In the days ahead, the joy of the Lord will be essential. This is not the same type of joy that is typical of human experience, which is gladness rooted in emotion or an event, but it’s My joy – the fruit of the spirit. It’s the kind of joy that is sourced from Me and found only in Me because it’s an attribute of who I am. It’s with this same joy that Jesus went to the cross. And although His task was difficult, it made Him glad to do so because of the promise of the finished work and the reason for it: redemption.
Know that what I am doing now also has a redemptive purpose, the harvest is on My mind. With this joy, I accomplish what needs to be done no matter how it looks. I judge with joy because My righteous justice brings forth repentance, reconciliation, and restoration. As those created in My image, I say to you ‘Be in My likeness!’ By My Spirit, I have given you My attributes, and if I am all those things and I am in you, then BE My joy! You will need this as it will strengthen you amidst the chaos and as things shift and shake on earth. Let the fruit of the spirit, joy, rule you. Let it overtake you and be the catalyst for your actions and speech.
Though the coming days may be challenging, go through them with the joy of the Lord; the joy that is felt because it carries with it My heart knowing that as My hand moves and shakes the foundations of the earth, there is a promise of great harvest and restoration on the other side.
Fully step into your identity and as you do, you will see your own thoughts change as you align more with My thoughts and My ways. Your perspectives will change as you step into mine, and you will see situations and atmospheres around you shift. As you step into being Joy, you will then be able to pour out the oil of joy on others as you now become a beacon of light and a bastion of hope in the darkest hours.
Activation:
But the one who is united and joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
1 Corinthians 6:17 (AMP)
1 Corinthians 6:17 tells us that whoever is united with the Lord is one with Him in spirit. This means that we can access His attributes so that they become ours as well. Meditate on the fruit of the spirit found in Galatians 5:22.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22 (AMP)
Seek the Lord’s complete guidance on this asking Him to teach you His joy so that you can learn how it is different from the human experience. Then, ask the Lord to train you on how to embody the joy of the Lord.
Then Ezra said to them, “Go [your way], eat the rich festival food, drink the sweet drink, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be worried, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and your stronghold.”
Nehemiah 8:10 (AMP)
[looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, [a]disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].
Hebrews 12:2 (AMP)
Footnotes
[a] Hebrews 12:2 Sometimes the public shame of the cross is overlooked when one thinks of the pain and agony inflicted by it, but in the Roman Empire crucifixion was a shameful and disgraceful way to die, a form of capital punishment from which Roman citizens were exempt; and in Roman comedy it was used in a curse: “Go to a bad cross!”
#lionbites
Unapologetically Marcia 