Unspeakable Joy

    Have you ever seen someone sing the old song "It is joy unspeakable and full of glory" and look like death warmed over?   How about the chorus of the earlier charismatic move "The joy of the Lord is my strength"? I have seen people sing that who appeared to be sucking on lemons.  Sour!   How about the song "He touched me"?  I seen people sing that and their expressions would be more appropriate at their mother's funeral.  Isn't it crazy that in the age of re-defining, we have even re-defined joy?   Now, people can say "I have joy" without any sign of its presence.  Naah!   Joy not only touches the heart, it touches the face.  Joy unspeakable is simply joy that has been birthed in the belly, the spirit, and has made its way to your mouth. When it is there, you smile and show all thirty-seven of your ivories, or two, however many you have.  And, for the novices, joy unspeakable has a sound.  Something like "ha ha, ho,ho, he, he". And, when it is full of glory, it is laughter mixed with praise.  That my friend is "joy unspeakable full of glory", 1st Pet. 1:8.

    You know, once, when Israel experienced freedom from one of their periods of captivity, the psalmist described it this way, "When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.  Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.     The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.    Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south.    They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.   He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him". Ps. 126:1-6.  I tell you this, at times I have had this feeling.  A feeling of being so free!  It is, like a dream.  Your mouth is filled with laughter and your tongue can't stop singing.  How wonderful the feeling of freedom!  Oh how I wish I could easily pass this freedom on.  Unfortunately,  many don't want freedom.  It takes effort to press for freedom, it is easier to stay in captivity.  But, when men get free, the heathen start to take notice jus as the psalmist notes.   The heathen world around us needs to see free Christians.  Yet, so many of us are like the Pharisees.  Jesus once told them they were in bondage and they answered a fool's answer "Why, we've never been in bondage to any man".  Isn't that crazy,considering Israel's long history of bondage, considering that at that very moment the were under the thumb of the Romans?  YOu see, that is the real problem with real bondage, especially the spiritual kind.  It is blinding!  If we could see our bondage we would more likely step out of it, or try to. But, the insidious nature of spiritual bondage is that it blinds us to what it is.

   The blindness element of spiritual bondage is precisely why we should read this psalm and read 1st Peter 1:8 and read about the early church being filled with great joy, again and again.  It gives us sight as to what freedom looks like.  When you can't see freedom, it is easy for the deceiver to keep deceiving,  But, when you know what it looks like, you also know when you don't have it.  My friend, if there is no joy in you, no joy in your form of Christianity, you are in bondage.   God declares in both Old and New Testaments that in His presence there is fulness of joy!   This is not just a promise of heaven, though we will know joy there.  This is a promise of right now for believers.  Like Peter said, even though we have not seen HIm, yet we believe and we rejoice with unspeakable joy!

    Friend, if you have ever truly experienced this kind of freedom, you will relate to the second half of the psalm "turn again our captivity".  DO IT AGAIN GOD!  Bondage comes and goes.  The enemy of God works hard to make that a fact.  In fact, if you are like me, (and the psalmist), and your joy slips away, or is stolen,  you are likely to begin to weep tears of joy, bearing the seeds of the freedom you know to be so wonderful and so real.   And, if you do, you may come again bringing a harvest of fresh new liberty and freedom.

Lasciviousness

Have you ever heard the word "lasciviousness"?    It means to manipulate by impressions. Usually, if you have heard the word in a religious conversation it was applied to how girls might choose to dress in revealing clothing.  And, it was frowned upon. However, you ought to check out how Jude, under the influence of the Holy Ghost used the word. "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ" Jude 1:4.   Jude was incensed at men, supposedly of God, who had crept into the church and had turned the grace of God into lasciviousness. In other words, they were manipulating people with the impression that God was saying, or doing, or wanting something that He was not. They were manipulating by impressions. That, my friend describes the error of religion. They create impressions intended to manipulate your judgment of them or your response to them. How many times have we heard some preacher say "the presence of God is here" with the intention of getting a certain response. However, in fact, there was no joy present and the Bible clearly says in the presence of God there is fulness of joy. How many times have we heard certain kinds of preachers say "send an offering and God will heal, speak, bless, etc."? We build monstrous cathedrals to impress people that God has surely favored our church. We count numbers of heads and announce them proudly, certain to convince others that God has favored our church. "Look how many we have". I have heard offering taken based on the depth of the carpet and the preachers Mercedes in the driveway "Look at us...you can tell we are good ground...look at this building, this carpet, my Mercedes". Many religious leaders, long ago, gave up waiting on the anointing of God to do what needed to be done. They learned to just use "lasciviousness" and manipulate into being what they thought ought to be.

Jude (and the Holy Ghost) were sorely displeased at this creepiness. Today, we seem to be happy with it, but they were not. Jude went on for almost the rest of the book and he called them every bad thing it seemed he could think to call them. If words could skin a man, he skinned them. "These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever". Jude 1:12-13. He was steaming!

You have to read all the way to verse nineteen before Jude truly identifies who he is so steamed up about, "These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit". These were simply natural thinkers (sensual) who did not truly have the Holy Spirit. They were creating the impression that they did, but they did not. My, oh my, does that ever describe a lot of religious groups. They make the claim, but it is lasciviousness and nothing but that. Jude then really gets to the heart of the matter when he says "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost" (vs 20). This is the group standing in opposition of the lascivious crowd. And, what is the distinctive mark! Praying in the Holy Ghost. That, for the newbies, is speaking unto God in a heavenly language received when you received the Holy Ghost.

In the beginning of this book, Jude instructs us to "contend" for the faith and this having the Holy Ghost and praying in tongues was the faith he was referring to. You know, I don't have nearly the problem with those groups out there that just do not believe in Holy Ghost baptism or praying in tongues as I do with those who say they do but their words are lascivious words. They create the impression of being charismatic, pentecostal, Spirit-filled but they are not and have no intention of being. They are manipulating for greater numbers, greater head counting.

For me, I am contending for the faith. I am going to have the Holy Ghost and with Him I am going to pray in the Spirit. That is the defense against lascivious manipulation by leaders who have crept up on us. That is the way you "contend". Don't let go of this confirmation of the Lordship of Jesus. Paul called it the "testimony of Christ". Contend. Don't manipulate or be manipulated. Get so full of the Holy Ghost that He gets a hold of your tongue. If our tongue is like a rudder on a ship or a bridle in a horses' mouth, you need to be full enough for Him to grab that tongue and turn it to praise that pours out of your spirit. That is hat happened in Acts two and that is what is happening now. Contend!