I noticed one day that I had lost my joy. As I looked around my heart trying to find it, I realized that somewhere over the last couple of weeks I’d taken on the weight of the world and it had covered my joy. The joy of the Lord is truly my strength, so with this added weight and pressure, I was having multiple side-effects…my eyes felt tired and weary every day, I stopped caring about putting on make-up and fixing my hair, I struggled to find the energy to do as much as I would normally do every day, and I had forgotten how to smile and laugh. It was amazing to me how quickly this heaviness came over me and how I didn’t even realize it was happening.
Have you been feeling it to?
I have no doubt that I am not alone in this struggle. The media makes sure as many people as possible are carrying a weightiness and fear. Our government officials are making daily decisions that directly effect our lives and they are doing so under this same mantle of fear, manipulation and weightiness. They are trying to please an unpleaseable mob. It’s heart breaking really. How do we expect them to make sound decisions when neither side is to be pleased?
Today as I woke up, I heard God tell me I had taken on the weight of the world. This is how I came about this. Immediately, when He spoke it to me, I felt it begin to lift off and I became determined to find my way back to joy.
It’s no mystery who fights against our joy so much. The enemy also knows it is a source of strength, that’s why he fights so desperately to keep a lid on it. He fights to stir up all the negative things. How long will we cater to him?
There is so much happening right now, and I have control and input in approximately 2% of it. That’s ok though, because I serve the God of the universe and He can trump any situation. I will trust in Him today. I always have in the past and it’s served me very well, so why would this be different? It’s not like we’ve reached the end of grace. No, friend we are merely touching the edge of the beginning of His all- consuming grace.
Prayer Moment: Some of us are acting as if God has left the scene. We fret and wring our hands and look to what man can do, but that is not at all the way we are supposed to be conducting our daily affairs. It’s time to snap out of it Christians! Wake up! He is still God. We are still not. We can still trust in Him because He cares for us. Today, I encourage you to take every fear in your heart and lay it at His feet. Watch Him crush that fear under His feet and see that now it’s gone forever. Ask Him then, to exchange it with a measure of His peace. Do you feel the magnitude of this moment? You have found your strength again. Praise the Lord!
Cast all you anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28-29
365 Days in the Presence 