The Joys of Believing! In all seasons.

Ashes can find beauty.

Dry bones can be given life again.

The grave doesn’t have to stay occupied.

Fear doesn’t have to remain.

Sickness doesn’t have to have the last word.

Hopelessness doesn’t have to steal the show.

Sin doesn’t have to wear the crown.

The pit of despair doesn’t have the lock and key.

Who else in the world can say these things but the believer? Oh, my friends, there is such joy in believing. There is such joy in being His. I pray you know it. I’m not saying we pretend the grave, sickness, sin, hopelessness, etc. don’t war against us, but I am saying and encouraging us to see them in their rightful place – under the redemption of Jesus!

I know the hard days are real. I’ve tasted them personally. Like David I know what the dirt in the pit of despair feels like beneath my feet, but like David as well I know what the arms of my Savior feel like as He carries me through and out! There is JOY in BELIEVING! 

Jesus never promised a heartache free life this side of heaven the moment we said, “I do” to His invitation. Why would we need a Comforter if there were no situations we would find ourselves needing deep comfort? Why would we need repentance and forgiveness if sin were to never creep in? Why would we need a Healer if sickness were to never show its face? He tells us these things plainly and plants hope in John 16:33 

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! (There is joy in believing!) I have overcome the world.” 

Trouble shouldn’t come as a shock to us, but even so a comfort because what He said is true and He will never leave us or forsake us in it. I pray that thought sparks a fire or joy in us! We. Are. Not. Alone. 

Believer, believe! There is such joys in believing. I imagine myself an ear in hearing distance of Paul and Silas’ lyrics that flew off their lips in that prison cell at midnight. Joy! Joy not in the situation, but in their Savior who was bigger than it. I can almost hear Paul say, “You can keep me in a jail cell, but my worship won’t stay bound to the circumstance that these four walls cater to!”

Church, I pray in this time and always we find ourselves believing and joying in the fact that we aren’t bound up by the same things the world is! We are in the world, but not of it – joy in the one who bought that liberty for you.

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Kayla Murphy