DEFIANT
JOY
BREAD
10 Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet
drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to
our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD
is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 (NIV)
43 And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing
because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The
sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away. Nehemiah
12:43 (NIV)
3 Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. 4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God. Psalm 43:3-4 (NIV)
17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no
grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no
food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet
like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights. For the director
of music. On my stringed instruments. Habakkuk 3:17-19 (NIV)
25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will
stand upon the earth. 26 And after
my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes--I,
and not another. How my heart yearns within me! Job
19:25-27 (NIV)
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and
the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they
were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 Upon receiving such orders, he put them in
the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying
and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent
earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the
prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the
prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he
thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But
Paul shouted, “Don't harm yourself! We are all here!” 29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and
fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He
then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus,
and you will be saved--you and your household.” Acts 16:22-31 (NIV)
54 When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their
teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full
of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus
standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,”
he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of
God.” 57 At this they covered their
ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to
stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young
man named Saul. 59 While they were
stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried
out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell
asleep. Acts 7:54-60 (NIV)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great
cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that
so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for
us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured
the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God. 3 Consider him who endured
such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)
23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Solid joys and lasting treasure none but Zion’s children
know.”
John Newton
“If
there is joy in the world, surely the man of pure heart possesses it.” Thomas
a Kempis
“O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my
weary soul in Thee. I give Thee back the
life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths its flow, may richer fuller be. O light that followest all my way, I yield my
flickering torch to Thee. My heart
restores its borrowed ray, that in thy sunshine’s blaze its day, may brighter
fairer be. O joy that seekest me through
pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee. I
trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that morn
shall tearless be. O cross that liftest
up my head, I dare not ask to fly from Thee.
I lay in dust life’s glory dead, and from the ground there blossoms red,
life that shall endless be.” George Matheson
“I cannot understand Him, but I
can trust Him. And so today, when everything physical and
emotional in me is completely drained, and there is not a single note of praise
in my heart, I choose to praise Him anyway. Not for
what He does, but for Who He is. When I cannot praise Him out
of joy, I will praise Him out of obedience. And I am learning that when I
praise Him out of obedience from the depths of the pit, it is always more
meaningful than when I praise Him out of an overflow of my heart from the
heights of the mountain. And because I know His nature, and I know that
even when I don’t feel it, He is still a kind, loving, good God, then I know
that soon, He will fill my heart with joy once again. And the praise will
flow easily from the depths of my heart.”
Laura
Black
“The grace of God
is love freely shown towards guilty sinners, contrary to their merit and indeed
in defiance of their demerit. It is God
showing goodness to persons who deserve only severity, and had no reason to
expect anything but severity. We have
seen why the thought of grace means so little to some church people—namely,
because they do not share the beliefs about God and man which it
presupposes. Now we have to ask: why should this thought mean so much to
others? The answer is not far to seek;
indeed, it is evident from what has already been said. It is surely clear that, once a man is
convinced that his state and need are as described, the New Testament gospel of
grace cannot but sweep him off his feet with wonder and joy. For it tells how our Judge has become our
Saviour.” J.I.
Packer
“Lord, with glowing heart I’d praise Thee, For the
bliss Thy love bestows, For the pardoning grace that saves me, And the peace
that from it flows; Help O God, my weak endeavor; this dull soul to rapture
raise; Thou must light the flame, or never Can my love be warmed to
praise.” Francis Scott Key
“We draw people to Christ not by loudly
discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how
right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with
all their hearts to know the source of it.”
Madeline L’Engle
“Thou
hast made us for Thyself, and the heart of man is restless until it finds its
rest in Thee.” Augustine
HEART SAVOR
- ·
The joy of the Lord is our
strength.
- · Joy is the second listed in the Fruit of the Spirit…and every true believer in Jesus HAS the Spirit of God. Paul tells us: 9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. Romans 8:9 (NIV)
- ·
We are to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful
in prayer.
