Everlasting Joy!

Isa 35:10  And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

There will be a day when we will know only joy. That day isn't now.  For now we are allowed to experience tribulation, but even in tribulation we are allowed hope. Hope not that things will change right now, that evil will cease to rear its ugly head murdering, torturing all it can using men and women, young and old as the vessels to carry out its horrific acts. We can't hope things will change now, we aren't told to hope evil stops now. We are to place our hope in CHRIST and His promises! Future hope even as we shed tears, endless tears for this world's evil. Our hope is for when our Savior returns and all evil ends!  May we all have our hope realized, our faith rewarded with our heavenly Savior's return. May He know each of us and call us to meet Him in the air!
Please, Lord, we would know everlasting Joy in YOU!

Isa 35:1  The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 

Isa 35:2  It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. 

Isa 35:3  Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. 

Isa 35:4  Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. 

Isa 35:5  Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 

Isa 35:6  Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. 

Isa 35:7  And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. 

Isa 35:8  And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. 

Isa 35:9  No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: 

Isa 35:10  And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 

Good Cheer and Tribulation.

Believing.

There is a lot to be said about belief, but what makes one person believe and another not believe?

Why do some have faith and others no faith?

We do know that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. When we ask people to believe, to have faith, we are asking them to believe in something they can't see, but hope for it any way.  God asks us to have faith. To believe without seeing, to hope without seeing.  There is so much in this world that seeks to break our faith. We look at the things of this world - the awful things of this world and then tell ourselves that a loving God wouldn't allow suffering, He wouldn't allow the awful things of this world. Our hope is not for this world or the things in this world. Our Savior doesn't sugar-coat a single thing- we are told this--

Joh_16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

We can actually EXPECT tribulation. All of us can expect tribulation, no one is given a special pass- not a single person. Our Savior is HONEST and UPFRONT with us, He doesn't try to hide any truth from us. Our being of good cheer is found in believing Christ Jesus our Savior where the only peace we can hope for exists.

Some people believe and others don't because those who don't are blinded- loving only what they can see and touch. To believe in our Savior is to admit our need of a Savior, to know there is a better life beyond what this world offers to us, to have hope in the unseen.

We can be of good cheer because our Savior overcame this world. Our good cheer is found in Christ, not in ourselves.

Do you want to be happy? Then you have to put your faith, your hope all in Christ. No evil will ever stop the truth that our Savior died for us, to offer us salvation through HIM. May we look to Him our HOPE.

We can't forget that in this world we WILL have tribulation, but we can be of good cheer through our Savior! All by His love, all by His grace, all by His mercy!!! Now and forever!!!!!!!

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Joh 3:1  There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 

Joh 3:2  The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 

Joh 3:4  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

Joh 3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 

Joh 3:8  The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 

Joh 3:9  Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 

Joh 3:10  Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 

Joh 3:11  Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 

Joh 3:12  If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 

Joh 3:13  And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 

Joh 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 

Joh 3:15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

Joh 3:18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 

Joh 3:20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 

Joh 3:21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. 

Joh 3:22  After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. 

Joh 3:23  And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. 

Joh 3:24  For John was not yet cast into prison. 

Joh 3:25  Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. 

Joh 3:26  And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. 

Joh 3:27  John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. 

Joh 3:28  Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. 

Joh 3:29  He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. 

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease. 

Joh 3:31  He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. 

Joh 3:32  And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. 

Joh 3:33  He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. 

Joh 3:34  For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. 

Joh 3:35  The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. 

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. 

Sing!

Sing!

Praising the Lord in song!

Making JOYFUL noise to the Lord!

Do we do this often enough?

How many people sing praises to the Lord only occasionally? Shouldn't we sing daily? Our noise should be joyful, and LOUD.  We should be rejoicing in the Lord as often as we can. Singing daily, and often during the day as we are able.  Truly there is a blessing as we sing to the Lord, drawing us ever closer to Him. He is our Rock, our Salvation, our Hope, our everything. We are close to the Lord as the Spirit moves in us and we lift our voices loud in song unto our God.

May we all find joy, find hope, fine peace in praising our God in song!

Psa 98:1  A Psalm. O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. 

Psa 98:2  The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen. 

