RESTORATION of OUR STOLEN JOY by Brenda Thomas
One of the first things the enemy will try to steal from us is our joy. He wants to get us sad, sorrowful, and oppressed. Remember what it was like when you first were saved? There was joy unspeakable. God doesn’t want us to lose that joy! Nehemiah 8:10 tells us, “The JOY of the Lord is your strength.” It is important for Christians to have joy in their life! If you don’t have joy, you don’t have any strength.
Don’t stay in that valley of despair and depression. Don’t allow what people say to control you. You control your own destiny. Maybe everyone isn’t going to be thrilled about you. But God is. You are who God created you to be. And God likes you just fine. He’s thrilled about you!
Where does joy come from? We tap into joy by hanging out with God! When we are in His Presence, we come out with a new spring in our step, a new song in our heart. When we’re hanging out with Him, we take on His characteristics.
And God is happy! Psalm 2:4 says, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall LAUGH.” When we’re hanging out with God, we start acting like Him. We’re full of joy, full of peace, full of rejoicing.
You may have been through some trouble, but God is the One Who brings restoration. Isaiah 61:7 says, “For your shame, ye shall have double; and for confusion, they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land, they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.”
In The Amplified Bible, this verse says, “. . . You shall have a twofold RECOMPENSE. . . .” The word recompense is the same word that we get worker’s compensation from. You know what worker’s compensation is for? If you get injured on the job, they pay you worker’s compensation.
Joel 2:25 says, “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm.” Some of you have been down with a lot of “worms” in your life. Some of you have lost years to a bad marriage. Some of you have lost years to health problems. But the Lord put something in my heart. He said, “My mercy is greater than your mistakes, and I am a Master at fixing any disaster.”
God loves us that much. Whether we’ve done things that are our own fault, or whether it is the enemy who has stolen from us, God is still the Restorer!
God wants you to have that dream fulfilled. He wants you to have joy. He wants you to have health in your body. God is a good God! And He’s got good things in store for us. Don’t let the devil steal anything from you. Declare restoration over your life! Take what belongs to you, in the Name of Jesus!