GOD’S GREAT JOY

Jude 1:24-25 NLT 

Now all glory to God, 

who is able to keep you from falling away 

and will bring you with great joy 

into his glorious presence 

without a single fault.

For a lot of children Christmas is all about the excitement and the joy of Christmas presents, and I enjoy that side of it myself so I’m still a bit of a kid at heart! How about you?😊

For Christians though, we think about Joy at Christmas for its true meaning, the joy of Jesus coming the first time into the world bringing reconciliation and peace with God. We remember the joyful song of the angels on that quiet night, out in the fields, to announce Jesus’ arrival to some shepherds working the night shift.

Our verse today though talks about God’s great joy and how He’s looking forward to the wonderful event of Jesus bringing each one of us who love Him, into His glorious presence. The amazing thing is the last statement - He’s going to do it without us having a single fault!   

When we look at our many short comings in the flesh, when we’ve sinned and missed the mark, it’s wonderful to know that He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins when we repent, and that in our spirit we have already been made righteous in God’s sight because we’ve been given Jesus’ righteousness. 

When you really stop and think about that it’s mind boggling and should make us give a shout of joy, whether it’s Christmas or not.😊 I hope the joy of Christmas, the joy of being righteous, of having peace with God, make us jump with joy each day (even if it’s only on the inside if we can’t manage it on the outside😊). 

Perhaps today we can stop and take some time with the Lord to thank Him for the joy He has given us by giving us Jesus as our Saviour, and bring Him great joy as we celebrate His gift of righteousness as we thank and praise Him that one day He will welcome us into His glorious presence without a single fault. What a glorious thought!😊 In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo by Silas Baisch on Unsplash

GET UP!

Acts 3:6 NLT But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!”

We all probably have people in our lives who either bring the best out in us and unfortunately, some who bring the worst out in us! There are those who lift us up and encourage us to believe for the best possible outcome or those who climb into the pit of despair or discouragement with us, and agree with how terrible things are, or they forget to tell us how well we’re doing and end up discouraging us even more!

But one day Peter saw this crippled man begging and knew God wanted to lift him up to where he could walk again. He told him he had no money for him but he said, ‘In the name of Jesus, get up and walk’. Nothing happened until Peter reached out and took the man’s hand and lifted him up. When he did that the man received his miracle and he jumped up and started walking! He was lifted up!

Sometimes we need a friend who loves us enough to not encourage our self pity but says, “Get up! You may have been disappointed but God has beauty for the ashes” 

Maybe you’re down, struggling with finances. “Get up! God is opening the windows of heaven over you” Or perhaps you’ve been single for many years - “Get up! God has someone special for you on the way.” Or you’ve been sick or depressed for years, “Get up! God is restoring you.”

Whatever has us downhearted or stuck in some way, I’m here to encourage us all to “Get up!” because God is well able to turn things around and He still has great plans and purposes for each one of us. God wants to lift us all up to a new level, so we can be the friend who lifts other people out of whatever pit they’ve fallen in, and tell them God is not finished with them yet - there’s greater things still to come. 

So this weekend, “Get up!”😊 Be lifted up and go and grab someone else’s hand and tell them “Get up! God has more for you in the name of Jesus.” If they’ve been knocked down, “Get up and walk again in Jesus name.” Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.x😊

Photo by Dyu - Ha on Unsplash