The Joy of the Lord is my strength

Nehemiah 8:10 Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, tand send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

I had just started a new job, and one of my colleges finds out that I am a preacher, and a Christian. He make this remark: Gøran, of all the people at this work, you ware the LAST person I believed was a Christian. I was shocked and ashamed about that statement, and replied: Why is that? He said, because you are always happy! You make everyone around you feel good. I thought Christians were suppose to be frowning and grouchy.

One of my favorite statements of Jeff Arnold is: If you really have the Joy that you claim you have, why don’t you tell your face?

Joy is our strength. Joy is our weapon against the enemy. But it is not our joy. It is a supernatural joy. It’s the Joy of the LORD. The joy comes from him. As long as I stay in him, I have Joy. And this Joy is my weapon against the enemy.

Have a joyful day.

Who shall separate me from his Love?

Rom 8:35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

….38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Before the long list of things, Paul asks WHO shall separate us from the Love of Christ? He didn’t say What shall separate us. There is nothing we do, and nothing other people may do that can separate us from his love. It may feel that he has stopped loving us, when we go though tribulation and distress. Just like a child being corrected may feel like Dad doesn’t love them any more. But when they grow up they realize it was all out of love. Not the lack of love, but rather because of love.

There’s not a WHAT that can separate us, but there is a WHO. That “who” is myself. I can separate myself from his love. I can never make him stop loving me. But I can separate me from that love. The Devil is aware of that, and tries everything he can to make us stop loving him. If he can’t make us stop loving him, he will try to convince us he has stopped loving us. Let us not be deceived. Whatever you go though, no matter how difficult it is. God STILL loves you. And if you stay in his love, and do not leave that first love, he will turn the situation around for the good. Because EVERYTHING works together for the good to them that LOVE him. That’s is why it is so important not to stop loving him. If we stop loving, and instead become bitter, or hateful, those bad things will have no meaning. But when we love or when we continue to believe he loves us, EVERYTHING will work together for the good. LOVE is offering you everything. Hate and bitterness has nothing to offer, other than pain.

God always finish what he starts

Phil 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

I had a friend who received an assignment in school when she was going in the seventh grade. Knowing she was not so good in writing essays, she asked her little sister to help her. Her little sister was very good at writing essays. Almost done, she had to go, and told her older sister. I almost did it all. You only has to finish it. When she received it back from her teacher this is what it said on the paper: You wrote a really good story this time, and I was very impressed. However, you went back to old habits in the end, and didn’t finish it as well as you started it.

1^st of January every year millions of people are making new vows. This year I will loose weight, or this year I will quit smoking. I will excersise more etc etc. The Gyms are always full first of January, but soon people start to drop off. Many people start with good intentions, but end up with disappointments. 

Sometime we think we have to finish what God have started. Thank you for the help so far: I can take it from here. I have wisdom now. I have discipline now. I have the strength now. But we will soon realize that we are still as depending on him today as we have always been. God will not only continue the good work in us. He will PERFECT it.

So give the pen back to God. Let him finish the essay as perfect as he started it.

Have you counted the cost?

Luk 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

Soon 10 years ago, I had a brain stroke. In a matter of seconds I lost my ability to talk, and walk. The right side of my body was paralyzed, and when I tried to talk, I was not able to form the words. The Ambulance took me to the Hospital with full sirens. In the next few hours I had people praying for me all over the world. 10 000 people stood up at the Louisiana Camp meeting and prayed for me. Prayer teams in our local church as well as other places prayed for me. The stroke hit me on a Friday, and I was back in church preaching on Sunday, completely healed. That Sunday I preached from this text. What a miracle God had performed in my life. I realized the cost of living for God was small compare to the benefits.

The Norwegian Insurance company IF, had a campaign years ago. The slogan was: “You don’t know the cost until you need us.” The day I had the stroke, I realized that truth. But it is even truer after we die. When you compare eternity to your life here, you will see that the cost of living for God is small when compared to the reward. They that died in the arenas under Neros persecution had seen that truth.

If you flip the coin and ask: Have you counted the cost of NOT living for God? There are consequences in both this life and the life to come. Ask anyone smoking today: Was it worth the first smoke? Ask any drug addict: Was it worth the first trip? Or you may ask any person in Hell, was it worth it? The unanimous answer you will get is NO. IT was NOT worth it.

When you calculate your life and decides whether to live for God or not, you may think over the benefits and the consequences.

EBEN-EZER

1 Sam 7:12Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.

I remember when I built my own house. Even though I had worked in construction many years, I had never built houses yet. So in this process there was many new things to learn, and do. I had to force myself to focus on one thing at a time, not to be overwhelmed. When I worked on the foundation, I had to make that all my focus. I did not worry about the walls, or how I was going to make the roof. But each step of the process, I took time when I had finished it to enjoy that accomplishment.

When God created the earth, he stopped after each day and said: Its good. He hadn’t finished his creation yet, but took time to rejoice over that days accomplishment.

Samuel knew the battles and challenges of Israel was not over. But he took time to stop, make a memorial and say: SO FAR… Until today…  God has been with us, and helped us.

It is important to stop and rejoice over partial victories in our life’s. I may not know how to pay my bills tomorrow, but so far God has always helped me. I have never lacked anything. I may face trials and oppositions next week, but until today, God has always brought me out. Although we never look back on our failures, we do look back on Gods provision, Gods miracles in our lives, and Gods protections in trials. Lets us take a moment today and reflect over this: EBEN EZER