Hello again!
This is what God gave me in his word today:
For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song. (Isaiah 51:3)
wilderness
For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD;
Have you ever really thought of your own heart in terms like; formerly: barren, waste, wilderness, or desert? And if so why? What’s different about being a Christian? – What exactly does it mean to have your wilderness and waste turned to Eden?
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
What, exactly, it means to have your wilderness turned to “Eden” is that you have the “fruits” of the Spirit in your life! Peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and joy. Which lead’s into the second section of this:
Joy and Gladness
joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.
Why is the Christian happy? Because the Christian has Jesus inside of him/her! – Jesus is the fountain of joy and gladness and without him there is nothing. Without Jesus our hearts are a desert; void of any life, much less joy or happiness of any sort. A complete wasteland of life. It’s only because Christians are on “the vine” (Jesus) that we can get the water. If we were cut off of the vine we would be dead.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)
So what’s my point? Why say all of this; just to make a “non-Christian” jealous? – The reason is this: I believe the church in general is significantly lacking in happiness, why? Because the church in large is lacking in Jesus! My hope is simply that you as the reader will understand that as a Christian, we should in fact be joyous and singing God’s praise!
You are loved!
Joshua Cleveland
