joy – Claire's Prayer

There is only one thing that will always remain the same, one thing that will never change, is constant, and ageless. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫, 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭. He is the gift given to us that we celebrate every year. And, oh, what a gift! The gift to top all other gifts!

I confess, I love gifts. I love giving them, and I love receiving them. Our Father in heaven loves to shower His children with gifts, too. Ephesians 1:3 says, “𝙋𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙤𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙁𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙇𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙨 𝘾𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝘾𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙨.” We are blessed beyond measure. Blessed with abundance. Nothing in the heavenly realms is held back by your Abba Father, who did not spare His own son’s life because of His great, unfathomable love for you. We can say with absolute assurance that our Heavenly Father has blessed us.

After the tragedy of 9/11 warehouses were stocked to the roof with donations, 18 wheelers came from as far as Alaska filled to the brim with everything a New Yorker could need, from teddy bears to toothpaste, from dog food to diapers. In fact, more than 2 million square feet of gifts flooded the capital, an estimated $75 million dollars’ worth! How incredible. What a spectacular show of generosity! If you can imagine those warehouses stocked full then you can imagine the abundance of spiritual gifts your Abba Father has for you! Unending. Lavish. Bountiful. The LORD is not slow to give or miserly.

Of course, every gift He gives is perfect. “𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙜𝙞𝙛𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙫𝙚…,” says James 1:17. These gifts are enduring, don’t need to be taken back to the store, never wear out, and don’t need to be replaced. Gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, God’s Word revealed, His holy presence and eternal life through His Son. I could go on and on, but I know you get the picture!

This year, I pray that our Abba Father would give you the gift of prayer, the gift of time, and the gift of hearing His majestic voice. I pray, too, for you and your family, that you would receive the gift of joy! Unspeakable joy as you celebrate the birth of our beautiful, generous, and giving Savior, Jesus Christ!

Did you ever sing the song “𝗥𝗲𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗢𝗥𝗗 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀,” in a round? We sang it on the bus going to Youth Camp, half the bus would start in the verse, when they got to the chorus the other half would join them from the beginning. If it worked out right the verse and the chorus would flow together in glorious harmony but more often, we would get out of sync with each other and the result would be muddled and messy. Laughter would bubble up and we would chuckle with amusement, sometimes that laughter would be uncontainable, and we couldn’t stop. A good belly laugh – how does that scripture go? “𝑨 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔.” Proverbs 17:22. Laughter, joy, and gladness, are good for you, but depression and sadness drain your strength.

On the night before Jesus went to the cross, we find Him praying to the Father, on a night when his disciples slept and Judas was about to betray Him, the Savior of the World takes a moment to pray for us! In John 17:13 he prays this; “𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅, 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒋𝒐𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.” That they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿’𝘀 𝗷𝗼𝘆!

Joy! But not just any joy, Jesus’ joy, not a worldly joy but a supernatural joy, and not just a drop but a full measure! A cup that runs over. A cup that never runs dry. That’s what Jesus asks for you! It’s not the first time Jesus has talked about joy; “𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑴𝒚 𝒋𝒐𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒋𝒐𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍.” John 15:11. It does seem that your joy is important to Jesus.

You see, joy is the mark of a Follower of Christ, a fruit of the Holy Spirit, a sign that differentiates the believer from the unbeliever. Even in the face of adversity and persecution there can be joy because it is supernatural joy, Jesus’ joy. Psalm 126:2 says, “𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒋𝒐𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝑶𝑹𝑫 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.” When the world saw the laughter and joy upon the people of Israel, they exclaimed that the LORD had done great things for them! They could see that there was something different about God’s people, they laughed in the face of adversity, sang for joy in the middle of oppression!

Today if joy is not your portion, if you find yourself in oppression, full of anxiety or depressed ask the LORD to fill you with HIS joy, not the joy of the world but supernatural joy. Ask Him to fill your mouth with laughter and cause praise to spring forth. “𝑹𝒆𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝑶𝑹𝑫 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆!” Phil 4:4

Tag: joy

An Abundance of Gifts

Supernatural Joy

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