Has Someone Stolen Your Joy?

Everyone say AMEN. Amen, is said to express agreement, to affirm a statement and to conclude a prayer.

Now everyone say Hallelujah. Hallelujah is said to praise God or to express happiness.

Now everyone say Praise the Lord

Revelations 22:21 (NIV) The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.

When we worship God, when we sing, when we pray, we say and sing hallelujah, praise God, Amen.

We might say we make or at least try to make a Joyful noise to the Lord.

Our worship needs a spirit refilling, a refreshing up lift. We sing the songs of praise and worship, but is our heart in it? Do we really believe it?

Has the joyful spirit of the Lord left us? Has someone or something stolen God’s joy from you?

Jesus is happiness and joy. His spirit is uplifting and should put a smile on our face and in our hearts.

Everything that Jesus said and did brought glory to Him and the Father. He showed us or taught us the glory of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

As long as we have Him, we should have joy in our heart and soul and spirit.

Do you remember the story in the Old Testament when the children of Israel went to battle and they didn’t take their God with them? They lost the battle and the dwelling place of the God’s spirit; the Ark of the Covenant was taken from them in 1 Samuel 4:10. 30,000 Israelites died that day.

They lost their God!

It took them years to discover that their God was not with them any longer. They were so involved with their own self that they never even thought to look for the God that was missing in their lives.

We ask ourselves, how can a chosen people not be aware that He is no longer with them? How can His absents not be missed?

How can you and I do the same thing? At some point in our life we realize that we have drifted away from our Lord, our church and our faith. We come to realize that we are standing out in the middle of the desert searching for directions.

God is not close to us.

When David realized that God was no longer with them, he went after the Ark of the Covenant.

He knew where they left God and he went after Him.

He made room in his heart again and a special place in the kingdom of believers for the RETURN of God to them.

2 Samuel 6:17 (NLT) They brought the Ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the special tent David had prepared for it. And David sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD.

They brought God back into their lives and their place of worship at a cost. People died in battle and animals were sacrificed in asking for forgiveness because of their behavior.

Once again God was their leader, not David or anyone else, God.

2 Samuel 6:14 (NLT) And David danced before the LORD with all his might, wearing a priestly garment.

He was dressed for the temple, dressed for worship.

2 Samuel 6:15 (NLT) So David and all the people of Israel brought up the Ark of the LORD with shouts of joy and the blowing of rams’ horns.

Joyful noise, shouting and the playing of instruments, anything they had to celebrate the return of their God to their lives, to the center of their worship and their world.

Someone say AMEN.

Someone say Hallelujah.

You know it’s not going to scare me if someone says Amen or hallelujah every now and then.

When we are in the presence of God, we should be happy, we should be worshipping Him in all that we say and do. Amen.

Hey, clapping your hands when we sing is a joyful noise of praise. David danced and the people shouted and played instruments in celebrating God.

To physically participate in worship, gets you involved and not just observing worship.

If you sit and watch a ball game on TV you sometimes just fall asleep because you are just watching, but if you are participating in the game, your presence in the stadium does not allow you to fall asleep. You are involved; you become part of the game/team.

John records the words of Jesus when he says that we are to worship the Father in spirit and truth.

Is the truth that you are happy and blessed with being a child of God? Or is the truth that you are sad and cursed and dealing with despair?

John 4:23-26 (NIV) Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." 25 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." 26 Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."