![Joy[1]](https://authorjodiwoody.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/joy1.jpg)
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and JOY in the Holy Ghost (Rom 14:17) As Christians our joy should be “full.” We should have “joy unspeakable”. So why are so many Christians living short of that promise? Many of us look for that joy sometime in the distant future when we leave this earth by either rapture or death. We think our lot in life is to suffer and live in misery waiting on the promise. Some believers substitute the true joy of the Lord with self-righteousness or false humility, getting a fake joy out of their performances. Even this doesn’t last; they soon can’t keep the performance up and fall into shame and guilt. Others give up completely and turn to the world and fulfill lusts that bring only temporary happiness and never joy. Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus found joy in what was “set before him”, joy that allowed him to suffer on the cross. What was that joy? I believe it was the salvation of the world- saving of lost souls, the reconciling of all back to the Father. Only one thing could have kept him from receiving that joy, and that would have been giving in to his flesh. Satan tempted Jesus to do just that, a way contrary to God’s plan, but Jesus refused. We too have to crucify our flesh. We talk about how the Jews, the Centurions, Rome and even ourselves, killed Jesus. All are true. However, Jesus performed the TRUE Crucifixion (of his flesh) in the Garden… before a soldier ever touched a spike. He cried out to the Father in his hour of flesh sweating blood in his battle! In the end, HE crucified his flesh by saying, “not my will, Father, but yours.” Jesus received his joy! He chose to receive it! We do the crucifying, with God’s strength and help, and God gives us the joy! That joy is in conquering sin in our lives and leading others to Jesus. If Jesus’ joy was in the saving of souls, shouldn’t ours be too? Time is winding down. Can’t you feel how it is flying by! Are you crucifying your flesh, ridding your life of sin? Are you feeding your spirit with The Word? Are you building yourself up with your heavenly language? When the “shaking” begins, will you be able to stand? Are you “planting, watering and harvesting” souls? True revival is a heart hot on fire, in love, with God. But it is also the burning desire to see others come to the Father. Revival won’t happen without both. Where is your heart today?
Heb 12:1-27 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. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector 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. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.”
Tag Archives: Lord
Who Is My Enemy
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“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12
Our enemies are not made of flesh and blood. We all know that right? We’ve heard it preached, taught and we’ve read it ourselves in God’s word. People are not our enemies. But, honestly, that is hard to remember at times. We can be so easily irritated by that one person (or sometimes several different people). I have found myself, more times than I am comfortable admitting to, wanting to “lay hands on” someone because of their words or actions and it had nothing to do with prayer or imparting gifts! Or as my grandson likes to say “give them a five knuckle sandwich.” It’s easier to see the carrier, the messenger, than the real enemy. Our enemy is Satan. He comes to only kill, steal and destroy. He and his minions are spirit and can only operate through people. My pastor uses the term, “principalities that use personalities.” That person that antagonizes, manipulates, irritates, brings division and harm, is operating under the influence, and sometimes control, of an evil spirit and most of the time they aren’t even aware of that fact. There are those occasions that the only enemy is our own human nature, our own flesh, but we will leave that for another day.
There have been times that we have been hurt, or worse, had to watch a loved one be crushed under abusive behavior. We have all been affected by or witness to bullying, unfair treatment, discrimination and all of those other ugly behaviors, all products of the fallen world we live in. They stem from anger, bitterness, pride, selfishness and straight from the pit of hell. So how do we keep things in perspective? How do we not lash out in anger and revenge at those who have hurt, or continue to hurt us? How do we look past the flesh and blood person and see the evil lurking behind? First, we have to accept God’s love in our lives, His love for us and His love for others, including that person who has you wanting to behave in an ungodly way. We need to renew our minds, wash it out, with God’s word (Romans 12:2). When we love God’s law we aren’t easily offended (Psalm 119:165). When we stand on God’s word, write it on the tablets of our hearts and we allow God to fill us with His love we are slow to judge and quick to forgive. Love covers a multitude of sins, so it allows us to overlook some of the behavior (Proverbs 6:12). Another way that we can overlook the flesh is to remember at one time we were just like they were. There is a reason they are called “the lost”. We were unloving, backbiting, selfish children of our father, the devil.
Quite often the ones that hurt us the most are our own loved ones, family members, spouses, our Church family. Some are even professing Christians (I would say they may still have a lot of their carnal nature there, living by their senses). How do we handle that? First off remember that they are not the enemy! If someone has offended you, we are supposed to go to them. That can be harder than asking someone to forgive you, I know. Occasionally, you will find that they never intended to hurt and didn’t realize they even did. Sometimes they know they did, but refuse to admit fault or ask for forgiveness. If it’s a big deal, ask for leaders to help with the situation, if it is not a major thing, just shake the dust off of your feet and move on. Forgiveness isn’t an emotion, it’s a choice. You choose to forgive, whether they ever admit fault or not, and let your emotions catch up. When the behavior is continued, and the relationship is toxic, forgive, but don’t stay in relationship with that person. God never intended for abusive behavior to be part of a family. Sometimes we have to distance ourselves from people and their sin. Don’t be a part of sinful behavior. Forgiving isn’t saying what they did was acceptable or that you will allow the behavior to continue in your life. You are just letting the junk go out of your own heart and refusing to hold it against them. Forgive, but move on! Let go of the anger, hurt and pain and allow God to heal. Satan hates that. He loses the battle when you forgive.
