"Guard Your Joy"

"...for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10b 

We have an adversary who goes about seeking whom he may devour. He comes to steal, kill and destroy. One of the things he desires to steal from us is our joy. He wants to steal it because that is where our strength lies. 

 

He tries to steal it through many different avenues. He will try to steal it through broken relationships, through the loss of employment, through a bad report, through sickness, through a time of sorrow, etc. Therefore, we must guard against allowing our joy to be stolen. We can't stop bad things from happening in our lives. This life is full of tribulation. But we can stop him from stealing our joy when bad things happen.

 

How do we guard and protect our joy? Through praise. When things come to try to steal our joy, then is when we should offer up a sacrifice of praise. No, we aren't praising the Lord for the bad thing, we are praising Him in spite of it. We are praising Him because He is faithful- faithful to see us through. We praise Him for His love- His love that covers us. We praise Him for His grace-- grace that is sufficient for whatever we face. We praise Him for His mercy-- that endures forever. We praise Him for His abiding presence with us-- He never leaves nor forsakes us. We focus on Him instead of the "storm" or the problems that we are facing.

 

Have a great day. The enemy wants to steal your strength. So, guard your joy, because that is where your strength lies.

 

For further reading:

John 10:10; 16:33

1 Peter 5:8