Do you remember the “Mission Impossible” TV show? The opening images showed a tape about to destruct and a voice said “Your assignment should you choose to accept it………..”
Well I was reminded of that the other night when I awoke and
the still small voice of the Holy Spirit gave me the phrase “Joy
Fountain.” I stayed with that phrase
asking what it was about, and by the end of my prayer time I concluded
that “Joy Fountain” ---as silly as that
may sound-----was an assignment the Lord God Almighty had for me and for you
during these end times-----if we choose to accept it.
The more I pondered the phrase the more I saw how powerful
it was. In an increasingly dark world
the Godly fruit of joy operates as a Light wherever it appears. When
circumstances look impossible, real personal joy through Christ dispels the
darkness and gives hope. The Lord wants us to be clean vessels, filled with His
love and His joy, to attract many into His Kingdom here on earth as it is in
heaven. Like moths to a light, great
numbers of unbelievers will come into His Kingdom if they see His joy shining
through us. In the dungeon in Rome,
even in the worst of circumstances, the joy of the Lord shining through Paul
had to have brought many believers into the Kingdom.
And here’s the connection to days of repentance: joy follows repentance! Contrary to public opinion--- or belief in
the overall body of Christ---- repentance is a good thing, a liberating
spiritual exercise that increases intimacy with the Lord as He forgives our
sins. As we sincerely confess to Him
what He already knows He forgives us.
The dead ways of the flesh and the traps of the world lose their grip. We
can then further clean up our vessel by sincerely repenting: in His Holy Name we renounce the old sin patterns, humbly declaring
to Him our intention now to turn from the flesh and the world to follow His higher path of Purity.
Intimacy with Him builds.
Pure Joy then follows!
Three thousand five hundred or so years ago the Lord gave
Moses a schedule for His key feasts of the Lord. In so doing the Lord shows us how joy
follows repentance. Five days after the most solemn day of the year, the Day of
Atonement, comes the most joyful of all the feasts, a week-long feast of tabernacles
where the Lord says: “... you shall
rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.” [Leviticus 23:40]
We’re connected on this website at the grassroots level now
in 29 nations, with over 700 intercessors/ ministries, because the Holy Spirit
nudged each of us to explore or re-discover the power of repentance. We’ve participated in various days of
repentance to humble ourselves and seek His face, to turn from our wicked ways
so that He will hear from heaven, forgive our sins and heal our lands.
Additionally, many have begun their own personal, every day discipline
of repentance, expanding their prayer time each day to invite the Lord in to
dine with them [Revelation 3:20], becoming more zealous to repent [Revelation
3:19], to become an overcomer to sit
with Him as He overcame and now sits with His Father [Revelation 3:21].
Do you remember the powerful statement the Lord Yeshua/Jesus
makes in Luke 18: 6-8 as part of the Parable of the Woman and the Judge? Here is how the Lord concludes that Parable:
“Then the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unjust
judge said. And shall God not avenge His
own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I
tell you that He will avenge them speedily.
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on
the earth?’”
For those of us with His Joy in us the answer will be Yes! Regardless of circumstances, as dark as the
days may become, you and I can be “Joy Fountains” all over the world. The Joy of the Lord will be our strength, as
Nehemiah knew. God willing thanks to His Joy we will be among those the Lord
will find faithful when He soon returns. Through repentance you and I can build up our
joy. Joy in turn will build up our
faith.
Yeshua/Jesus points the way to Godly joy, a part of one’s
character that only can be given by the Living God through the Holy
Spirit. For the joy that was set before
Him He endured the cross. And He says to
us today:
“These things I have
spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”
~ John 15:11.
He wants you and me to be a “Joy Fountain” in our various
communities. Now, as in Mission
Impossible, we have a choice. If we embrace this assignment: “joy through repentance”…watch our misery self
destruct in five seconds!
Prayer:
“Abba Father, in Yeshua/Jesus’ Holy Name, we love You. We worship You. We want
to be Your Ambassadors of Joy even as we see darkness spread. Please open the
floodgates of Your Joy into our vessels as we humbly submit to Your Sovereignty
in our lives. Let us reflect Your Light
and Your Love and Your Joy in all circumstances. May Your Joy be our strength. Amen and Amen.”
Blessed is the one whose
transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
~Psalm 32:1-2
&-11
~By Pastor Jeffrey N. Daly
Pastor
Jeffrey N. Daly is the author of Repentance—God’s
Strategy to Bless a Nation and Zeal
to Repent!—A Key to Personal and National Restoration
–Both
are available for FREE at The National Day of Repentance website: www.dayofrepentance.org
or by
emailing him at
No comments:
Post a Comment