Tag Archives: rejoice

Fighting for Joy

Season of Joy? Maybe. Reposted 12/22

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Holiday stress is real, just Google the term. Most of us are adding additional spending, shopping, decorating, cleaning and traveling to lives which already lack the margin.

Add over eating, under exercising and family dysfunctions and you understand the following exchange in the movie “Christmas Vacation.”

To his father, Clark Griswold asks, “How did you get through it?”

“I had a lot of help from Jack Daniels,” his dad replied.

Compare Grandpa Griswold’s  response to that of the magi when they saw the star above where the baby Jesus  lay.

And when they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. Matthew 2:10

Debilitating stress, numbed with alcohol compared with having great joy?

We’ve gotten way off track.

The wise men’s  joy was a  reaction to the coming of  Emmanuel – God with us. They got it.  God coming to earth in human form is a reason to rejoice exceedingly with great joy.

“In your presence is fullness of joy.” Psalm 16:11b

If we want to experience true joy in a society fighting to keep Christ out of Christmas, we must fight to keep Christ in the center of every aspect of our lives.

The Magi’s joy preceded the timeless sacrifice Jesus would make for the sins of men.

Jesus said, “Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears My words, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” John 5:34

The word “believe”  above means  to commit to, trust in and rely upon.

If you have believed in Jesus in this way, the following facts are true about you:

  • You’re not an orphan, but are a true child of God
  • You’ve been given an inheritance which includes the Indwelling Holy Spirit and an Eternal home
  • You’ve been made into a new creations, freed from the penalty of the law
  • You’ve been given supernatural peace, hope and joy which transcends all earthly circumstances
  • Your purpose is now clear. You’re to love others as Christ has loved you
  • You don’t need anything other than passionately loving Jesus to give you the same joy the magi experienced

Pause: Don’t rush past these glorious facts. The tremendous significance of the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf is a reason for even greater joy than the wise men experienced.

No matter how stressed we feel in this busy season, we must fight to find our joy in Jesus and what he’s done for us.

No matter how disappointed we feel when expectations aren’t met, we must fight to remember the significance of God coming to earth as a man to die a death in our place and to grant us lasting peace.

No matter what devastating circumstance we may face, we must fight to  guard our hearts and bring our pain to Jesus, asking him to lighten us with the joy of His presence.

And no matter how magical the season becomes with family and gifts and celebration, we must fight to keep Jesus in the center of our affections.

No matter how society tries to take Christ out of Christmas, we must never forget the significance of  Emmanuel.  The calendars we use are based on His coming.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, you are our true Joy. This world is filled with grief and loss, but You’re always the answer. I’m sorry for when I’ve allowed other ‘joys’ to compete with you in the deep affections of my heart. Please help me guard my heart. Show me quickly when I care too much about the world around me that I forget about you. And when pain threatens to steal my joy, keep me delighting in you all the day.

Thank you that if I had nothing on earth but your love and the hope of my eternal home with you, these facts alone would be reasons for exceeding great joy.

We celebrate You.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Philippians 4:4

Hope Remains, latest novel by the author

Joy, Jumping for Joy

Jumping for Joy; It Happens in Football, but what about the Rest of Life?

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Let the godly ones exult in glory; Let them sing for joy on their beds. Psalm 149:5

If you’ve believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ and have received His love demonstrated by His death for you on a Roman cross, the verse above applies to you. You are a “godly” one because of what Christ did for you and you can exult in His glory.

The word “exult” literally means to jump for joy. You may not think you know how to do this, but I bet you do, especially if you’re a football fan.

We’ll get back to the verse later, but first an example of exulting:

Think about two football teams. Your team and the one you love to hate. You know, the one you pull against no matter who they play.

Against all odds, these two teams have made it to the National Championship or the Super Bowl. You’re at the game,  on the 50 yard line, with your favorite person in world.

But things are looking bleak. Your team’s down by five points with 27 seconds to go and your hated team has the ball on your 22 yard line. They are trying to run out the clock. It’s 4th down and one and you have one time out.

Just to be sure you don’t get the ball and throw a miraculous “hail Mary,” your rival coach decides to put a dagger in your heart by kicking a field goal. After all, their offensive line is the best in the country and their kicker hasn’t missed from within 55 yards all season.

You can hardly watch as the teams line up. As expected It’s a good snap, a clean hold and a solid kick. The football sails between the goal posts with plenty to spare. It’s over. You hang your head in defeat.

But wait. Your coach used your last time out right before the snap. They’ll have to kick it again.

After the time out, the play starts off just like the previous one. A good snap, clean hold and a  solid kick. But your best defensive lineman, a senior who’s been hurt for the last month, was inserted into the play for his height during the time out. You hadn’t noticed.

As the kick reaches the line, your man, lined up over center, jumps as high as he can with arms stretched out, nicks the ball. This sends the ball spinning off course, landing near the goal line in fair territory.

Your rookie safety spots the ball and picks it up right in front of a tight end from the opposition. Your man has to spin into the end zone to avoid being tackled. Meanwhile, your team sees what’s happened and begins to block off a wall along the sidelines.

Hope re-ignites in your heart. Fans making their way to the exits freeze in astonishment. The rookie races along the sidelines, but the other team has a contingent hemming him off from his path to glory.

Around mid field, two defenders converge. Your man has no hope but to change course and breaks sharply toward the middle of the field. But as he does, he runs into the right guard, who grabs him firmly by the jersey. As the rookie turns to escape, he sees a teammate coming up quickly along the sideline behind him. Before his knee hits the ground, he shuffles the ball to his racing teammate.

Like the rookie, your new hero is forced to abandon the sideline route. He cuts across the field behind the tacklers who had focused on the rookie.

At the 30 yard line, he is able to escape a would be tackler and turns the corner, heading down the opposite sideline. The path seems clear, but out of the pack emerges a defender with tremendous speed converging on your guy. There’ll be an inevitable collision around the five yard line.

But just as the defender reaches the point of impact, your hero comes to a complete stop, causing the dashing defender to tumble out of bounds in front of him. Your guy then dances into the end zone.

Touchdown! The clock shows zeros. You are champions! You and half the crowd, including many on the steps and exit ramps, jump for joy. A deafening shout and triumphant cry erupts. You continue to jump and shout, hugging your friend in ecstasy.

You may not have experienced this kind of jumping for joy at a football game, but hopefully you could feel what exulting is like.

Let’s turn to life.  As improbably and exciting as the football victory, it can’t be compared to rejoicing in the glory of God in Christ Jesus. Being joyous for your team is good for awhile, but it won’t last.

Having that kind emotion for the weighty value of God Almighty and your future eternity with Him, is exponentially more exciting than anything we can dream of on earth.

“Let the godly ones exult in glory; Let them sing for joy on their beds.”

Regardless of your present circumstances, you have more reason to jump for joy and shout in gladness than all the fans of all the championship teams of all sports throughout all of time.

Challenge: Take a moment to focus on what Christ has done for you. Set aside your present temporary circumstances. Jesus loves you as much as God the Father loves him. He demonstrated this love for you by dying in your place, securing your place in with God forever.

Even now Christ,  by His Holy Spirit, has taken up residence in your life, filling your heart with joy.

And there’s more. Consider the following verse:

“The Lord your God is in your midst,
A [victorious warrior.
He will exult over you with joy,
He will [b]be quiet in His love,
He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.  Zephaniah 3:17

 Want another reason to jump for joy? The Lord your God jumps for joy because of you.

Open your heart to Joy.