I am not saying this is all easy! From time to time, we will all face the enemy with the face of a friend, or at least a human face. But look past that face of flesh and see the evil lurking behind. Rebuke the devil; arrest his plans in your life and the life of the person he is using. Our enemy is not a person with a different opinion, skin color, doctrine, faith or beliefs. Our enemy isn’t the rapist, murderer, adulterer or even that grouchy neighbor next door. Pray for those who seem to be your enemy, the person who is being used by Satan. Pray for those who despitefully use you. Be kind to those who have the enemy working in them. This heaps coals on the head of our true enemy. Love the un-loveable. Forgive those who have hurt you. Our enemy is spirit and must be fought with spiritual weapons. We use God’s word. How does he feel about that person, the situation, your reaction? Use the blood of Jesus. Plead the blood over your life and the life of that person who has hurt you. Testify of God’s goodness. What He is doing, has done, how He feels about you, and how much He loves you. Praise God, it stills the enemy and the avenger (makes him shut up and stop his attack.) Be slow to judge and quick to forgive. Satan hates that as well.
You’ll see it all gets easier. You’ll find yourself hurt and offended less. Your patience with people will be greater and your love stronger. Relationships will be restored. Families and Churches will have less division. We will be more careful of how we treat others. Life’s too short to hold grudges and allow bitterness to take over our lives. When we do that, Satan wins the battle and gains ground. None of us want that. The person you once saw as your worst enemy might just end up being a brother or sister in Christ. God want that. He doesn’t like their behavior any more than you do…but He LOVES them. He wants them found and accepted into the beloved.
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that your may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. There for take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with the truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness. And having shod you feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:10-18
Stop Your Grumbling
![15440323-legendary-ark-of-the-covenant-from-the-bible[1]](https://authorjodiwoody.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/15440323-legendary-ark-of-the-covenant-from-the-bible1.jpg)
I watched a good movie, just 26 minutes about the Tabernacle. Seeing the tabernacle was cool, but a scripture jumped out at me and I had to look it up and read the whole story. It really got me thinking. Here’s the story in a nut shell. Moses brought the people out of Egypt like God commanded him and along the way they grumbled and complained. It got so bad that at one point a guy named Korah and 250 of the “leaders”, prominent men, started thinking they could do better than Moses and Aaron. They said, “”You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?” Moses set up a way that would prove to them that God chooses who He wills. There was going to be a test! The 250 men were to bring incense to burn before the Lord. Then God tells Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from the people because He was going to just destroy them all! Moses pleads for the people and God tells them to, ‘Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’ Then God caused the earth to open up and swallow those men and their families. Then God sends fire and consumes the 250 leaders who had rose up against Moses and Aaron. I think that would have been the end of the complaining, but not these stiff-necked, hard-hearted people. They continued to grumble against Moses and Aaron (God’s chosen vessels!). So a plague comes, immediately and Aaron goes between the plague and the people and only 14,700 perish. I think that would have been the end of the complaining, but not these stiff-necked, hard-hearted people. They continued to grumble against Moses and Aaron (God’s chosen vessels!).
So Moses sets up another test. They were to bring the staff of the head of each tribe, writing their names on the staff. Numbers 17:6-11 shows what happened next, “So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron’s staff was among them. Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony. The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the house of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds. Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each man took his own staff. The LORD said to Moses, “Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.” Moses did just as the LORD commanded him.” Not only did it bud, but flowered and PRODUCED FRUIT! Was God saying that Aaron was perfect? NO! Aaron was a human with all of our messed up ways, but Aaron was CHOSEN of God to lead the people. I found it interesting that the ones who “rose up against” Moses and Aaron were all LEADERS! How many times have we seen people in leadership begin to think that they know better than the Pastor?
