The joy of the Lord is my strength!

For so long, I never fully comprehended what ‘the joy of the Lord is my strength‘ meant. For a while, I understood it to mean that if I know Jesus, I will have His joy. But as I’ve walked with Jesus for a few more years, I’ve come to realise that I had this verse wrong. Knowing of Jesus isn’t enough to have His joy; it takes spending time with Jesus and knowing His heart to really experience the joy of the Lord.

For us to experience the joy of the Lord, we have to spend time with Him. We need to have an intimate relationship where our hearts are open and softened towards Him, and where we allow Him to work in our hearts and refine us. And what we’ll find is that the more time we spend with Him, the more we will want to spend time with Him.

The more time with spend with him, the more peace and joy we will experience. Not because He will reward us with joy, but because the more we know Him, the more we will love Him and the more we will experience His peace and joy. Peace and joy that can only be found in Jesus.

Today, can I encourage you, and myself, to carve out time to be with Jesus. Seek the heart of the Lord. Make time with Him, even for a few moments, a priority today, and start to experience the joy that only comes from Jesus.

Father, thank you that You call us to spend time with you and that you want to spend time with us. Lord, make us a people that desire your presence and make time to sit at Your feet. In Jesus’s name, amen.