Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Joy

Today joy is so often thought to be the very opposite of faith, but joy is something much deeper and much more lasting. Look at Isaiah 9:1-4Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan— The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders,  the rod of their oppressor.

Isaiah gives us three significant things about God in which we can rejoice.

1. Rejoice That God Lives
2. Rejoice That God Cares
3. Rejoice That God's Plan Is Invincible

To be sensitive to the Holy Spirit must mean that we will be more sensitive to people and their pain; to be more sensitive to people ought to make us more open to God and his purposes.

Know and live the Lord’s joy. Amen?