{"id":2838,"date":"2018-08-14T11:06:51","date_gmt":"2018-08-14T15:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=2838"},"modified":"2018-08-14T11:06:51","modified_gmt":"2018-08-14T15:06:51","slug":"a-revival-of-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=2838","title":{"rendered":"A Revival of Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revival means \u201cto live again\u201d or \u201cto give life again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apply that to joy\u2014\u201cto live in joy<\/em> again\u201d or \u201cto give joy<\/em> to life again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sounds pretty good, huh?<\/p>\n

If you agree, consider this tidbit from Nehemiah . . .<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 the joy of the Lord is your strength … And all the people went \u2026 to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.\u201d (<\/span><\/span>Nehemiah 8:10b, 12)<\/p>\n

See the double reference to joy and rejoicing?<\/p>\n

The \u201cjoy of the Lord\u201d<\/span> could mean either: a) the joy the Lord possesses (it is the Lord\u2019s own joy) or b) the joy the Lord gives (the joy the Lord distributes). I suggest Nehemiah has the latter in mind.<\/p>\n

So how does the Lord intend to give or distribute this joy that only He can give?<\/p>\n

Look at this in context. We have set before us in the middle of Nehemiah the pattern for revival among God\u2019s people:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. God\u2019s Word proclaimed to and understood by the people. (Neh. 8)<\/li>\n
  2. Confession and repentance of the sin exposed by God\u2019s Word. (Neh. 9)<\/li>\n
  3. A new commitment to obedience. (Neh. 10)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Chapter 8, then, concludes by reminding us that all of this flows from joy\u2014freshly out-poured joy! Such joy arises from experiencing God\u2019s voice from His written Word with clarity and understanding.<\/p>\n

    Two principles emerge \u2026<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Strength is in direct proportion to joy.<\/li>\n
    • Joy is in direct proportion to hearing God\u2019s voice with understanding.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      So what would be the pathway to joy?<\/p>\n

      The pathway to a revival of joy might look like this:<\/p>\n

      God\u2019s Word <\/em><\/strong>\u2192 heard with understanding <\/strong><\/em>\u2192 produces joy <\/em><\/strong>\u2192 providing strength to change and live differently<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      If I am weary and powerless, I need joy.<\/p>\n

      If I need joy, I need to hear God with understanding.<\/p>\n

      When you need joy, the world says, “Indulge yourself!” God says, \u201cListen to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

      When joy recedes the world says, \u201cBe yourself!\u201d God says, \u201cDraw near to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

      The world diagnoses joylessness and prescribes listening to your desires. God spots your joylessness and moves toward you, inviting you to listen to Him.<\/p>\n

      So you want more joy? What does God\u2019s Word suggest you do to revive joy in your life? How will you take that step toward joy?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Revival means \u201cto live again\u201d or \u201cto give life again.\u201d Apply that to joy\u2014\u201cto live in joy again\u201d or \u201cto give joy to life again.\u201d Sounds pretty good, huh? If you agree, consider this tidbit from Nehemiah . . . \u201c\u2026 the joy of the Lord is your strength … And all the people went […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[56,28,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nehemiah","category-preaching","category-revival","post-preview"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYGxX-JM","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2838"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2840,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2838\/revisions\/2840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}