The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength
January 1, 2025
And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!” Nehemiah 8:10 (NLT)
The Joy of the Lord is the lifeblood of vital and fruitful followers of Jesus.
In your physical body, blood is vital to your health and survival. As you simply exist, you use oxygen and nourishment that your blood cells deliver to muscles and tissues. When you thrive—as a trained athlete or strong laborer—you have higher blood count and hemoglobin levels than non-athletes. These higher levels allow you to transport more oxygen and nourishment to your muscles.
Anemia is a disorder that occurs when you don’t have enough red blood cells or hemoglobin to carry oxygen throughout your body. Symptoms include weakness, dizziness, shortness of breath, headaches, or even a bad heartbeat. Anemia is obviously bad!
Spiritually, when you have repented of sin, put your faith in Jesus, and follow him, you have the spiritual blood of Jesus in you. This is a Supernatural Phenomenon. It’s not something you can do on your own. However, there are steps that engage your faith in the presence of Jesus that increase your faith and spiritual vitality. We call these the MEANS of GRACE.
The means of grace are activities in which followers of Jesus engage and God historically works. Praying. Praising. Serving. Scripture study. Generosity. Fasting. Receiving sacraments of communion and baptism. Among others.
Engaging the means of grace empowers your spiritual blood to give your faith life even more oxygen, to give nourishment, even to give you greater capacity—your spiritual blood and hemoglobin—to carry even more of Jesus’s power into your life. Through the trials and to greater triumphs.
If you feel fatigue in your faith, check the health of your spiritual blood. Is your faith bolstered by the supernatural power of Jesus that gives your life extra oxygen and energy to not only survive but thrive? Are you regularly engaging God’s means of grace to empower your faith?
The on-ramp to the paths of Worship, Grow, and Serve will be available online and in print starting Sunday, January 12. The Spring 2025 semester runs from February through August.
If you want to continue all of your current Grow Group and Serve Team roles, you don’t need to do a thing. Just keep it up.
If you want to sign-up anew—in a Grow Group and/or Serve Team—complete the Spring On-Ramp.
And if you want to change—either add, change, or delete—please complete the Spring On-Ramp. When you do that, include each existing and new group and team you’ll engage this semester.