How do you approach God? Like a lost soul or a redeemed soul? Behavior matters. Approach matters, especially when approaching God. We are to come "boldly". That is not brash or arrogant or like a spoiled child. It is with "joy" we approach God. "therefore the redeemed shall return, and come with singing, unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; And sorrow and mourning shall flee away", Is. 51:11. You know why a lot of Christians seem to come up short in their faith life, their victorious living life, their intimate life with God? They approach wrong. Most of us, most likely, most of the time, when we want something from God we come weeping, maybe begging, maybe sniveling, maybe complaining "oh woe is me". But,the redeemed come with joy on their face (head). There is nothing mysterious or super-duper spiritual about that. It is an approach. Yet, coming with a joyous attitude brings a like response from above. You come with joy and lo' and behold - you get joy. You get the kind of joy that dissipates the heavy and sorrowful thing you were facing. There is no greater expression of faith than "joy". It is our strength (Neh. 8:10). It is with "joy" that we draw waters from the wells of salvation (Is. 12:3). My friend, joy is the bucket that enables you to draw on the resources of God. Jesus was anointed with the oil of gladness above all others. That was that Spirit that He said was "upon" him. That joy was the strength that enabled Him to endure the cross.
You know that kid ol' Abe and Sarah had? They named him Isaac, a word meaning "laughter". Sarah said she did it so that all who hear her story would laugh. Paul said "as Isaac was" so are we to be in this world (Gal. 4:28). Little laughing saints! One of Isaac's claims to fame was that he re-opened the wells of his father. That is what joy does. It reopens the wells. It re-establishes the connection, the intimacy. It is with "joy" we draw water from the wells! God once told Israel that because they did not serve Him with gladness, the would serve their enemies. Has He changed His mind? I doubt it, not when reading Romans one. It declares that because people are not thankful and do not glorify Him, He said He would give them over to a reprobate mind.
When God poured out joy so strongly back in the nineties, some loved it (like us) and some hated it. Others, even while participating, could not bring themselves to call it what it was. The obvious was that it was about joy. It was God correcting His family. It was a course correction. It was a correction of our approach. People would say "Oh, this is not about laughter. It is about XYZ" and insert whatever they felt comfortable with. I thought that was so dumb, to be sitting in a church with everyone roaring in joyous laughter and someone say "this isn't about joy". That is like going to a Billy Graham crusade and say "it isn't about winning souls" or a Benny Hinn meeting and say "it wasn't about healing". Nah! It was about joy. And what a well it has opened up for so many! We have been walking in this supernatural joy for many years now and it has stayed with us through thick and thin. We have overcome being tossed from a church by force for having revival, we have suffered a head on car crash that might have killed us, we have suffered some hard days of trial, we have fought cancer and beat it and through it all, we have laughed. We have rejoiced and still are. We have kept the wells open.
In our meetings a lot of things happen and one thing still happens that we love to do. We love to get people happily drunk on new wine. Oh, it seems trivial to some, at the time, but it opens the wells of salvation and they begin to draw freely on the things of God. You know, sometimes we give people rejoicing lessons. Lesson number one is to identify the sound of joy. It goes like this "ha, ha, ho, ho, he, he". What else could joy sound like? When David sinned, he wanted the joy of his salvation restored. He wanted to hear joy and gladness again. The Bible says "blessed are those who know the joyful sound". For us, it sounds like this, "ha, ha, ho, ho, he, he". This is also otherwise known as "joyunspeakable and full of glory", that little behavior requirement on the redeemed who believe and love the unseen Jesus (1st Pet. 1:8).
When God poured out joy so strongly back in the nineties, some loved it (like us) and some hated it. Others, even while participating, could not bring themselves to call it what it was. The obvious was that it was about joy. It was God correcting His family. It was a course correction. It was a correction of our approach. People would say "Oh, this is not about laughter. It is about XYZ" and insert whatever they felt comfortable with. I thought that was so dumb, to be sitting in a church with everyone roaring in joyous laughter and someone say "this isn't about joy". That is like going to a Billy Graham crusade and say "it isn't about winning souls" or a Benny Hinn meeting and say "it wasn't about healing". Nah! It was about joy. And what a well it has opened up for so many! We have been walking in this supernatural joy for many years now and it has stayed with us through thick and thin. We have overcome being tossed from a church by force for having revival, we have suffered a head on car crash that might have killed us, we have suffered some hard days of trial, we have fought cancer and beat it and through it all, we have laughed. We have rejoiced and still are. We have kept the wells open.
In our meetings a lot of things happen and one thing still happens that we love to do. We love to get people happily drunk on new wine. Oh, it seems trivial to some, at the time, but it opens the wells of salvation and they begin to draw freely on the things of God. You know, sometimes we give people rejoicing lessons. Lesson number one is to identify the sound of joy. It goes like this "ha, ha, ho, ho, he, he". What else could joy sound like? When David sinned, he wanted the joy of his salvation restored. He wanted to hear joy and gladness again. The Bible says "blessed are those who know the joyful sound". For us, it sounds like this, "ha, ha, ho, ho, he, he". This is also otherwise known as "joyunspeakable and full of glory", that little behavior requirement on the redeemed who believe and love the unseen Jesus (1st Pet. 1:8).
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