Depending on which translation you are using, there are various adjectives preceding the word "joy". Some say "pure joy", some say "all joy", others "nothing but joy, and even some say "great joy". How are we able to anticipate trouble and trials in our lives with great joy?
Trials and troubles will come in our lives...we choose how to view them. As Christians, we can face them with the confidence that God knows exactly what we are going through, and that He will use these very times to build in us a stronger faith, a faith that will be ready to stand the trials that are yet to come, and a faith that will endure to the end. And not endure grudgingly and bitterly ("I'm suffering for the Lord!"), but endure with a spirit of joy.
Thank God this morning that He is the giver of joy in the middle of your trials and troubles. That He will allow you to see His light in the middle of the darkness. That He alone can give you the confidence to see your current problem through, and that He will give you a testimony to share on the other side. A testimony of faithfulness and strength --- a testimony that you will share with a joy that will draw others to Him.
If we can think things through from the Lord's perspective, our feelings respond. We know that God intends to use these things for our good and for His glory, and we can count it all joy. I like the way the Phillips version puts this passage: When all kinds of trials and temptations crowed into your loves my brothers, don't resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. - Robert J. Morgan, 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by HeartI believe that when Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," He was addressing this same perspective. He was telling an earthly audience that those that they see around them that are sad and broken-hearted are just the people who will most likely seek God through their times of trouble. When we are puffed up with our self-sufficiency, it can be the most difficult time of our lives to acknowledge God's supremacy over us.
Trials and troubles will come in our lives...we choose how to view them. As Christians, we can face them with the confidence that God knows exactly what we are going through, and that He will use these very times to build in us a stronger faith, a faith that will be ready to stand the trials that are yet to come, and a faith that will endure to the end. And not endure grudgingly and bitterly ("I'm suffering for the Lord!"), but endure with a spirit of joy.
Thank God this morning that He is the giver of joy in the middle of your trials and troubles. That He will allow you to see His light in the middle of the darkness. That He alone can give you the confidence to see your current problem through, and that He will give you a testimony to share on the other side. A testimony of faithfulness and strength --- a testimony that you will share with a joy that will draw others to Him.
1 comment:
I am thankful this morning that God is the One that brings joy into my life. God brings me true joy each day. He helps me to see light when I feel like I am covered in the darkness of earthly unhappiness. There is joy knowing God is always near. My cousin posted on FB this week, "you have to have a test to have a testimony". God is Good.
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