for supporting the unclean and wicked ones. We must discern the times we live in as well as God’s seasons and timings in life.  And we must not be undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, and unmerciful or we will find ourselves in places we never expected to be. Yet God’s word is unchanging:

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:12-16

But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Hebrews 5:14

EXTRACT FROM Be Filled With All The Fullness Of God
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