DONE , DONE

2 Cor. 11:31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I
am not lying.

I was done, I didn’t want to be a pastor, I didn’t want to be around Christians, I didn’t want to be in church. My real problem was that I was stuck. I had nowhere else to go or nothing else I could do. I was not only done, I was stuck. I had no joy. That’s when in one day everything changed. In a moment of time, after receiving prayer, the joy of The Lord fell on me. Not the kind of joy that comes from some sort of break through or some sort of tangible blessing. No, I was experiencing supernatural joy that comes from the presence of The Lord. The joy of The Lord literally swallowed me up. That changed everything. Suddenly, I loved everything again. I loved church, I loved Christians (even though they can be miserable), and I loved The Lord. I was tasting His joy, the joy that goes on forever. Here is how Jonathan Edwards describes the joy of The Lord.

“this happiness of God’s is eternal. He is happy from eternity; as His being is, so is His happiness. He has no beginning. His happiness neither is nor ever was a new thing. ‘Tis with all the happiness of creatures which shows its imperfection, as to be young argues imperfection. The happiness of the saints preceded by misery. God bestows new light and new favor upon them whereby they have new happiness, such as they have never experienced before; they are brought out of misery into happiness, and can say that they never knew what true joy and true peace were before. No part of His happiness is new. His happiness was the same before the world was created, and so it is to everlasting. None can ever deprive Him out of it. The glory of earthly kingdoms comes to an end. The glory of the visible world will cease; the brightness of the sun that has continued for so many ages will vanish away – but the happiness of God never will come to an end. And therefore He is said to be blessed forevermore.”

Wow! The joy of The Lord never ends. It doesn’t end when tragedy strikes, it doesn’t end when dreams remain unfulfilled, it won’t even stop when this world wears out. The joy of The Lord is eternal. This joy has become my joy. The joy of The Lord is my strength. Neither lack nor abundance, success or failure effects this joy. The joy of The Lord is bigger than any circumstance because it is not part of this creation. Today, His joy can become your joy.