Count it All Joy. Are You Kidding Me?

Every issue of life, every situation I find myself in is an opportunity for me to know more about my God and His Word. When I'm confronted with a challenge and a mountain stands before me, my first thought must be, "what does God's word say about this?". When I look into the word and see what it says, I have just had the opportunity to know more about my God then I did before. God makes Himself known through His word and this is how I grow to know Him.

2 Sam 7:21 says, " for your words sake, and according to Your (God's) own heart, You have done all these great things, (why?) to make your servant know them (them what? Your words)". What great things was King David talking about? Every time David was in trouble or was being challenged, God delivered him. Every time God did this, it was a great thing in the sight of David and through every situation, David grew to know God more and more. He became more confident with God's word after each and every rescue and deliverance. So what did David discover and come to know through these different situations? 2 Sam 7:22 gives us the answer. David came to this conclusion, " Therefore You are great, O Lord God. For there is none like You, nor is there any other God besides You". David would of never known God this way for himself if he had not walked with God and His word through these different challenges and trials and let me say right here, you won't know Him either unless you do what David did.

It works the same for you and me. The great things of God in our lives is whatever God does in our lives according to what He has said in His word to us. If I find myself sick one day and my first thought is, " what does God's word say about sickness?", then I go and look at the word and it says, " by His stripes you (Terry)were healed", then I choose to believe that word and that God will watch over that word to perform it by healing my body. This manifestation of healing truly now becomes a great event of God in my life and I come through it knowing more about my God and trusting Him all the more.

I never really was able to understand James when he said in in James 1:2, "count it all joy when you fall into various trials." I would always look at the trial and become wearied by it and discouraged. I was not joyful but fretful. But now with this new found understanding of God and His ways, I now realize that when the trial appears, I can be joyful from the fact of knowing that whatever stands before me is an opportunity to know my God and His word in a whole new way. I'm going to learn more about my God through this trial, something I would never of learned if I was not in this situation. When this attitude of joy shows up as I face this trial, it drives the devil nuts, because he has come to steal, kill, and destroy and when he sees joy instead of pain and suffering, he knows he is defeated in my life (Phil 1:28). The devil was counting on me to be upset and hurting, but here I am joyful. The devil is no match for the man/woman who is filled with the joy of the Lord, for that joy is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10) and that Godly strength will whip the devil every time. Jesus already proved that and defeated Him. All we have to do is what Jesus did, hold fast to the Word to enforce the devil's defeat in our lives and make him a footstool for Jesus to put His feet on (Heb 10:12-13). Now that's a great picture isn't it?

So whatever you are facing today, count it all joy because if you choose to go to God's word and see what His way of escape is for you, and you go ahead and do what you found out, when you get to the other side of that problem, you'll know God a whole lot more then before you started.

I must admit, I actually feel joyful as I look at the mountain standing before me today. As soon as I quit writing, I'm looking into God's word for my way out and through it all I will know my God all the more. Now that thought alone is a good and joyful thought. I get the sense that the devil is getting nervous, he's never seen me quite this way and he knows he is about to get kicked out of my life. Oh Yeah, I'm feeling better already. It's time to look into that powerful word of God!!