From the desk of Steve Shultz:
I must admit that I have had to work through disappointment this year. Joy has been a real discipline. Prayer, Yes. Tears, Yes! Intercession, Yes!
Yet Joy has greatly alluded me often, because of disappointments regarding health issues, great "generals" of God passing away from us (our loss and not theirs), and even the economy and its corresponding financial losses.
I have been disobedient?not to experience more JOY, and yet I too must be transparent that it has been difficult to experience this great JOY.
Yet in some mysterious way, God has told us that the JOY OF THE LORD is our strength! In other words, the Joy we have that HE is in control of all things?IS OUR STRENGTH!
This word by Julie Smith not only explores this, but it gives a real-life supernatural experience she had regarding "trading in disappointment for His Joy."
So I will continue to practice. Why don't you practice having Joy with me and with us?
We will find our strength there?it's in the Word after all.
Here are some great resources that explore that very subject, by the way:
?
?
Blessings,
?
Steve Shultz
?
Julie A. Smith:
"This Year God Wants You to Trade in Disappointment for His JOY"
This is the time of year when many of us reflect on our past and think about the future. Having a year to put behind us and a new year to embrace is truly a gift from God. God gave us the gift of time for this very reason?so we would never forget the past is over, we live in the present, and have the future to look forward to.
Suffice to say, without letting go of the past we will never fully embrace the gift of time. Time is a limited period or interval?the key word in time's definition is limited. The periods of time in our life are limited?including all the times of pain and disappointment as well the times of happiness and joy. When we allow disappointment to overextend its period of time, we are robbing ourselves of the times of happiness and joy we could be embracing in its place.
For some of my closest friends, this past year has been a most difficult one and I know it has been for many others in the Body abroad. Disappointment has seeped into the core of our being and unfortunately, the enemy has used this as a foothold, causing many to stay in a place of disappointment which God never intended us to live in. Disappointment comes in all shapes, sizes and forms?it knows how to custom-cater itself to everyone. No matter how gifted and spiritual you are?disappointment attacks all.
As I was writing this article the Lord told me to be transparent about my disappointment. This is important to Him because He wants to take our disappointment and replace it with His joy. I converse with many people from all walks of ministry, and people who you least expect have been dealing with deep disappointment. The definition of disappointment is: to defeat the fulfillment of hopes and plans; failure of expectation; miscarriage of design; frustration.
Life's journey comes with disappointment, that is a given. But it's how we respond to it that is of the utmost importance to our well-being. Will you give your disappointment to the Lord and let Him heal you, trusting that He will work it out for your good? Or will you allow disappointment to abide in a place only meant for the joy of the Lord to dwell and pull you through? If we hold onto disappointment, we will never overcome it.
I too have walked through my own fair share of disappointment over the years and this past year, I've had to deal with it head on?and I mean all of it! There was no more covering it or pretending it wasn't an issue?I knew better because it was eating me alive. I gave room to disappointment and fed it well. But God had a plan of recovery?His overwhelming joy.
God brought me through a process of healing to overcome disappointment and embrace the joy of the Lord, which led me to a place I recently walked into?the joy room of Heaven. Yes, one of the many rooms in Heaven includes a room full of joy. Yet God didn't bring me up to this room to visit; He brought it down for me to live in.
This year God wants to pour out His overwhelming joy?it is ours to fully receive and embrace. Our strength this year will come from embracing the joy He desperately and passionately wants to give to us to live in?now!
A Merry Heart is Good Medicine
Last year while driving to work, I was hit hard with the spirit of joy?and there was no stopping it. I laughed all the way to work and even called a friend who was dealing with depression and she couldn't stop laughing either. It was contagious! As I walked toward the ElijahList building, I tried to contain myself but couldn't; the laughter became stronger the harder I tried to stop it. I then realized that it wasn't just for me; the joy I was experiencing was to be given out.
I walked through the building, laying hands on everyone I saw while doubled over in laughter and giving out words to coworkers. While I was laughing the Lord told me that toxins were being released, thus the Scripture, "A merry heart is good medicine?" (Proverbs 17:22). My stomach was so sore that day; it felt like I had done hundreds of sit-ups!
The spirit of joy remained with me throughout the day; I couldn't stop it. I remember how I felt that day?there was nothing I've experienced like this before. Nothing and I mean nothing could burden me nor weigh me down. Every care just rolled off of me. I remember thinking, "Dear Lord, I want to live in this place!" And that day was yet to come.
A Life Change?Let the Healing Begin
A couple of months ago, I went through a hard-core inner healing course at my church called "Life Change." This is not a course to be taken lightly; this is a serious inner healing course for those wanting to be free of life's past traumas and disappointments. Besides being saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit, this was the third most significant event in my Christian life. I knew this was not going to be easy to go through?some people walk out of this class because it can be hard to face those past traumas head on.
The night before, I started having second thoughts about this class, thinking how hard it would be. But the Lord spoke to me and said, "You've already walked through the hard part" (referring to the disappointment). And He went on to say, "You won't want to walk out because you're walking in." Then He said, "I just want to give you My joy." I didn't know the fullness of what this meant yet but knew I was going to find out.
