Psalm 126:3

Psalm 126:3

Filled with joy

For many of us the journey of faith begins with our salvation from sin and an awareness of our need for forgiveness and hope from God. We are brought to a place of repentance and the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to who God is and the validity of His Word and the sacrifice He made for us. We begin a relationship with Yeshua and the Holy Spirit continues to open our eyes to the truth of the Scriptures and the reality of our salvation. We are baptized and come into an even deeper awareness of God’s power and presence; the journey has begun. For far too many believers, that journey stops and starts, and they can go for long periods without any further progress. That might be down to their own indolence, their lack of meaningful Bible teaching, the poor example of older, more experienced Christians, a wrong choice of church fellowship – there are many reasons why the initial joy can turn to monotonous indifference.

That is not meant to be the way! If we are in church leadership and that is happening around us, then we should be ashamed. The lambs need to be fed, the flock needs guidance and direction, our lives should be endlessly displaying the goodness of God. Everyone who comes by faith to Jesus Christ and starts to live the life of a disciple is on the journey of their lifetime and the Lord wants them to be able to say, “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” If your Christian walk has descended into a boring routine, if there is very little joy and an awful lot of tears, then today is the day to stop and take stock! “This is the day the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24. One of the greatest gifts that faith in Yeshua brings, is the deep-seated joy of His Holy Spirit within. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, second only to love in the order of Galatians 5:22-23. Let’s take steps to cultivate joy because of the great things God has done for us. 

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