Yet We Are Joy Filled

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for He has been raised, just as He said. Come and see the place where He was lying. Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead. He is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see Him there.’ Listen, I have told you!” So they left the tomb quickly, with fear and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples.  Matthew 28:5-8 NET

Hurting lives will find in Jesus the consolation that we have found in God.  Thus our Joy becomes contagious, “pouring” into those around us with His Joy! Sounds tangled but its so simple, God is joy. Jesus brings joy, Holy Spirit shares joy. 

And I totally believe it is possible for Jesus’ followers to be joyful and afraid at the same time. Then and now. When an angel told the women who came to His tomb that He had risen from the dead, they were “afraid yet filled with joy.” 

So do not let fear keep you from experiencing the Joy of His Presence. It is not a luxury reserved for times when our problems—and the crises in the world—seem under control. His presence is everyday, when deep in grief and anguish as much as when celebrating. 

John 16:22 NET So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

Jesus Christ’s loving Presence is ours to enjoy today, tomorrow, and forever! Do not give in to joyless living by letting worries about the present or the future weigh you down. 

Instead, remember that neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from God’s Love.

Talk with Him about your fears, expressing your thoughts and feelings freely. Think on it, we can relax in His Presence and entrust all our concerns to Him. 

Then ask God to bless you with His Joy, which no one can take from you.  The more often we turn our thoughts to Him, the more we will enjoy His perfect Peace and deep joy. 

Matthew 9:36  When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 

Turning our thoughts to God also demonstrates our trust in Him. Even undesired things such as pain and problems can be reminders to communicate with God in prayer and worship. Focusing on Jesus’ Presence protects us from getting stuck on problems— like always going over and over them in our mind without making any progress, in fact stumbling backwards instead of leaping forward in faith, into the arms of God. 

And it blows me away that Jesus Christ is not a, one-dimension, messiah. He flipped tables. He walked on water. Our Lord felt great compassion, and that compassion motivated His sacrificial actions done in love. 

How many times have you been given an opportunity but your focus quickly falls off Jesus? In our modern day and age we're more focused on what we want the way we want it. We want our desires in a fast, easy, and comfortable way.  We want whatever we are doing or whatever we own to make us happy. But that is not true joy. 

Most of us have no problem doing Jesus' work as long as it fits into our schedule and satisfies our surface need for emotional happiness ..... then we take our eyes of Jesus and become focused on the wind, the storm, and depth of the water and we forget our Savior has called us to do the impossible. 

With impossible trust, faith AND joy. Imagine if Peter kept his focus on Jesus the entire time. What other impossible things would he have been able to accomplish? 

Isaiah 26:3 NET You keep completely safe the people who maintain their faith, for they trust in You.

Maybe you have been through some rough stuff in your life and are not proud of all the decisions you have made. I know I’m not. And maybe we let ourselves become listless and joyless thinking we haven’t always measured up to God’s standard, but that does not mean we are not valuable to God. 

The fact is, despite our choices, despite our past, despite our wrinkles, our value in God’s eyes has not changed. He alone gets to decide our worth. And through His grace, forgiveness, compassion and peace He provides, strength, joy and certainty in shaky times. 

It’s the same with Jesus Christ. He loves us unfailingly through the ages, yesterday and today.  Jesus has made Himself available to us. We might not feel worthy to come to Him, but He is trying to get to you.

He loves you and me and came to this earth to save us, to give us a future and a hope. Jesus walked in love because He IS love. It was about Jesus Christ two thousand years ago and it’s all about Jesus Christ today.  He is our strength. The Joy of the Lord is our strength. 

I want to take a second and say how grateful I am that The Lord gave us motorcycles. It has taught me how to fall, how to get back up, how to overcome, but most importantly it has taught me how to find joy in the process. In our lives there is a risk with every opportunity we chase after. 

If we want to pray bold prayers for changed lives we need to learn to accept that it probably will not be a “safe” journey. We’re going to struggle, we’re going to hurt, and we’re going to fall. Where we find our joy is in the hope that Jesus is constantly preparing us for our purpose here on Earth and for our eternal stay in His kingdom. 

We’re so quick to replace joy with superficial interests, movies, entertainment. Let us remember our identity is found in Jesus alone. He has blessed us with so much more than we deserve. 

He loves us with a love that surpasses our understanding. Let’s rejoice up on the mountain and find joy in the valleys. Let us focus on Jesus, stay prepared to battle, reevaluate, adapt, overcome, and find joy in the process. God has chosen you to live, love, and change the world in a way that only you can do. 

No matter the situation, The Lord is with you through every dark day. Trust in Him and let Him guide you to find the joy in falling. And in the joy of standing up, dusting off and stepping forward again.