October 25, 2009
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Letter 13 on assurance and fighting for joy (strengthened for endurance and patience with joy)
Continuing on with my series of letters on assurance and fighting for joy. Please note: this letter follows directly from this one, so you may want to read that for background...
Dear friend in Christ,I know you are still discouraged today, so I do want to continue to bring you more encouragement from the word of God and remind you of the joy He has made available for us who are in Christ Jesus. In a previous letter we were considering Paul's words in Philippians 4:5: The Lord is at hand. In that letter as I was reflecting on who the Lord was, I got off into Colossians 1 where we find Paul's wonderful description of our Savior in verses 15-20.
Now, I'll ask you to go back to Colossians 1 (yes, I do plan to get back to Philippians 4 eventually...). But right now, please open your Bible up to Colossians 1 and begin reading at verse 11:
May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.Here is a prayer that we might be strengthened according to God's glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy! Is that not what you are in need of now, my friend? Is that not what I am in need of? We are both in need of strengthening, we are both in need of joy! I tell you that the devil has been trying to steal my joy in the past day. I especially thank God right now for these words of Paul's: Endurance and patience with JOY! There it is, my friend! Is that not our Lord's desire for us: That we might have His joy? Is that not what we are seeking? O, we do not just want to endure and be patient. We are not just seeking a stern, stark and joyless obedience like the older son in the parable of the prodigal son. Will we settle for plodding along with a spirit of heaviness? No! We cannot! Has He intended our life with Him to be drudgery? No. Should we not live by Him so we might experience exuberant and overflowing joy as we run the race marked out before us? Amen. Are we not to delight in Him as we journey here as strangers and pilgrims? Yes! Yes! Pleasures forevermore have been made available to us the blessed day He came down to dwell in our souls. Our joy can be full even on our darkest days. This is His gift to us, our birthright as children of God.
O, thanks be to God, even now as I write these things, He is beginning to rejoice my soul once more – not that His joy had truly left (for He will never leave or forsake us), but I tell you that I had become discouraged. I had been reminded of sin and my sin so grieved me. I confessed my sin and though I knew I had been forgiven, yet His joy was been obscured, clouded in a sense. Yes, I knew His joy, yet it was subdued, muffled somehow. He had shown me how I must continue to mortify sin so I might live to Him and I began to be discouraged since I know my sin continues to beset me and entangle me. (O, I pour contempt on all my pride!) I did not have the fullness of joy He has intended and I longed for that, I longed for Him again. My soul was panting for Him. Though I felt weak, I was still wrestling with Him until He would bless me with fullness of joy once again.
Then I read His promises for me, for us...May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy... With joy! My heart leapt when I read that: My life in Him is to be a life of joy! Amen. I was so desiring to rejoice in Him once more. His desire is for me to have joy in Him, even as I engage in battling against sin! He has promised to strengthen me with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy! Amen.
And then He assured me once again of His ongoing work in me: He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. I am in His Kingdom. I am no longer in the domain of darkness. Sin shall not have dominion over me because I am in Christ's dominion. I am dead to sin but alive to Christ! His Kingdom power dwells in me so I might render myself to Him rather than bow to my sin. Yes, I knew these things, but how I so needed to be reminded of them at this time.
My friend, is His Word not a tonic to our souls? O, that we would plant ourselves by the streams of living water always. How simple it is, yet doesn't Satan do all He can to keep us from going to Him who has the words of life? Satan wants us to wither and dry up. But the Lord wants us to flourish and be filled to overflowing! Remember it is our Lord's desire that we have His joy burning brightly in us so our joy be full. Satan's desire is to snuff out our joy. As soon as we consider our God and His goodness to us, the enemy must flee, mustn't he? The devil has no defense against pure praise and worship! Is He not all but bound when the joy of the Lord floods into our souls and flows out in praise to our God? Amen. The devil's mouth is muzzled as we sing aloud the new song! The joy of the Lord is our strength! Let us continue to plead with Him for the fullness of joy He desires for us to have.
