The Joy of The Lord is My strength

Where do you get your strength from?

Nehemiah 8:1–12 (CSB)

8 all the people gathered together at the square in front of the Water Gate. They asked the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses that the LORD had given Israel. 2 On the first day of the seventh month, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding. 3 While he was facing the square in front of the Water Gate, he read out of it from daybreak until noon before the men, the women, and those who could understand. All the people listened attentively to the book of the law. 4 The scribe Ezra stood on a high wooden platform made for this purpose. Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah stood beside him on his right; to his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash-baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam. 5 Ezra opened the book in full view of all the people, since he was elevated above everyone. As he opened it, all the people stood up. 6 Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and with their hands uplifted all the people said, “Amen, Amen!” Then they knelt low and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

7 Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah, who were Levites,, explained the law to the people as they stood in their places. 8 They read out of the book of the law of God, translating and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was read. 9 Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all of them, “This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law. 10 Then he said to them, “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, because the joy of the LORD is your strength.”, 11 And the Levites quieted all the people, saying, “Be still, since today is holy. Don’t grieve.” 12 Then all the people began to eat and drink, send portions, and have a great celebration, because they had understood the words that were explained to them.

Joy of the Lord is your strength....

I remember the time a house burnt down in my old church....

Here in the text it is talking about a a people who .... and then they read the word of God and get convicted.

And So God moves and convicts them in a holy moment...

Sometimes we equate Holiness with a Solomn , or Godliness with.

Heres the idea today we see demonstrated in scripture - Holiness, a move of God, conviction - goes hand in hand with JOY. And JOY actually = strength we can tap into.

THE JOY OF THE LORD .... IS OUR STRENGTH

Friends

There is nothing Holy biblically about living in a place of always being uptight, solomn, serious, not able to laugh, always very stoic and inable to celebrate and have fun…

and if circumstance is what is causing those things, stealing your Joy, making it so you can only see the bad and not step into good in anyway then there is an invitation to lean into JOY, particularly the JOY of the Lord to strengthen you and get you through and out of your valley!

Romans 15:13

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

1 Thessalonians 1:6

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

Acts 13:52

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

James 1:2

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

So what is JOY ...

Joy is different to Happiness...

Happiness is something that comes and goes depending what is happening… happiness, happening. Its dependent on whats going on around you.

Joy is a high level of living God invites us into because Joy bubbles up from with in you ...

Happiness is something fleeting but Joy is eternal...

Joy is not necessarily the absence of suffering, it is the presence of God.

- Sam Storms

The israelites were touched by God and convicted which is a good thing, but Ezra comes along and says hey allow that to turn to JOY, and celebration because the Lord is good.

Joy comes from deep with in you… because it is the the Joy of the Lord, and the holy spirit is within you…

John7:37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as[f] the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Today - some us need to unkeg the river.

Theres been a blockage. Something has dammed it up and the river isnt able to flow as it should.

You are down. You are feeling out. You are feeling heavy. You are feeling like you have let God down, or he has let you down

PRACTICE JOY!

The theory is just that, a theory until it is practiced… then it becomes contagius.

Where the Holy Spirit is, there is Joy.