Joy Incomparable

Sunday, June 4, 2023

Good morning, Lord

Verse of the Day: 1 Chronicles 29:11

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, And You are exalted as head over all.

Memory of the month: JOhn 10:27-28

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Today's reading: 2 CHRONICLES 21-22 JOHN 14

Joy Incomparable

The pastor, trying to show appreciation for the young graduates being very present at the Easter sunrise service said, "Thank you for being here so many times and being faithful".

"It's church-it's what you do", the young woman said, "This is my family".

Sometimes we pastors miss the quiet devotion with which some folks serve. It is some great gratification we feel when we discover the devoted heart that peacefully loves God and lives an obedient life behind the scenes.

John 14 is about this very thing. One writer wrote, "...there is no joy comparable to the joy of the loving heart that yields itself to the Beloved’s will."

There was another Judas(not Judas Iscariot) in the followers of Jesus and he asked Jesus in John 14:22, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

This Judas still was expecting Jesus to come out before the world and conquer. The answer to Judas was basically this:

"I cannot show myself to the world-it must be done one heart at a time."

Verse 23: “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them."

Joy incomparable is ours in loving God. The Holy Spirit, the divine, personal presence of God, lives in each believer and we are to take that message to the world.

This is something that cannot stay hidden. The last verse of John 14 says:30 "I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me."

Even the acts of the enemy will be so opposite of God's love that it will expose love in the midst of chaos.

Strive for His incomparable love.

...because He loves us...

Father in Heaven,

Pull us in and give me a desire to live in obedient love.

Great God of love and mercy!

In the name of Christ Jesus,

Amen