O, let us never fail to consider whose power strengthens us: our Lord's power. Not our power. What good would our power do? Thanks be to God, we are being strengthened with all our Lord's power – God's glorious mighty power that raised Jesus from the dead, the very power that has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins! The same resurrection power that breathed life into our dead souls and birthed us into His Kingdom, the same power that redeemed us and provided forgiveness for all our sin! That same power continues to work in us today for all endurance and patience with joy! The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God Himself, dwells in us to strengthen us, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy! Amen. Believe it! O, my friend, I tell you that I did not feel it long ago (remember His joy transcends feeling), but we must trust by faith His power is ours and then fight for joy, wrestle with Him, press on to know Him, His power and His joy. There is no lack with Him! His promises themselves are a balm for our weak and weary souls like ours, are they not? O, let us stand on His promises and in His great love for us. Is that not what the men and women of faith did? Along with them, we have received a kingdom which cannot be shaken for we have a King who cannot be shaken! He is not ashamed to be called our God. Will He not give us all we need to run the race with endurance and with joy? Does He not want us to have joy in the journey? Is it not to His glory that we serve Him with gladness and joy! O, my fellow pilgrim, let us be joyful pilgrims and not miserable ones as we set our hearts on Him and on pilgrimage and run the race that is set before us in His power and with the grace He provides!
(I wanted to get into Philippians 4 more, but I hope to do that in another letter...)
I am rejoicing more now than when I began this letter, and I hope you are as well! (Is this not one reason we are to encourage one another and exhort one another? As we encourage one another, we ourselves are also encouraged as we reflect on our Redeemer.) Thank you, my friend, for bearing with me here. I know you have great trials and heaviness today. I am persuaded He will strengthen us both with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy! Amen! We can trust that His everlasting arms will never fail us!
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
(Elisha A. Hoffman, 1887)
What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.Refrain
Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.O how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
O how bright the path grows from day to day,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.Refrain
What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.Refrain
May we continue to lean on His everlasting arms so we might know His divine joy and sweetness as we journey with Him,
Karen
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Comments (12)
No comment would be sufficient for this. It is a magnificent chronicling of the believers struggle -first to find joy (or even find that it is available to us) and then to recover it after the onslaught of the enemy's attack. We find joy to be an elusive thing, but the more we realize that it is reality WITH feeling and not JUST the feeling itself, the closer we get to recognizing that He Himself is our joy. He has overcome the world and He will never leave us.
Thank you, with all my heart.
After our conversation this morning (8/4/2010) I followed your link here and now it seems that this is where the word joy was brought out for me in this passage from Colossians. I don't know how you keep track of all the things you've written down to the most minute detail. I sure didn't remember that I had read it here...
This is one reason that we should guard our hearts and minds in what we take in. After "ingesting" it we often forget where we got it from. Even if it is something evil or destructive, it becomes part of our data base and all we know is: "I read somewhere.." So truth and error are filed side by side in our memory. I know there is something to be gained by reading opposing views to understand where the other person is going wrong, but I have usually kept that kind of "research" to a minimum, reading only excerpts or reviews. I don't claim to be able to "stomach" lies and trash and still retain my Philippians 4:8 view of life.
BTW - Thanks again (almost a year later) for this post!!
@quest4god@revelife - You're welcome.
I don't always keep track of the things I've written like this, but the incident w/ this passage was one of those "Aha! moments" for lack of a better term. Sure, pretty much every time I look at Scripture there's something new revealed (how can there not be -- infinite God!), but that verse portion about joy in Colossians 1 was really significant to me at the time (and still is). Of course, I knew (hoped!) I'd tagged the post Colossians (which I had) and knew it was in this series of posts, so I just had to do a little searching.
That's the real beauty and mystery in how God works. You can never predict when or where, but we can trust He will provide all we need in just the right time. Psalm 46:5. But that's the reason we need to keep in His Word to put ourselves in the position to receive our daily bread.
We've got to keep guarding our hearts and minds for sure and immersing ourselves in Scripture. I've started reading M'Cheyne's Memoirs and Remains. That is a breath of fresh air compared to most things you read around here on Xanga/Revelife and pretty much anything you'll find in the (so-called) "Christian" bookstores and many (most) pulpits today. Yet another plug for good Christian biography.
How can we have a Philippians 4:8 outlook if we're not doing our part to abide in the Word and avoid taking in teachings contrary to the Word (yes, we need to be apprised to a point, as you say, but have to be careful w/ that). How can we ever expect to stay on God's paths if our steps are continuing down the paths of the destroyer (Psalm 17)?
Anyhow, thanks for your words here. I really appreciate the encouragement.
@naphtali_deer - I've seldom written anything worth my going back for, but also I certainly couldn't keep up with all that you've written. I have never tagged anything or archived or whatever. But I'm glad that you do. More than once you've linked or reposted something that was as "new" and relevant as the it was the first time.