One of the very first lessons taught in this class is: pain is not your enemy; it's what you do with it that can be. Life will come with pain and disappointment but harboring it and not letting go of it can cause issues of its own. That's when bitterness and unforgiveness set in and some may cope with their pain by tangible means, like forming habits of overeating, drinking, erratic spending, and much more.
I'll never forget the second night of this class?it was my breakthrough night. There is one-on-one time with just you and God, and He meets each and every person there intimately, personally, and passionately. I had a choice to go before the Lord and decide if I was going to give Him all my disappointment. He spoke intimately to me of how He never intended for me to live this way.
There I am, one-on-one with God, listening to Him share His heart over me and my life, answering questions I had, and most of all, asking me to give Him my disappointment. That night, in a beautiful and intimate setting with God, I gave Him all my disappointment. I spiritually and physically felt different?I felt free. He told me again, "I just want to give you My joy."
The Joy Room of Heaven
The next and last evening of my inner healing class, we were in a session of prayer and worship, and again we were in a very intimate setting with the Lord. During worship, my spiritual eyes were opened into a heavenly place I have never seen before. As I was standing in this room, I saw a shadow hovering over me from behind, and I knew it was the Lord overshadowing me. Then I physically felt His big arms wrap around me from behind. He embraced me tightly. That's when my eyes opened wide!
I saw many, many angels crowding the room we were in. It was so crowded with angels that I felt them running into me?they were brushing against my shoulders as they passed by in the room. At this point I can't believe what I am seeing! Heaven came down in great joy before me. In the room, angels were dancing and twirling, singing, playing slapjack with each other, laughing, and talking about us?the people in the inner healing class. They were saying to each other, "Wow, do you see her? She just got set free! Hey, look at her; she just got set free too!"
The freer we became, the more the angels danced and played with each other. It was as if their joy was contingent on us being free! I was so overwhelmed with what I was seeing; I was speechless. I think this is what it means to have "unspeakable joy." Psalm 16:11 says, "In Your presence is fullness of joy"?that Scripture came alive to me in the joy room. In His presence was the fullness of joy as the Lord's arms were wrapped around me.
As I said earlier, the Lord told me that I wouldn't want to walk out of this class because I would be "walking in." That night I walked into my joy?the joy the Lord wanted to give me. There was no disappointment in this room; it certainly couldn't survive the joy surrounding the atmosphere. Disappointment didn't stand a chance!
Being in this joy room reminded me of being on a playground surrounded by children playing. The angels in the joy room were playing just like children do. The spirit of joy children have was always meant to be kept alive in all of us?big and small; God never intended for us to give it up as adults! I walked away from my joy weekend filled with a peace I hadn't had in a long time. I was free of the disappointment that had held me captive.
The word I hear for this year is "JOY!" God wants to give us His unspeakable joy this year. His joy is not of this world but only comes from Him, the Giver of joy. The joy He gives will never fail you, in fact, it will set you free. Ask God to give you His joy. Trade in your past disappointment for the joy of Heaven. Ask God to bring down the joy room of Heaven for you to live in. And I highly recommend hanging out with children and playing with them; within them is the same God-given joy in Heaven!
The joy room of Heaven came down while I was in church in an inner healing class. I also believe this was a prophetic picture for the Church. God is going to fill His Church with heavenly joy, and the world will be coming to experience it! No stronghold stands a chance because in His presence is the fullness of joy!
As I shared earlier, we all deal with disappointment, but it's what we do with it that is so important to Him. It's time to be transparent with our disappointments and take them to the Lord. Give your disappointment to Him; don't let it harbor inside you for one more minute of time?that's one more minute of disappointment robbing you from the Joy of the Lord.
A joyful prayer this year: Lord, I pray for everyone reading this, that You would fill all with Your unspeakable joy! Take all past disappointments, and where disappointment used to dwell, Lord, now fill it with Your joy! Fill Your children with joy! Let the joy room of Heaven fall on Your children even now! Let them see and experience the angels that dance and play in the joy room of Heaven. Let this joy room be a permanent dwelling place, not just a visitation. Lord, let Your joy flood Your Church. Let Your Church be a place of unspeakable joy for all to see, experience, and to give out. Let this be a year that joy fills Your house, Lord! Amen.
?
Update: For more information on "Life Change" inner healing class and Real Life Workshops see info below:
Life Church's email: life@life4u.org
Phone: 503-362-0362
Also visit website: http://nomorewalls.com
?
Julie A. Smith, Editor
The ElijahList and ElijahRain Magazine
www.elijahlist.com
Email: info@elijahlist.net
About Julie Smith: Julie is the editor of the ElijahList, an editor of ElijahRain Magazine, and fills in for Breaking Christian News. She has over 15 years of business management experience in retail, human resources and accounting, including five years of publishing experience as a newspaper and magazine editor and journalist, and she is currently writing three children's books. Julie resides with her family in Salem, Oregon and is on the healing and prophetic ministry teams at Life Church.
Julie longs to live in and to share the supernatural depths of God's heart, so that we may simply know Him. God has placed a passion in her for the country of Thailand, where she is from and where she was born. Thailand's official name is "the Kingdom of Thailand." Her prayer and passionate desire is for the Kingdom of Thailand to know the Kingdom of God.
?
