Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today- February 5, 2014
Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10
Believers in Jesus find joy and strength in their Savior. Joy begins with God, because we are created for His enjoyment, and He for our enjoyment. Just as a husband and wife find great pleasure in a marriage of growing commitment and love, so an overflow of joy comes to a committed Bride of Christ. Strength is the fruit of this quality of relationship. Security and peace support a cheerful heart. Joy is the attitude of all who bow to Almighty God in worshipful awe.
Any cynical soul can focus on a cow patty in a luscious green pasture. Ironically, it’s the cow patties that grow the green grass. In the same way, we can count it all joy for the trials that grow our faith. We find strength in the Lord during severe circumstances. He brings a smile to our heavy hearts. The drought of grief is for a season, followed by heaven’s rain of happiness. A joyful disposition awaits us, when we wait on Christ. His enjoyment creates internal energy.
“I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” (Philippians 1:4-5).
Furthermore, the memories of meaningful experiences with other Christ followers bring joy and strengthen our faith. We celebrate answered prayers for our children to grow in God’s grace and make wise choices. We thank the Lord for the rich community of honesty, shared emotions, love, forgiveness and laughter. We muse on hard truths like hell and the joylessness that accompanies disobedience to Jesus. Sustaining strength comes from the joy of an intimate faith fellowship.
Lastly, we put our hope in the Lord, who richly provides us everything we need for our enjoyment. We need not feel guilty for the blessings of good health, a loving family, a solid job, fun friends, financial freedom or a dynamic church. We gratefully enjoy Christ’s favor. However, what keeps us grounded in God’s strength is not putting our hope in anything but Him. He is our generous Heavenly Father who gives good gifts. Hope is heaven’s strategy for strength and joy!
“Put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17).
Prayer: Heavenly Father, may my strength and joy come from Your Spirit, not from my stuff.
Related Readings: Psalm 19:8; Isaiah 35:10; Luke 10:21; 2 Corinthians 1:24; Philemon 1:7
Post/Tweet today: What keeps us grounded in God’s strength is not putting our hope in anything but Him. #strengthfromjoy
Blessed by these readings?: pray about giving a donation, click… http://bit.ly/KArLE5
Check Out Boyd’s 12 devotional books over the past 10 years … http://bit.ly/Tv6y9a
Free eBook when you sign up 5 friends for the free email devotional… http://bit.ly/1hNvIe8
© 2014 by Boyd Bailey. All rights reserved.
Wisdom Hunters Resources / A registered 501 c3 ministry info@wisdomhuntersdevotional.com / www.wisdomhunters.com
Comments are closed.
Glory be to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords for your ministry. These emails are a persistent blessing in my life. Thank you for being faithful to this ministry.
Great Post! Thank You! For so long I desired JOY, but I had it so mixed up with my own personal happiness. Happiness and JOY are two different things. Happiness I thought I had to provide and I just could not do it so I thought I also would not ever have JOY! I was so wrong! When I started leaning on God’s Kingdom perspective and began laying my earthly viewpoint down, the JOY came. When I stopped looking for happiness in the outcome of earthly expectation and put all my expectations in God’s Hands, His JOY saturated my soul. When I allowed the Holy Spirit to transform me from a Martha to a MARY, teach me how to have a vital-vertical relationship with GOD, HIS JOY, it remains, abundantly so! AWE-GOD!
is this from a printed devotional book that we can buy?
Amen. ..the world works against his commands. We who love him need to share
Dear Julie,
This particular devotional is written by Boyd Bailey but it is not from one of the Wisdom Hunter’s books. However, we do offer many of the devotionals in our books. When you get time, please take a look at the Wisdom Hunter’s bookstore for our selection of devotional books. Thank you for taking the time to contact us. Please feel free to reach out to us anytime with your questions or comments.
We are so thankful that you are a fellow wisdom hunter.
Believing and trusting~
Gwynne