Psa 98:3  He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 

Psa 98:4  Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. 

Psa 98:5  Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. 

Psa 98:6  With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King. 

Psa 98:7  Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. 

Psa 98:8  Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together 

Psa 98:9  Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity. 

Only by living in God's love can we represent Him.

Eph 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God

No more strangers, no more foreigners….but FELLOWCITIZENS with the saints and of the household of God.

Yesterday this was mentioned--

'This world is NOT our world and if this world is NOT our world, but we are truly ambassadors of heaven we need to be representing heaven right here and now to all who can see us, to all that can know us. Heaven is our home, we are here on this earth for an ambassadorship …'

We are not stranger or foreigners to GOD.

We ARE fellow citizens in the HOUSEHOLD of GOD!

This is reality. We are ambassadors, we are fellow citizens all of HEAVEN, all of GOD.

Do we REALLY live like we are citizens of God's household? How should we live as we represent our heavenly home, our Heavenly Father?

We need to live in HIS LOVE. Only by living in His love can we represent Him.

*******

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 

Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 

Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 

Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 

Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast. 

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 

Eph 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 

Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 

Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 

Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 

Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 

Eph 2:16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 

Eph 2:17  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 

Eph 2:18  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 

Eph 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 

Eph 2:20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 

Eph 2:21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 

Eph 2:22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. 

Heaven's Ambassadors.

2Co 5:20  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. 

2Co 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 

*******

We have been given the word of reconciliation. We ARE ambassadors for CHRIST. We are reconciled to GOD.

When a person is given an ambassadorship what does that mean? In my understanding that person NOW represents those who gave them the ambassadorship to others. We understand it in terms of our country having an ambassador to another country. They represent us to that other country. So if we are ambassadors for Christ then we are a part of Christ's country and representatives of Christ's country, which is heaven. We are ambassadors of heaven to all those living upon the earth. Heaven has a lot of ambassadors but truthfully there are a lot more people who are of the earth than there are those who are truly of heaven. This world isn't the world we want to belong to.

Jesus said this--

Joh_8:23  And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

Joh_12:31  Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

Joh_14:30  Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

Joh_16:11  Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

Joh_18:36  Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence

And Paul said this--

Eph_6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

This world is NOT our world and if this world is NOT our world, but we are truly ambassadors of heaven we need to be representing heaven right here and now to all who can see us, to all that can know us. Heaven is our home, we are here on this earth for an ambassadorship that may last into our 70's, our 80s, our 90's and so on. Our ambassadorship may last several decades but it will forever be an ambassadorship as long as God is our Father, Christ is our Savior, and heaven our true home.  We are kept here as active ambassadors for as long as our Lord needs us to be and then we sleep death's sleep until our Savior returns and that last trump sounds and we are called from our graves and taken to heaven!  Our sleep death will not even claim us as belonging to earth, our sleep death is temporary until our Savior wakes us and finally calls us to our home, our ambassadorship over.

All praise, glory and honor, all thanksgiving unto our Father in Heaven, all through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, by the Holy Spirit now and forever!!!!!!!

The Ultimate Vessel.

Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 

Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 

Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 

Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 

Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 

Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 

We forget we are children… REALLY CHILDREN. We've labeled ourselves adults and called ourselves independent. We praise those who make it on their own, who makes something of themselves,  who have grown up nice and mature, polite, respectful, generous, kind, and prosperous. We love being able to say 'our children' have wonderful lives, they take care of themselves and are raising a wonderful family of their own. We would so love to be able to say that we are successful adults.

Yet, we are counting our success and our children's success on a level so far away from the spiritual we no longer care so much if we or our children have a true spiritual walk with Christ but rather if we appear to be a success to the world around us, to our families, to our friends, to our peers.

We in turn are very quick to label ourselves and our children failures when we've not met the proper criteria of those who are able to call themselves successes.

By WHOSE measuring stick have we measured our success or failure? Man's or God's.  If you say God's and go on to tell me how God has given you so much goodness, I may just have to ask you if you've been chastened by God, if you've suffered scourging by the Lord.

