Heart Tracks - The Chain Gang

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13....."Joy is being able to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and have the peaceful assurance that Jesus walks with us." Thelma Wells

In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, as Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli Gloin approach the hall of the King of Rohan, a land slowly being overtaken by the darkness emanating from the evil realm of Mordor, Gimli remarks, "You'll find more joy in a graveyard." I wonder, when unbelievers encounter we who say we believe in the Lord of Life, are their thoughts similar? Should it happen that someone not acquainted at all with our particular fellowship entered in for our weekly worship, might they think the same? Evangelist James Robison said that too many Christians live and look like they're members of a chain gang. To what degree do we fit that description on most given days?

Jesus promised that in Him our joy would be full. The Old Testament abounds with references to the joy of the Lord. The book of Nehemiah declares that "the joy of the Lord is your strength." Joy is one of the beautiful fruits of the Holy Spirit. It is His will and desire, even command, that we live in and experience His joy. So why do so few of us have that experience?

Perhaps it's because we confuse happiness with joy. Wells says that "Happiness is natural. Joy is supernatural." Happiness is dependent on circumstances and emotions. Joy is the fruit of abiding in Christ. In my prayer journal I have written, "Do we just cope with life, or in Christ, rise above it." The joy of the Lord gives us the strength to rise above the sorrows of life. I don't say that we will not be touched by them. We will, but the sorrow, if we are truly abiding in Him, cannot touch our joy. Even in the tears, in the valley of the shadow of death, the joy of His Presence is with us, and in us. We are touched by sorrow, but we are not held by it.

There are few things more tragic, or more grieving to His Spirit, than a joyless child of the King. Such a state should be unheard of in a believer, but it is not. Too often we do look like members of a chain gang. I know because I have lived in that state myself. Whenever I have allowed circumstances, sorrows, distractions, anything, to lure me from my abiding in Him, my joy recedes, and worry, fear, anxiety, hopelessness, despair, take it's place. I've allowed myself to be made a member of the enemy's chain gang. Yet, if I will turn to Him, abide in Him, His joy and peace becomes my joy and peace, and the chains are soaked from my ankles and wrists.

Is the joy and peace of Christ yours today? Or, do you labor through life manacled to the enemy's chain gang? You have but to turn to Him, renounce the chains, be they of sin, circumstances, or the attacks of hell, and behold Him to cause them to fall at His feet and yours. And know, anew, or for the first time, that the joy of the Lord is indeed your strength.

Blessings,
Pastor O