Psalms 5:1-12 “Give ear to my words, O LORD, Consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, For to You I will pray. My voice you shall hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning I will direct it to you, and I will look up. For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, Nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple. Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; Make Your way straight before my face. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction; Their throat is an open tomb; They flatter with their tongue. Pronounce them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels; Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, For they have rebelled against You. But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You. For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield.” Again we see the Psalmist seeking the comfort and strength of knowing The Lord is hearing his cry and answering his prayer in the midst of wicked and ungodly people. Our faith is often tested mightily when we encounter those seem to have very false and ungodly agenda’s in life. People can hurt you and hurt you deeply. Over the years many times I have been faced with the question why do evil people seem to prosper when many times good Godly people suffer. The fact is in our flesh it doesn’t make sense at all. Many times leaving us confused and hurt. It could be we need to change the way we look what defines prosperity. In this world a saving relationship with Christ and an obident walk is truly what we need to bring us joy. Happiness and joy can be two very different things. Happiness can be very temporary and most of the time what makes us happy right now can bring disappointment later. A new car brings happiness it’s clean and oh that new car smell the tires are new and is fun for a while. But then the first payment comes and the oil needs changing or something breaks and it spends a little time in the shop and all of a sudden it’s just a car. You were happy for a while but that happiness turns to routine pretty quick. And we do that with so many things. Happiness is fleeting! Christ desires we have joy, joy and happiness are two very separate things a moment of happiness can come from many places where true joy only can come from Christ. John 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. Here he says “ My joy” that not joy that comes from circumstances, other people, a feeling you have or getting something you want. His Joy is dependent on your obedient relationship with Him. So many times we struggle with life because we are living to be happy for a season instead of desiring to close to Christ in our daily walk. III John 1:4 “ I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” Hebrews 12: “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Think about this Jesus found Joy in the cross the most horrible suffering we can ever imagine and yet Jesus found Joy why? How? It was not the suffering that brought the joy but the results of His suffering. It was the fact that because of that Cross countless numbers have been gloriously save by His precious blood that was shed on that cross. It was His suffering that purchased our salvation. James 1:2 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials” Galatians 5:22&23 “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Nothing here about you getting what you want or God being happy because you are happy it’s about Christ being alive in you. As you look at these fruits of the Spirit we see a list of Godly traits that become real in our lives as we begin to grow and mature in Him. So many times we allow things like jealousy, greed insecurity and fear to rob us of joy and they should these are not the things God wants to grow in our lives. God does have a wonderful plan and a glorious future for His children. Joy is not about what you have in front of you right now. But about Christ living in and through you. Prosperity is who you are in Christ not what you have in the bank. Instead of fretting over why the wicked seem to prosper pray for their salvation. God Bless………………Pastor Mike
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 00:33:51 +0000
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