Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am delighted to welcome you to another week of the month of April 2023. My prayer is that the joy of the Lord will continually overflow your life in the week and all through the remaining part of the year. Amen.
Now, as you already know, Christians all over the world are today celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And isn’t that a good thing? It is a good thing. I mean that is not bad at all to set aside a day to sensitise the people of the world about the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ and the significance of these things. So, happy Easter to you, if you are joining in the celebration.
However, what God wants from us is more than that. What He wants from us is to daily remind ourselves of the significance of what Jesus did for us and to joyfully give ourselves to serving Him because of it. That is one the reasons the bible tells us that the kingdom of God is not about righteousness and peace alone but also about the joy that the Holy Spirit gives (Rom 14:17).
Unfortunately, many of God’s people today hardly exhibit joy in giving their worship or service to Him. The only time some of them express any form of joy or happiness at all in matters relating to God is when songs of praise or thanksgiving are being rendered in their church meetings. Apart from then, there is nothing else they do for God that comes with excitement or joy. They are not excited to pray. They are not excited to give. They are not excited to receive the word of God. And they are not excited to invite anyone to taste the goodness of God with them. Instead, whatever they do for God is often associated with murmuring.
Why? The main reason is that they are not excited about their fellowship with God. When people are excited about knowing God and being in fellowship with Him, there is nothing they will do for Him that will not be with joy. They will even die for Him with joy. Look at the apostles of old. We are told in the bible of a time that they were beaten for preaching the gospel and yet they went home rejoicing that they were counted worthy of suffering shame because of the name of Jesus. Why did they act like that? They were excited about their fellowship with God and with His Son Jesus Christ. (Cf. Acts 5:40-41)
Also, we are told in the bible that when Jesus called Levi the Tax collector to follow Him, he was so excited about his call that he threw a party for Him (Luke 5:27-28). What about Zacchaeus? How did he respond to the visit of the Lord to his house? It was with great excitement (Luke 19:1-10). Then we have a psalmist speak of his excitement about God in these words: “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.”” (Psalm 122:1NKJV)
Now it is those who are excited about God and anything that concerns Him in that manner that He will continually reveal Himself to and also build up to do all kinds of good works (John 14:21). So, if God is not revealing more and more of Himself to you and is not doing anything to bless others through you, you need to check yourself to see if you have been excited about Him. And if you are not excited about Him, you are definitely excited about some other things. Yes, if you are not excited to serve God and live for Him, there is definitely something else or someone else you are excited to serve and live your life for. But will it be worth it after all?
Look at what Moses said to the children of Israel on this matter: “Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.” (Deut 28:47-48NIV) Did you see that? Those who will not serve God with excitement and joy will ultimately serve Satan and his host in pains and sorrow. I pray your situation will not end like that. But if you see that you are not excited or passionate about God at all or anymore, you should get on your knees and pray that your passion and excitement for Him will be restored without delay. And your voice will be heard. Amen.
Have a great week.
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