Now I come to the part of the movie that got me thinking. They show all the contents of the Ark of the Covenant. Each item put there as a reminder of something. The jar of Manna was there to remember God’s willingness to provide for His people. The stone tablets, a reminder of God’s covenant with His people and Aaron’s staff “to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.” Only three things were placed in the Ark. All VERY important, enough so that God wanted them preserved and handed down for generations. They are still in the Ark! This tells me how important it is that we honor and respect those that God has placed over us as our “Mother’s and Father’s in the Lord.” We don’t judge them as more than human, expect them to be perfect and without flaw! We honor the call, the anointing, the Gift! When we grumble and complain about them, God gets mad! He wanted to destroy everyone, not just the men who rose up against Moses and Aaron! Don’t allow yourself to think that someone else could do a better job, or God forbid that YOU could do a better job! God chooses who He wills! If someone else wants you to jump on their wagon of “discontent” refuse. Don’t even give place to the devil. Yes, he is the one, who sets our flesh on edge against our leaders. Tell him to shut-up, and crucify your flesh. Ask God where you are called to, who you are called under, and stay, support and respect His decision. Period!
Not Incomplete
Why do we as humans try to add to the work of Christ? Or why do we want to keep dragging Him back to the cross to re-crucify Him, as if the one time wasn’t enough? Charles Spurgeon says, “There is an inherent blasphemy in seeking to add to what Christ Jesus in His dying moments declared to be finished, or to improve that in which the Lord Jehovah finds perfect satisfaction. Trembling sinner, away with thy tools, and fall upon thy knees in humble supplication; and accept the Lord Jesus to be the altar of thine atonement, and rest in Him alone.” Jesus Himself declared, “And the one sitting on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true: It is finished!” (Rev 21:5-6) Jesus told John to even write it down, so that he would always remember and so that we would have these words forever! John shows us again in John 19:30 the scene of the cross stating, “So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.” What God Himself has declared as FINISHED, can we declare incomplete? Sometimes I think we must all be crazy! How patient the Father is. God gave me a picture of my frustrated efforts in the past. When I had been calling out to Jesus to ‘DO SOMETHING’. It was a half comical movie of a woman with the emaciated version of Christ (the way the old renaissance paintings portray Him, skinny and weak). He was lying on the ground, with the white loin cloth, rolling His eyes to heaven, while this woman had Him by the wrist, dragging Him back to the cross. In her other hand she held a big spike! I had to laugh and said, ‘how stupid”! Then God showed me her face! Yep, it was me! I didn’t even have to ask Him to explain. I got it. I know I am not the only one…admit it we’ve all been there at least once. But I am DETERMINED not to “crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame”. (Heb 6:6 NKJV) The work of the cross is not incomplete. We do not have to ‘earn it’! There is no work that we can do that is greater than what He already did! Jesus is not a man that He should lie! HE SAID IT IS FINISHED! Stand on that!
God’s Comfort
(Written previously)
Can I be honest? We all have our moments, those days when we wonder why we even got out of bed. When all the news seem bad, at worst, and less than what we hoped for, at best. What do we do with those moments? Usually I have a good cry (I said I was being honest). My day was like that today. Not the whole day, but enough to get the tears flowing. Then when I got home and walked into my kitchen, there was a big piece of paper on my fridge that said:
” But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises Hebrew 6:9-12.”
A message right from the Comforter! Sure, I am the one who printed it off and stuck it on my fridge, but I had originally printed it off for a friend who is facing a challenge this year, but decided “what the heck” and printed an extra copy for myself. God knew I would need it today.
Then my Spurgeon Devotional said, “”Trust in Him at all times.”Psalm 62:8 Faith is as much the rule of temporal as of spiritual life; we ought to have faith in God for our earthly affairs as well as for our heavenly business. It is only as we learn to trust in God for the supply of all our daily need that we shall live above the world. We are not to be idle, that would show we did not trust in God, who worketh hitherto, but in the devil, who is the father of idleness. We are not to be imprudent or rash; that were to trust chance, and not the living God, who is a God of economy and order. Acting in all prudence and uprightness, we are to rely simply and entirely upon the Lord at all times. Let me commend to you a life of trust in God in temporal things. Trusting in God, you will not be compelled to mourn because you have used sinful means to grow rich. Serve God with integrity, and if you achieve no success, at least no sin will lie upon your conscience. Trusting God, you will not be guilty of self-contradiction. He who trusts in craft, sails this way to-day, and that way the next, like a vessel tossed about by the fickle wind; but he that trusteth in the Lord is like a vessel propelled by steam, she cuts through the waves, defies the wind, and makes one bright silvery straightforward track to her destined haven. Be you a man with living principles within; never bow to the varying customs of worldly wisdom. Walk in your path of integrity with steadfast steps, and show that you are invincibly strong in the strength which confidence in God alone can confer. Thus you will be delivered from carking care, you will not be troubled with evil tidings, your heart will be fixed, trusting in the Lord. How pleasant to float along the stream of providence! There is no more blessed way of living than a life of dependence upon a covenant-keeping God. We have no care, for He careth for us; we have no troubles, because we cast our burdens upon the Lord.”
