Where Strength and Joy are Found

Where Strength and Joy are Found

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

Honor and majesty are [found] in His presence; strength and joy are [found] in His sanctuary.

1 Chronicles 16:27, AMP.

TODAY’S WORD

Do you need more strength and joy in your life? The Bible tells us that in God’s presence there is fullness of joy—the most abundant and complete! And when you have His joy, you have His supernatural strength. There’s nothing that can come against you when you are filled with the strength and joy of the Lord.

Notice this verse says that strength and joy are found in His sanctuary. One translation says they are found “where He is.” And do you know “where He is?” His Spirit is alive in every believer, but in His Word He promises that He inhabits, or manifests, in the praises of His people. That means when you begin to praise and worship God, either corporately in a church setting or privately in your personal time, God is there. You are in His sanctuary.   Anytime you feel depleted or overwhelmed, just begin to sing a song of praise to Him. Declare His goodness and faithfulness. Draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you. He’ll fill you with His joy and strength so that you can live as an overcomer all the days of your life!

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, I bless You today. I thank You for Your goodness in my life. Thank You for filling me with Your strength and joy. I praise and worship You today in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

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Jesus Trusted the Bible. You Should, Too. by Rick Warren “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:18 NIV) You may have heard someone say, “I trust Jesus, but not the other guys who wrote the Bible.” There’s a problem with that logic. Jesus trusted the Bible — every word of it! He taught that the Bible was a unique book, above all the others. Jesus said in Matthew 5:18, “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (NIV). Jesus says the Bible will last until the end of time. It will accomplish what God wants to accomplish in this world. In John 10:35 Jesus said, “We know that Scripture is always true” (NIRV). Jesus proclaimed the truth of the Bible. And when Jesus talks about the truthfulness of the Bible, we need to listen. When Jesus talked about the Bible with people, he would often base his argument about the truth of the Bible on a single sentence or even a single word from the Bible. He believed every single sentence, every single word of Scripture. So if I trust Jesus, why wouldn’t I trust the Bible? When Jesus talks about the Bible, he doesn’t just talk about it as poetry and history, either. He saw the Bible as something that changes lives. In Luke 11:28 Jesus said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it” (NIV). Jesus didn’t just want us to read the Bible. That’s what you do with poetry and history. Jesus wanted us to obey the Bible. That’s what you do with anything the Creator of the universe writes. When Jesus talked about the Bible, he talked about it as if the people and events in it were real. He talked about all the prophets being real. He talked about Daniel being real. Jesus believed in Noah and everything that happened with the flood. He believed in Adam and Eve. Jesus believed in the tragedy of Sodom and Gomorrah. He believed in Jonah and him being swallowed by a large fish. Jesus believed in some of the most disputed stories in the Bible, particularly Noah, Adam and Eve, Sodom and Gomorrah, and Jonah. People who think that the Bible is mostly good stories that didn’t really happen always point to those four stories. If Jesus really believed in Jonah, then I should, too. I don’t know how God created a fish that could swallow a guy, but he did. I trust in the Bible because Jesus trusted in it. Talk About It - Are there parts of the Bible that you have trouble believing? Why? - What do you think God wants to accomplish in your life through his Word?