Inexplicable (Incomprehensible) Joy
From the Pastor’s heart Inexplicable (incomprehensible) joy
Luk 15:10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
As waves of joy swept over his soul, he rejoiced with inexplicable joy. He had no full realisation of what was taking place because it was beyond his control. To add to it, there was no understanding that he had of what this heavenly joy really felt like before or after the encounter. It left him totally liberated and wanting more. The years of bondage had lifted and he was free to make the right choices. Suddenly, nothing like what was available on earth had invaded his soul leaving him filled with joy inexplicable. This joy went beyond laughter and went into the spirit man like water to a dying soul in the desert. For the first time peace entered his soul and what was missing was found. Life had become beautiful again. This happened on Friday to a man we ministered to.
God is still in the business of saving souls and releasing inexplicable joy.
On the other hand, I have often come across people who have been joyous for long periods of time and have never been perturbed about anything in life till something went wrong. Then their joy was taken away and all manners of evil began to enter into that once joyous person. It is hard to fathom this Christian faith that seems to take a believer on a roller coaster ride in life through joy and sadness. Yet, this faith offers everyone who believes the opportunity to maintain their joy in the face of evil. Joy is a powerful enemy of the devil who operates in oppression and depression. How is one supposed to feel joy in the face of such attacks? Yet, the Bible teaches us to have joy in the face of such adversity. Jas 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Jas 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Jas 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Though God has been saving souls for centuries now, each time a soul is saved the experience is quite unique and soul lifting even to the one administering the message of the gospel. It is then that we must realise that joy is as a result of the word of God that brings good news. I have encountered many that have not seen the word for what it is and have soon turned away from the power of the word. They have gone back to living lives trying to beg God for a breakthrough or living lives of great sadness and strife. My question has always been; what happened to the joy of knowing God? It is then that I realise that people have moved away from the word and its power. This is a very sad observation that I have to face almost on a daily basis with people to whom I minister. I want them to know the power of the word and what joy it brings to know the content and revelation of what it is saying to us and the power to set us free. We can only know its power when we have faith to receive what it says. Then inexplicable joy rises in us to know that there is something beyond us and this world that can provide the answer that we need.
I am always seeking God for the fullness of His word and the power of it because of what it can do. Just to see the look on faces when they are set free in someway is worth all the effort of faith. Joy in its fullest always liberates a person. Burdens fall off and mighty miracles happen because the heart is glad. Take a look at this verse Psa_30:11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; When the great miracle of deliverance happened for the Jews in the time of Queen Esther, they rejoiced like never before Est_9:22 As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. The celebration went across the nations where the Jews resided during that time. Prior to that a decree had gone out to destroy all of them on a certain day by the design of Haman the evil one who hated Jews. God had turned that decree back on the enemies of the Jews and instead, Haman was hung on his own gallows and his people were slain. When God does the incredible and the impossible, one can only rejoice.
When God created man, the devil had successfully penetrated mankind with sin against God and secured a verdict of death against us. The decree had gone out on all mankind that they should die. There was no deliverer. It says in the Bible that God searched for a person who could deliver His people and there was no one. Isa 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. Isa_59:16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. This predicament of mankind was perpetrated by the devil at the very beginning and then he continued to perpetrate this separation between God and man for centuries. It was then that God sent Jesus to be the atonement for sins and was able to restore mankind to a right relationship with Him through His Son. Then, joy broke out and man began to receive it in salvation Psa 16:9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. Psa 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Psa 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Till we receive salvation, we cannot know what true joy is because we do not know the depth of our depravity till then. Sinners come to God in desperation of their soul and discover that God is willing to set them free and not judge them. Joy breaks out in receiving salvation and the life of God floods in bringing in permanent joy.
Yet, we soon lose that joy when we lose sight of His word. Luk 8:13 They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. My friends, let us not be like these. Rather, let us come to that place of understanding that joy is not an emotion of happiness only but a belief and understanding of what Jesus has done for us by saving us from eternal death. That is something to rejoice over 24x7. I for one cannot be thankful enough to God for the salvation He has given me. I feel like the women who was forgiven much. Luk 7:47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. When joy is represented in thankfulness and tears, we experience it like never before. We also see gratitude and praise as joy. This is so because we know that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The heart becomes abundant in salvation and the knowledge of salvation.
In desperate times of war, poverty, sickness and death, we see sadness, grief and mourning. These times are like that because mankind has been ravaged by the forces of evil and in many cases joined forces with evil to perpetrate such things. It is in the midst of this evil that we are called to minister joy and good news. If man can come to know the true joy of salvation, man would not be concerned for the things that beset him. Mat_10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. This verse speaks of having a fear of the Lord that will never allow evil to dictate the fear of death and deprivation to the believer because the believer has a healthy fear of God. Act 2:25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Act 2:26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Act 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. This fear is a reverential fear that allows the believer to worship God and be found in Him perfect even though he is a miserable sinner saved by grace. The accusations of the devil then fall to the ground and is reversed upon the devil who will go to an eternal death in the lake of fire.
It is what God did for Jesus as the Son of Man that makes us rejoice in the knowledge that what He did for Jesus, He will do for us. Isa 54:10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. Isa 54:11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. God actually says to us to sing in the midst of our troubles because He will do the impossible.
To my way of thinking and revelation of the word, I find that it is easier to believe God than the circumstances of life or the devil. Triumphs and tragedies are imposters. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. If we can come to that place of understanding of our true state in the sight of God and not in what we see and know with our natural senses then we will really begin to rejoice. Physical and emotional happiness, bank balances and jobs, family and the country we live in cannot provide that kind of joy that the Bible speaks of. Spiritual joy is internalised by the love of God and the deep work of the Holy Spirit in us to bring us continually before the throne room to be able to appropriate what Jesus did for us. Rejoice and again I say rejoice.
Lots of love
Pastor Noble
19/02/2017