I don't know what selection they have at the main library at Monroe (Union Co., NC), but I'm leaving to go there right now to check out the Christian bios available. When I look online I don't know how to find a special classification like that. I need to talk to a live librarian. Waxhaw has a very small library. The people are friendly and helpful (naturally, they're from Waxhaw!).
Hope things are going swimmingly around your house this week!
@quest4god@revelife - I'm still not sure how best to tag my posts. Some of my first posts, I didn't tag much, so some of those aren't really tagged completely. I probably use too many tags. It really helps me that we have footprints here b/c then that jogs my memory and reminds me of things that I may not have read in while, or may not have even remembered! o.O It's also nice now to have the site search, the key to that is getting a good keyword to search...Just now I was doing that and finally did find what I wanted.
About the links: I don't like to self-promote and I don't include links like on others' sites very often, but there are some times when I feel it would be helpful to those who are reading, and/or sometimes I'll message/e-mail friends w/ a link or links. So I'm glad you found it helpful to revisit this post.
I hope you find something good at the library. I seem to pick up bios after I've read little bits of them somewhere else, or how others have been impacted by them, also Piper's bios – that's what really got me started. I can't even remember why I got the M'Cheyne bio. I've actually had it since May but hadn't read much until recently, but as usually happens, it is just perfect for me to be reading right now. (Thank you, Lord!) It's one of those things you can't really read too much at a time. And there are so many parallels to Hewitson: strong belief that we should be seeking assurance and also expecting success -- success in the sense that if we plant, we can trust God to bear fruit from our labor in His way & time, not saying it's going to be all the time or automatic, nonetheless, we should be expecting Him to work mightily. That's something that was strongly impressed on me from Whitefield's Journals this time through as I was reading it while on vacation, which I'd forgotten about...so I needed the wake-up call on that! (You can remind me, perhaps?
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Thanks for your prayers. The time has been good, but a little frustrating for me since I'm now itching to write, esp. on Psalm 84 (God has really blessed me w/ that these past couple days), though I did put something up just now.
@naphtali_deer - I just realized that all of this is going on as comments on your post. Wanted to lay low this week as far as you are concerned so you could concentrate on the guests, etc.
I did find a "Jonathan Edwards Reader," a bio of Whitefield, and a little book on Luther. There were a few others available, but I'll probably need to renew these as it is.
*Reminders... You haven't been needing them as much lately.
@quest4god@revelife - Eh, well, I'm commenting back.
I've got some snatches of time here and there...
Edwards! Whitefield! Luther! Ooo! Good! Sounds like you picked up some good stuff there!
I take it that you've done well in preparing for all of this. It's paying off in peace of mind and a little time to write...BTW, today's post was good!
Yes, I did get some good stuff! Been taking in little snippets here and there, figuring where to start. WFG tonight, only I have to drive this to it again.
@quest4god@revelife - Re: today's post - I was reading of an account where M'Cheyne had spoken to an unbeliever, and it referenced a portion of John 4...right away, I KNEW I HAD TO write on it. I really felt carried away by it. I've been SO blessed! ∞ ∞ ☺
Re: the books. Just start reading; you'll know when something resonates w/ you. I often end up putting things down and then picking them up again later on, e.g.- the M'Cheyne book. And now...
(Um, yeah, I just ordered some more books today: 2 more ML-J book plus "The Erosion of Calvinist Orthodoxy.")
(Did you bake cookies for tonight?
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@naphtali_deer - I'm really happy how the Lord is blessing you! And MORE books! Paul's going to have to build or buy more bookshelves! I haven't the energy to read for long periods of time without falling asleep, but I tend to do as you said - have more than one thing going at a time.
I've read asterisktom's post on Tozer. Right now, I don't know if I could read the "Erosion"book. We need to be apprised of error and such, but it's not the diet for sick people, I guess. I'm glad for the Lord's safeguards - His Word, His witness, His Spirit. Especially right now.
No cookies. Thought I'd stay back and see if anyone takes up the slack. (rhymes
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@quest4god@revelife - Yes, one of those Westminster bookstore e-mails got me. We have books lying all over the place here.
I'm pretty sure the "Erosion" book is going to incite me, much like Murray's "Revival and Revivalism." I'll message you more about that.
I suspect someone will certainly bring food tonight.
@naphtali_deer - Cookies &stuff!
Yes, maybe you could spoon-feed me the "Erosion" book. Remember. I'm not well.