The Joy Of the Lord is our Strength

Just today I received an amazing letter from a minister I have loved and respected for almost 40 years.
In it he was reiterating the importance of the Word of God and how it must enter our ears our eyes and hearts. He was stressing that we must allow the Word absolute priority in our lives if we ever want to experience the Victory over all the negative impacts that the world, the flesh and the devil have incurred in this life.

Of course this is no new fangled, fancy revelation that has just come down the track. This is as old as God Himself and it is still the only reality that produces faith and joy that empowers us to overcome fear, sorrow and hopelessness.

The wonderful thing about the Father, Son and Holy Ghost is that they have never changed throughout the endless aeons of Eternity. Jesus is more constant than the Sun or stars that shine in the heavens, After all, He created them as demonstrations of His constant Artistic Glory. This why He is often called the Rock of Ages.
God never changes, He will always be Pure Endless Love that became a man called Jesus in order to personally demonstrate His Grace, Love, Joy and Character to us.

John 1: 10-13 (Phillips NT))He came into the world—the world he had created—and the world failed to recognise him. He came into his own creation, and his own people would not accept him. Yet wherever men did accept him he gave them the power to become sons of God. These were the men who truly believed in him, and their birth depended not on the course of nature nor on any impulse or plan of man, but on God.

14-18 So the word of God became a human being and lived among us. We saw his splendour (the splendour as of a father’s only son), full of grace and truth.

Whenever we feel weak, joyless, defeated, old or useless, we must check the word level in our hearts and lives. In a car, it is customary to check the oil level on the dipstick, to make sure there is sufficient lubrication to allow the engine and pistons to operate in smooth ease.
The same is true for a man or woman. We must ensure that The Word of God is producing the correct Faith that produces the Oil Of Joy that lubricates the spiritual system of our inner beings. This is not meant to be a cute little analogy, rather it is absolutely true.

Many people sadly try to substitute the Word of God (which is the only Manufacturers endorsed Fuel for Life) with so called recreational drugs or alcohol, or even overuse of food or other good things which can be used as desperate fuel alternatives to try to receive strength to cope with lifes sufferings.
Of course there are many addictions that can develop in the wrongly directed search for Joy to Live.
One man talking about heroin, which most people recognize as absolutely a terrible fuel to use, said "It wasnt the answer but it made me forget what the question was".

The Good News is that God has given us the most awesome clean burning Word Fuel of Faith, Strength and Joy. This Fuel will cause us to fly to undreamed of Altitudes into the "Secret Place of the Most High" where we can "Abide under the Shadow of the Almighty" and "Dwell in His Pavilion". Of course the best Worship songs are Word based which allow us to: "Make melody in our Hearts" and:

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Many of the young people (now older) who became believers during the Jesus Movement (late 60s- 70s) were often from the alternative, spiritual, hippy background of marijuana/psychedelic experimentation. Many of the people who were searching back then and had amazing encounters with Jesus (The Word made Flesh) sometimes said "We get the Most High with the Most High".

In fact a great friend of mine who is also a powerful man of God and brilliant prophetic songwriter/guitarist (not to mention a wonderful dentist) wrote a powerful song entitled "Most High with the Most High"

Of course the Jesus people who had this deep scintillating encounter with the Lord, discontinued their drug experimentation and found the Joy Fuel they were always thirsting for in the "Word made Flesh--Jesus"

The thing is, you dont just come to Jesus and you are fueled forever. Its takes being a true disciple of Jesus to live in His Daily Joy and Presence. This means hearing, reading and speaking The Word of God which produces world overcoming Joy or Strength!

When I was a young Christian in late 1977, I was standing on Bondi Beach in Australia one day and complaining to Him that I was in a bad trial of my faith. I felt depressed, empty, lonely and tempted to go back and refuel with my old habits.

The Lord reminded me that in order to experience being intoxicated on alcohol or other things, one has to actually purchase the product and drink or smoke it. He said a reasonable person would not expect to experience intoxication on a regular basis without making it a regular habit.

In the same way He impressed me it would be foolish to expect to experience His Grace, Love and Joy without receiving or imbibing His Word and Presence into the eyes, ears and spiritual system. The analogy of getting a suntan came to mind also, it would be dumb to expect to get a suntan lying on your living room floor. (I knew a drummer who tried this, it didnt work)

It takes getting into the sunshine with your clothes off to get a tan. Getting a daily impartation from God means getting daily exposure of His Sonshine into your mind and heart. This doesnt happen by spacing out trying to think about Him. It takes reading, hearing, speaking the Word in Song and Meditation. Then you can "think" about Him and receive his thoughts and Joy!

Nehemiah 8:10 Neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Philippians 4 (Message Bible)
8-9 Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.