Guilt

It has been a while since I have posted anything on here.  Mostly because I have been taking care of my family. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, and basketball.  Life can get crazy in an instant.  Since the oldest turned 16 most of my free time is spent trying to spend time with him.  Constantly in the back of my mind is the thought, "He will be gone before you know it."  Many evenings are spent just talking after everyone else goes to bed.  It is a blessing but this old body is tired.  My dad has always said, "You can sleep when you are dead!"  I'm sticking with that philosophy for now.

Because I love Jesus more than cooking - today I'll talk about HIM.

I have been doing a short morning devotional on Joy lately.  Joy is sort of elusive.  Happiness is all around us and tied to our circumstances.  It is liquid and flows easily.  Joy is harder to hold down but once it does it stays with you for a long time. The verse this morning stood out and I wanted to share.  Nehemiah 8:1-10. 

Nehemiah is a normal guy.  

He isn't a priest or a prophet.  

He is in the old testament so he never met Jesus.  He is actually in Babylonian exile.  God asked him to do an incredible thing, just like all of us.  

Trust.

Nehemiah 8:10 "And Nehemiah continued, "Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared.  This is a sacred day before our Lord.  Don't be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!"

Just before this verse, Ezra has read the scriptures to the people.  And as often happens with us when God reveals our sin to us….they felt guilt.  The people began to mourn and weep.  I imagine they felt helpless, unworthy to continue the work.  It is a great tactic of Satan.  If he can't get you from the outside, he'll move on to the internal.  It's more tricky, but a lot more effective if he wins. 

Guilt has a way of stopping us in our tracks.  

Making us reflect the past.  Leaving us there to ponder what we could have done differently. Dwelling on the mistakes. We are no longer filled with happiness.  We are dejected and defeated.  Almost at times instantaneously.

Celebrate!

When God reveals sin in your life celebrate!  He does not reject our pleas!  He is always the same.  Revealing sin to make room for the new heart.  He is slowly cutting out the old to replace it with the new.  Christ came to fulfill the Law.  Bring it to fulfillment, not leave you in your inability to attain forgiveness, but to bring you into revelation.  That means joy.  There is hope.  If you allow God to win, it is eternal.

Conviction brings life.

The things we try to avoid, fight against - these are the things that produce joy in us.  Conviction moves us forward.  It does not hold us in the past.  Embrace the Word.  Embrace the conviction.  It is your lifeline to transformation.  We learn from the past but we do not live there.  Conviction makes you do better next time.  Conviction compels you to a future.

"We are more than conquerors through Him."  

"in all these things"; not in spite of them, but in the midst of them.

A saint doesn't know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, conviction, correction - he knows joy BECAUSE of it.

-Deanna