There is a
Stronghold in Joy
“9. “As the Father
has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.10 If you keep my commands, you
will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in
his love.11. I have told
you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12. My command is this: Love each
other as I have loved you. 13. Greater
love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15: 9 – 13
“10. Nehemiah said, “Go and
enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing
prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord
is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10
Joy; an easy and
simple topic. No muss no fuss, just joy. Let’s look a little deeper into that second
passage, specifically at “for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” In Hebrew
they used the word:
maoz or mauz or
maoz or mauz: a place or means of safety, protection
Original Word: מָעוֹז
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: maoz or mauz or maoz or mauz
Phonetic Spelling: (maw-oze')
Short Definition: stronghold
Don’t worry; I am
not going to go into semantics, well not too much anyway. But I think this needs to be covered. All too
often we look at scripture verse and take it at just face value, but it is
important to look at the meaning behind it as well. The joy of the Lord is your stronghold.
Notice how it say the joy of the
Lord, not joy in the Lord, this is
important.
You always have
access to a stronghold, all you have to do is realise what God is saying to you
in all of this. God is a God of love, he delights in the ways of his children,
He has joy in all that we do. God is
joy! Joy of the Lord, you
understand now? Or are you completely confused? Been there done that, I was
confused when God first brought this to me.
We have a
stronghold in the Lord because He is
joy, it is His joy that provides that stronghold, not our own joy but His. We
have no reason to fear, be depressed or worry about anything if we rely on the joy of the Lord. God
loves you and would never forsake you; He would never turn His face from you,
or try and hide from you. Completely opposite, it is in the times that you are
at your weakest, when you have done the most wrong things that you could ever
imagine, and when you are filled with such great sorrow that it seems that no
one would ever accept you that he takes you into His stronghold and holds back
the weight that lays heavy on you, and holds back the attacks of the enemy.
Make sense now?
You might be
wondering why I included 2 passages in this post but have only focused on one.
Fact is I these were the ones that God revealed to me, and when I looked up the
word joy in the Bible, it came up with 240 references to that word. (NIV
Version) I think the Holy Spirit was showing me something with these Bible
verses, first is that one is Old Testament and the other is New Testament, God’s
promises are the same yesterday, today and forever more. Secondly is this, take
a look at verse 11 “I
have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be
complete” God’s joy, His everlasting and unfailing joy is in us, and it
overflows in us, it completes the joy that we have, and fills in when our joy
is lacking. If you love God, and obey His word, your joy will never be empty,
and you will always have a stronghold to turn too.
Be blessed, and
keep the faith! And may your joy always be full. :)
