The Joy of the Lord

 

God gives us several commands throughout His Word to rejoice in Him. When God thinks a concept is worth repeating, it is definitely worthy of our consideration (Psalm 32:11, 35:9, 64:10, 97:12, 104:34; Isaiah 29:10, 41:16; Joel 2:23; Habakkuk 3:18; Zechariah 10:7; Philippians 3:1, 4:4).

When the joy of the Lord fills our spirit, it also affects our body and soul - our thoughts, choices and feelings. It influences our words and actions and how we relate to our self and to other people.

It affects our relationship with the Lord and helps us to sing the praises to Him that He is worthy to receive (Psalm 147:1). We pray about everything and give thanks in everything, even in the negative aspects of our life (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

The Lord puts a hymn of praise, a new song, in our heart (Psalm 40:3). We come before His presence with thanksgiving as we make a joyful noise to Him in song (Psalm 100). His joy is our continual source of strength (Nehemiah 8:10).

God's Word is living and powerful and teaches us to abide in our spirit rather than in our body and our soul (Hebrews 4:12; John 15:11; Galatians 2:20). He opens the eyes of our understanding to the opportunities we have to walk and live in His Spirit.

God helps us to discern between the desires of our flesh and the leading of His Spirit. We no longer allow the appetites of our body, considerations of our mind or fickleness of our emotions to dictate our thoughts, words or behavior.

Instead we seek the Lord to reveal the root source of any negative impulses we experience and to free us from any dictates of our flesh, any influence of the world and any tyranny of the devil over our life.

Prayer:

Father God, we submit our spirit, body and soul - our every thought, choice and emotion - to Your Spirit. Our union with You consumes our every waking moment, and we want nothing more than for You to live Your life in and through us. Remind us not to worry about anything, but to seek Your will in ceaseless prayer. 

We want to live a life of continual joy, prayer and thanksgiving to You through Christ in us (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). We thank You for meeting all of our needs, and for giving us Your peace, which is not dependent on our human reasoning and understanding, and which guards our hearts and minds as we live, move and have our being in Christ alone (Philippians 4:4-6; Acts 17:28).

Thought for the Day:

The Lord loves us so much that He actually takes delight in us and rejoices over us with singing. - Zephaniah 3:17

Many thanks to Matt Milligan for the use of his photo.

Spirit, Soul and Body

Read: Luke 16:19-31

Genesis 1:26 states, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."

God is a triune being...Father, Son and Spirit. He created us triune beings in His image. That triune image manifests itself in mankind in the spirit, soul and body. "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." - 1 Thessalonians 5:23

For the Christian, the life of Christ flows through us. It affects us physically because He brings us healing; it affects us spiritually, because if we ask Him to, He dwells within us and guarantees us eternal life (Romans 8:11); and it also affects our soul. People live a lifetime trying to find fulfillment in their soul ~ the mind, will and emotions. They cater to the flesh, buying every gadget known to man to make them happy, trying to amass wealth in the process. Yet, they are never happy and always want something more or different.

I know some people who are never happy in one place for very long, so they move often. Others want every new fad in clothes and accessories, phones, stereo equipment, cars, etc. Some people constantly change jobs, trying to find one they enjoy more than the previous one. Some even change mates whenever the current one is no longer exciting, solicitous or physically perfect. They seek pleasure rather than Godliness.

We often pray for the body to get well, and for God to fill our spirit; but do we ever pray for the soul? With the Spirit of God residing within us, He will fill our soul with all the fruit of His Spirit...love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, self-control and faith (Galatians 5:22). He will heal us from every negative emotion from the past, which we have hidden in our soul (Philippians 4:8). Our mind is renewed with the mind of Christ (Romans 12:2); our will is submitted to the will of God (Philippians 2:13); and our emotions are controlled by the spirit of God dwelling within us (James 1:19).

Therefore, when we are angry, we can sit quietly and ask God to fill our soul with gentleness, love and peace from our spirit. When we are anxious, we can ask God to fill us with patience, peace, and faith. When we feel self-sufficient, we can request that God fill our soul with meekness, goodness, and self-control. When we feel sad or depressed or hopeless, we can request an infilling of joy that will strengthen us (Nehemiah 8:10) and give us peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).

More important than the soul, however, is the spirit. The spirit is dead within us at birth, until we ask Jesus Christ to be our Savior. We cannot truly live integrated, connective lives until we are born again. Then the Holy Spirit breathes the breath of life into our spirit. Genesis 2: 7 states, "And the LORD God formed man (body) of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (spirit); and man became a living soul." At death, the body ends up in the grave. However, the soul and spirit go on to our eternal destination (Luke 16:19-31). Where will you spend eternity?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, help us to remember that the main point in life is that in order for You to fill our soul, we first need to be filled by Your Spirit. Our spirit must be born again by asking You to be our Savior and our Lord (2 Peter 3:18).

Thought for the Day:

The Spirit will lead you into all truth (John 16:13). He comforts us with His everlasting love (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17).