If you call yourself a spiritual failure, I may have to ask you if you are the Potter or the Clay in the Potter's hand. Only the Potter can determine if the clay is a failure or not.  We like to pretend we are the potter and the clay as well, but that's not true. We want to determine when we've had enough refining, enough chastisement but the truth is when a parent is striving to raise a child they determine when the child needs chastisement, they don't let the child decide because children will quickly decide that the very least chastisement is necessary so they don't have to suffer at all.

Most parents will never call their children (adult children as well) failures, because they hold out hope that an errant child will see their wrong ways and mend them. 

Why are we quick to label ourselves failures when we seem to suffer endless chastisement? Probably because if we are constantly chastising our own children we begin to believe they'll never learn. However, throughout a child's life there are different levels of chastisement each fit for the maturity level of the child. You generally won't have to chastise an older child in the way you do a younger one. Your teenager will still need to be chastised after fourteen years of constant off and on chastisement for various age appropriate infractions. You won't stop chastising your child at ten years old and never chastise them again. In fact I'm sure there are plenty of parents that have no problem continuing the chastising where needed of adult children well up there in years. As long as they're a parent and they note where a child may be erring, they'll want to correct the child.

So why can't we comprehend that as children of God we will never truly be in a position to no longer be chastised by our heavenly Father, at least not until our Savior returns and sin is eradicated?

We need to recognize that a lot of our inability to count our temptations, our trials, our tribulations, all joy is because we take on the stance that what we are coping with is unfair and awful, and a part of us wants to question God as to why we must suffer even when we already know the answer. We would rather cry, "Woe is me!" than count our suffering joy. Pain and suffering is AWFUL- so why can some endure it stoically and others crumble? Do we even pray to be able to count it joy, or rather that it simply stops and things go back to when they weren't so awful?  We are put through our tribulations and trials and through them all our steadfastness in the faith is what is being put on trial. The refining and scourging in the Potter's hand will mold the clay more perfectly- in faith.

What may appear for all intents and purposes to be unsuccessful lives in the worldly way could be lives filled with refining for the ultimate perfect vessel belonging to Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior!

Christ's Joy.

Joh 15:10  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 

Joh 15:11  These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 

Joh 15:12  This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 

Love one another and our Savior's JOY MIGHT remain in us, and if our Savior's Joy remains in us our JOY MIGHT be full.

How do we love another?

1Co 13:4  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 

1Co 13:5  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 

1Co 13:6  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 

1Co 13:7  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 

Love suffers long.

Love is kind.

Love doesn't envy.

Love doesn't vaunt.

Love isn't puffed up.

Love does not rejoice in evil.

Love rejoices in truth.

Love bears all things.

Love believes all things.

Love hopes all things.

Love endures all things.

So if we are loving one another it means a lot more than our saying we love someone. It's easy to use the word love, but much harder to truly love. We often agree that we hurt those we love, but it shouldn't be that way, should it? If we want Jesus' JOY in us so that our JOY might be full, we need to LOVE one another and it must be loving in truth, it must be the love of our Savior.

LOVE suffers.

LOVE bears ALL things.

LOVE endures ALL things.

Yet we don't want this sort of love. We don't want to suffer, we don't want to bear unpleasantness, or endure bad situations. We do all we can to eliminate our suffering, any unpleasantness, and any thing that is hard to endure. Yet we LOVE when we are suffering, bearing, and enduring. We want to stop loving, we try to harden our hearts against those who cause us to suffer, we strive to protect ourselves from being hurt by closing ourselves off.

Our Savior's joy in us, so that it is possible for our joy to be full, tells us we need to LOVE one another.

Our LOVE should not be held on the condition we are never hurt by our loved one, that we never suffer from something a loved one does.  We only have control over our love not another's. If the ones we love do not love us back do we in turn stop loving? NO, never.  We, like our Savior, all by HIS grace through the Holy Spirit, must be willing to lay down our lives for others. If we are willing to lay down our lives, shouldn't we be willing to lay down the self-love in ourselves that keeps us from loving others MORE than ourselves? Aren't we often hurt by others when we focus on ourselves telling ourselves that we don't deserve to be hurt? If we let go of self- and put on Christ instead, Christ would continue to love even as the abuse rains down upon Him.

God- help us to love others as You would have us love them, so Christ's joy might be in us and our joy might be full!