We can’t change some things. Period. But we can change how we react, and how we see things. I’ve had my cry, a short one this time, now I am choosing to see things through the eyes of my loving Father. I choose to accept the comfort of the Holy Spirit, who does His job well. I choose to “rely simply and entirely upon the Lord at all times”, especially those moments that are hard. Amen
Today’s Joy
I had to ask myself today, “Do I have joy in my life?” Not happiness, which is a fickle friend, but that inner joy in my spirit. You know the joy that has absolutely nothing to do with our circumstances. My honest answer is “not as often as I should”, and some days, (especially lately, as our family is going through a trail), I have to admit, “not very often.” It is so easy to allow the mundane experiences of our lives, or the frustrating circumstances chase away our joy. But, if joy isn’t dependent on our circumstances, then how does that happen? I believe it is when we lose our gratitude. It’s easy to take our eyes off of Jesus and put them on our problems, especially if those around us are hurting. Or to simply lose patience with our dreams because they seem so slow in coming.
Even in the midst of hard situations, we can maintain a thankful heart. Sometimes we get stuck in the ‘thank-you-for” rut where we rattle off our tiny list, you know the same one every time. Mine includes, hubby, kids, grandkids, food I eat, house, cars and Church, or pretty close. That just shows we are either in a hurry, or can’t see past our nose. When we slow down and make the effort to be thankful, we can see so many things, people, places that touch our lives. A few examples: a babies smile, doesn’t even have to by your baby, any baby smiling, the smell of lilacs on a damp spring morning. Then there are those things that we really aren’t too thankful for. This category is hard for me, shoveling snow, giving the dog a bath, dealing with that one person who rubs me the wrong way. Yes, we need to be thankful for those things. God has a purpose and a plan for our lives, and part of that plan is for us to work hard, love people, be a witness at our jobs.
It seems like the last few months, my family has been under it. Most due to some poor choices of one family member and the rest either come along with the territory, or just because we have a real enemy. So though it’s been tough, I have still been able to find joy in the middle of it all. If I was a spiritual superhero, I could say I held onto my joy the whole time, but sadly I am not. I can say that I know right were to find it. Because in all truthfulness, despite what I said earlier, nothing can chase or steal our joy away. We lay it down, sometimes absentmindedly, like a spare pair of reading glasses. Psalms 16:11 “You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand there are pleasured for evermore.” We find our joy in the presence of God. Simple really. Sometimes we willingly lay down our joy to trade it for fleeting happiness or satisfaction. Usually that comes out of willful sin, which includes harboring bitterness, and nursing un-forgiveness. We lay down our joy when we disobey God.
How do we hold on to our joy? By being thankful, a heart full of gratitude. When we keep our minds fixed on Jesus, His promises, His goodness, and remember those who have gone before us, we can keep that unspeakable joy in our lives. Hebrews 12:1-3 “therefor, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrances and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of he throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and love heart.”
Standing in Faith
This was originaly written on June 8th, 2010 (After being diagnosed with a heart condition that needed surgery)
I had to do some housecleaning today, natural and spiritual. I commanded the spirits of infirmity, self pity and despair to leave my home. Isn’t it funny how without daily upkeep our houses get messy? Well it works the same way with our spirit. If we don’t maintain our faith, get rid of those “un-Godly” beliefs and replace them with the Word of God, things get out right nasty. As I ran the vacuum and got rid of all the cobwebs that had been accumulating in my house, I realized the areas of neglect in my spiritual walk. You can do much soul searching while setting your natural house in order. God is so patient with us, and so encouraging. He really has been so loving to me. One day I was complaining to God about my being ill, and not receiving a healing, and like a petulant toddler said, “Jesus do you even know how I feel, you are God, were you ever even sick a day in your life?” and my patient Lord chuckled at me, just like a parent when their child, makes an illogical accusation, and replied, “Only while on the cross, when I bore your infirmities, and those of everyone else.” What could I answer …besides to see Him in pain on that cross…cry and ask Him to forgive my self pity. Another day, as I lay in bed, feeling very sorry for myself and even more confused, I cried and begged, “Why do I have to go through all of this again! Why do I have to have surgery! Why, why, why!” I was in despair. I received no answer from God, no great revelation, no reason for my suffering. My mind rolled and whined until finally I was too tired to even make sense. It was then I heard, so clearly, “I LOVE YOU”. I sniffed, took a breath, sighed in surrender and said, “I love you too.” I closed my eyes and slept in peace. Friends and Family, God doesn’t condemn us-He loves. Yes, he chastens, (for me quit frequently recently), but always from the heart of a Loving Father. Jesus knows our pain, He cried out to His Father begging for another way, but in the end, He did the will of His Father. Let us do the same. We may not like the path set before us, it may look dark and scary. But He who knows best will light our way! He’ll give us the strength, and walk there beside us. He will deliver my healing! I can count on Him! He is ever loving, and ever FAITHFUL!
P.S. The surgery was not finished due to “equipment malfunction”, what the doctors couldn’t fix, God totally healed!