Sue O’Donnell. 07.08.20
“The joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8 v 10)
Why is this?
Well, let us start with friendship.
The Lord Jesus is the best Friend
Anyone could or would ever have,
Totally trustworthy and dependable.
In this friendship we learn of love,
A true love which is totally selfless.
A love which is committed to helping us,
To saving us from satan’s clutches.
In this love we understand salvation,
The saving help our Father of mercy
Offers to us in the Person of Christ Jesus,
He who is the Messiah, the King of Glory.
In response to this glory we can pray in many a way,
In adoration, amazed awe, full of praise.
“That I may tell of Your praise...I will rejoice in Your salvation.” (Psalm 9 v 14)
We can pray in rapt worship offering thanks for everything.
We pray intercedingly, pleadingly for a cause.
We petition, supplicate and dedicate to Jesus.
In this dedication is our committed veneration,
Which shapes the way we spend our time,
Our resources, our skills and talents,
Focusing on Jesus as Saviour, being called to serve Him.
In this service we find satisfaction,
For we are helping others to find the One
Who was God’s Son, and leads us into holiness.
In this holiness is our longing for belonging satisfied,
Responding to this expressed in prayerful invitation,
The Lord Jesus sends His and our Father’s
Very Spirit of life to help us overcome all strife.
In this Spirit we develop fruitfulness.
“Love, joy peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5 v 22, 23, 24)
Make such a difference to society in general,
And of course, the smaller community of family.
In this Christian family, not only those
Parents, brothers and sisters to whom we naturally belong,
But in the much wider sense of workplace and locality.
We can readily spread the good news of the gospel,
In this broadcast we share the most vital,
The most relevant, the most significant aspect to life.
It is the Lord Jesus, by the Holy Spirit,
Who provides an answer as to who we are
And why we live, also what happens when we die.
In this realisation we grow to know hope.
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for
The evidence of things not seen,” (Hebrews 11 v 1) not as yet completely.
But faith gifts in addition, an increased realisation to this hope,
A sense of profound peace brought by Jesus.
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6 v 2)
Jesus way is taught us by the Holy Spirit of life.
In this life we find the sacred heart of Jesus.
A gift renewed daily in the Holy Eucharist,
Combining us to our eternal Father of mercy.
In this mercy we understand the †of Calvary,
Where the Lord Jesus died for our sinfulness.
But death could not hold the Lord of life,
The Father’s eternal Word of life, captive.
Nor would death irrevocably destroy us therefore,
Because at the † of sacrifice, re-presented in the daily Eucharist,
We are forgiven and promised safe passage home to heaven.
In this promise lie all the other aspects
Which go to make up our life in the Lord Jesus,
A life full of meaning and godly purpose.
In this is our joy in Christ Jesus.
“Seek Me and live.” (Amos 5 v 4)
“ ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14 v 6)
Father, I thank You for another day when I am called to live in the joy of being a Christian. Help me to be a person more and more compassionate and closeR to those around me.
I offer this day for the intentions of helping to spread the joy of knowing Jesus as Saviour, Brother, Shepherd and Messiah, of approaching Him through friendship.
I delight to be enabled to worship in the loving, cleansing, redeeming friendship of Jesus, who enables us to stand before You, Father of every mercy, such hope of eternity.
You are the Lord God Almighty living beyond us, yet coming to us in Your Son, to possess us by Your Spirit of love who is continuously at work and sends us out into the mission field.
What a most glorious meaning and joyous purpose is given to life, as we spread the good news of salvation of Jesus, our Redeemer, as far and as wide as we each can. It is a privilege to be called to do this.
We worship and adore You through the Lord Jesus, gifted the Spirit of holiness to be the Advocate and Paraclete, enlightening, strengthening, guiding and safeguarding.
Thank You that in our friendship with the Lord Jesus, our Saviour, the Holy Spirit gifts us such a confident hope that however hard our daily struggle is, all will be well in the end. And en route to heaven, we can ask
Your Son and Your Spirit to help us with anything.
The Spirit, all thanks ever be, develops our sense of trust and liking of dependency on the Holy Trinity. We learn where our strength lies, our guidance is and what to focus upon.
As Lord God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You are everything to us, do all that is beneficial with us, through us, gifting us Your love, who could stand against our spiritual security? Nobody!
You did not spare Christ Jesus, but gave Him up as a sacrifice to pay the penalty of our sinfulness and win forgiveness for us justifiably. Salvation is our freedom not won, but freely given. We rejoice!
Nobody can bring a charge against those who believe in the Lord and Master as Saviour, nobody can successfully condemn us because of the †. Also, Jesus who died is risen. We rejoice!
Jesus is with You in heaven, the Second Person of the Trinity who blesses us richly. It is the Saviour Jesus “...who is even at Your right hand, Father God, who also makes intercession for us.” (based on Romans 8 v 34) We rejoice!
What an honour to gain a Saviour who lives for us, who lives in and through us by His and Your Spirit of holiness. Richly we receive, may we richly give, delighted to be able to do so in Jesus’ name.
The Lord Jesus’ love for us and for You, dearest Father, conquered death for us. We have every reason to be joyous as nothing other than our own chosen, wilful sinning will separate us from Your love and mercy.
Heaven is the place of the fullest none ending experience of love and mercy, as won for us by the Lord Jesus and as secured for us when we hear and follow the Holy Spirit’s instruction and correction.
Even this correction is our joy, as it re-establishes our feet on the path we should be following. With Your Son and Your Spirit alongside us, we are never forsaken, not left to struggle on alone, helpless in finding our way home.
The Holy Spirit is our conviction that nothing will be able to separate us from Your love, Father, that love we find manifest in the Lord Jesus. In our safety and security of faith, we rejoice!
In this very troubled world of ours, there is so much to be gained in our friendship with the Lord Jesus, our Saviour. Perhaps this is summed up in one short sentence addressed to one whose “ ‘...sins which are many,
are forgiven...’” (Luke 7 v 47)
There is not only a summary, but a lesson here, the sins being forgiven “ ‘...for she loved much...then He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace’.” (Cont. v 50)
This is what we rejoice to hear, to know, to feel, to live by, realising we have been rescued from sin, satan and final damnation, our deliverance gifting us a new start. The Lord Jesus offers Himself as our peace, our hope and our joy. All thanks ever be. Who would not rejoice at this? Amen.
Images by Artist Christine Garwood
http://www.christinegarwoodartist.co.uk/
Season
Key Themes
JOY
PRAISE
