“For the joy of the LORD is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).
On Thursday, February 11, at sundown, we entered a brand-new Hebrew calendar month, Adar.
Adar means completion and is known as the month of joy.
JOY IS A FORM OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE.
Adar is also the month of Purim when Esther and the Jews overcame their enemies by the favor and decree of the king.
Nehemiah 8:10 says, “For the joy of the LORD is your strength”
Their joy in the King’s decree became their strength to fight against and gain victory over their enemies who wanted to annihilate them.
Joy is not the same as happiness. It comes from the Lord and gives us His strength.
Let me explain what I mean…
Living for God is not like living for yourself. When we live for ourselves the primary goal is our own happiness.
Whether this involves material gain or physical indulgences, it is what makes us “happy” that satisfies a life lived for ourselves.
But this form of happiness is easily deflated with the absence of the object – person, place, or thing that brings happiness.
Joy, on the other hand, works in you and for you despite outward conditions, because joy is a fruit of the Spirit and flows from your spirit (see Galatians 5:22).
When we have the joy of the Lod, we are able to live for Him, not seeking to please ourselves, but in all things, we seek first to please Him, and then He gives us the desires of our hearts.
JESUS SAID, “SEEK THE KINGDOM OF GOD ABOVE ALL ELSE, AND LIVE RIGHTEOUSLY, AND HE WILL GIVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED” (MATTHEW 6:33).
If you have been seeking happiness, stop right now and start living for God. His joy will become your strength, your defense, and a fortress all around you through life’s ups and downs.
Even when all hope seems gone, in any situation, you can, through the joy of the Lord, find a place of praise and worship within that will lift you up out of any pit and put a smile on your face.
Years ago, my motto was “JOY IS STRENGTH” during some of the hardest times in my life.
A personal motto is meant to be a phrase you live your life around. Meditating those words helped me live my life around the truth they represented.
God’s joy became my strength in those very hard seasons, and I was able to walk through those times with grace and faith.
Somehow is my search for happiness these last few years I lost my joy but this month, I got it back by seeking the Father in worship and choosing His will over my own plan.
Beloved, if your joy is running low, my prayer for you is that you would go get your joy back!
It’s not far off. All you have to do is seek the Father’s heart and surrender to His will.
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