Why should the children of the Almighty God go mourning all their days?
It was proper that we should mourn for sin, that we should realize the need for a Savior, that we should lay hold upon him by faith; but, once we have accepted the Lord and realized the forgiveness of our sins, the time for mourning is past, the time for joy and rejoicing is commenced.
The Apostle exhorts that we should:
Rejoice in everything!
And YES, rejoice most especially in tribulation, because:“tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Spirit which is given unto us” (Romans 5:3-5).
Since we have given ourselves to the Lord and he has accepted us as his children and given us the anointing of his spirit, adopting us into his family and made us heirs with Christ in the glorious promises to be fulfilled, our hearts should be so full of rejoicing that all the trials and difficulties of the way should seem as no burden to the New Mind in CHRIST but in fact… they are THE BEST OPPORTUNITIES TO EXERCISE CHEERFUL PATIENT ENDURANCE and prove to GOD that we are indeed trusting in Him—trusting that our Heavenly Father is treating us as His most special Sons and Daughters by allowing us to share in the experiences of humanity to one day, in the Heavenly Jerusalem up above, be able to be empathetic High Priests and Kings—perfected through the experiences that were overcome while in the human shell—the flesh—during disadvantageous conditions when the permission of evil was present, permitted as a “testing ground” for God’s called ones.
Whoever can exercise the proper faith in the Lord and in his Word can rejoice.
The Lord is now seeking those who may FIRMLY TRUST him, come what may; he is seeking those who will walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Those who cannot walk by faith now will have the opportunity of walking by sight very shortly, when the kingdom shall be established. They indeed shall have a goodly portion, but the portion which God has specially provided for the faithful is joint heirship with his Son in the kingdom.
Let us, then, who have accepted the Lord and his Word, CAST AWAY everything of DOUBT and of FEAR, and live rejoicingly day by day while seeking to walk in the footsteps of him who loved us and bought us with his precious blood.
“The joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).
This is the joy which God gives; the joy which comes from realizing that the Lord is our fortress; and that no ill can betide us without his knowledge, and that he has promised that all things shall work together for good to them that love him – with all their heart, mind, soul and strength.
“Our present sojourn is toward the heavenly Jerusalem, the kingdom … in a tabernacle condition, waiting for the eternal conditions which God has promised us” (Reprints of the Original Watch Tower, R3677).
“The true worshipers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth“ (John 4:23).
“Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34).
Is not this our aim too—to finish our “mission” here for which we were called out by our Heavenly Father to complete?
The body members of Christ must endure all the pain, sufferings and ridicule for the sake of Christ—overcoming the battle of the flesh that results in the greatest joys in the Spirit of Christ, and a victory over every evil that surrounded in order to develop the highest form of Godly Love possible—AGAPE love—that “knows no evil” (Psalm 101:4; 1 Corinthians 13:5).
Worshiping in spirit and in truth does not simply mean prayer, praise, supplication and thanks giving. It goes deeper than all these and takes hold upon the affections, upon the heart, and hence signifies:
Not an act of worship but rather
A LIFE of worship.
This means a life in which, through the begetting of the spirit and the knowledge of the divine plan, the individual becomes so at-one with God and all the features of the plan of God that it is, in the words of our Lord his meat and his drink to do the Father’s will.
This is the real meaning of “worship in spirit and in truth.” It will find its expression… also in all the acts and words of life (R2071).
“It is the privilege of the Lord’s people to ask, in order that they may have fullness of joy.” (R5877).
We have this joy and the “peace of God, which passeth all understanding,” and we rejoice greatly in hope of the glorious things which the Father has in store for us and which the holy Spirit reveals through the Word.
“The joyful Christian is the thankful Christian. The thankful Christian is the one who is making the best use of his life. By reason of having exercised thankfulness of heart, he will be the better prepared for the kingdom” (R5203).
“Thankfulness will make every trial and sacrifice on our part seem small, and proportionately easy to be offered, and it will make all of God’s mercies and favors toward us proportionately grand and great and inspiring (R2723).
Reference:
R = Reprints of the Original Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence.
URL: https://biblestudentsdaily.com/2016/12/20/nehemiah-810-the-joy-of-the-lord-is-your-strength/
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