We are living in troubled times. (That’s the understatement of the year.) COVID-19 (the Coronavirus disease) is very likely troubling you in some way or another. Whether you or someone you know or love is sick from it, or you’re questioning the origins of it, or the overreaching responses to it, or you’re worried about the likely consequences of these life-altering responses to it, troubles are very likely affecting your thoughts and/or your life.

Interestingly, we as individuals are not the only people who are living in these troubled times—everyone else is too. What about true Christian believers? Yes, all of us believers are sharing and shouldering the burdens of these troubled times.

Speaking only to believers: are you feeling lower now than you’ve ever felt before in your life? Maybe you’ve been down before but you’ve always managed to somehow “feel” better. But what about today? Has this been the longest period of sustained melancholy you’ve felt so far in your life?

Well, you’re certainly not alone. Usually, when we face difficulties in life, we can be encouraged by others who have faced the same or similar difficulties in their own lives, and yet have managed to make it through those trials. They give us hope that mere mortals can survive troubles and still live to be “happy” another day.

However, today we don’t have other people to look to who have faced a similar trial to what we’re facing today, let alone have the ability to see victory on the other side through the experiences of others.

Does God know how we feel? Yes, of course He does. What is His desire for your heart and mind during the troubles of today?

“Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10b).

“Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

“The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him” (Exodus 15:2).

How do we true believers, sealed by the Holy Spirit, obtain “the joy of the Lord”?

In other words, how have we managed to be truly saved yet somehow unable up to this point to be steady and sustained by the joy of the Lord?

The answer to that question depends upon what we have used during our lives to lift ourselves up and out of unhappiness. If we have at any time leaned upon worldly pleasures to patch up our sorrows, then we missed the opportunity to add the sustaining joy of the Lord to our hearts and minds. Instead, we’ve replaced His enduring joy with temporary pleasure.

Yes, a true believer still has the choice to indulge in the temporary pleasures of this world. God says that we’re capable of grieving Him even after we’re saved:

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30).

You see, we have a choice as to how we build up our “new man” after we are saved. We can choose to add enduring and eternal joys of the Lord, or we can choose to patch in worldly pleasures instead.

“that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).

If we have been building up our new man or woman in Christ with a mixture of mostly worldly pleasures, and only a few joys of the Lord, then we’ve created an unsteady amalgamation that cannot sustain our “happiness” when our worldly pleasures are threatened.

Happiness may not always shine through our eyes and actions, but joy will:

A woman worked as a maid in the house of a mean innkeeper. One day, God saved her, and she could not hide her happiness. What used to be drudgery turned into joy. The innkeeper was furious and began to belittle her. He hated her for being happy.

Finally, he said, “You say you’re saved and I can see your joy. Can you tell me what being saved means?”

She answered, “To me, it feels as though I am standing in Jesus’ shoes, and He is standing in mine.”

Nothing is more attractive and effective at winning the lost to Christ than the joy of the Lord shining through our interactions with others, especially in times like these. Knowing that your Lord and Savior is truly walking with you every step of the way should bring you true joy.

Our challenge as believers is to lay aside the temporary pleasure and happiness that worldly comforts provide. Of course, we need to provide worldly comforts to ourselves and our families in order to survive on this planet, and to do our work for the Lord, but we must not use them to feed our happiness.

We will achieve true joy when we choose not to add the building blocks of worldly pleasures as happiness to our new man, but instead we add the building blocks of service to the Lord* as our happiness.

Then we will be building toward a steadfast joy that will remain steady in times of trouble.

The Lord Jesus says:

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11).

Our main commission as true believers is to share the gospel of Christ with the lost world. A broken down and patched up believer is not as effective at sharing the gospel as a believer sustained by the joy of the Lord.

*The following verses describe various ways to serve the Lord:

“And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature’” (Mark 16:15).

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31-32).

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

 

This is a message to all who want to do it your way.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12).

Care must be taken in the path which you choose. If you choose to walk along the path which seems right to you, then you have likely chosen a path different from that which God wants you to follow.

Following God’s desired path for you requires sacrifice:

“Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (Timothy 3:12).

Through various modes of entertainment, you witness many who assert that it’s bold or courageous to criticize the Word of God. They attempt to find fault with and denigrate God’s Word every chance they get. Their own ungodly behavior calls attention to their contempt for God’s Word.

In reality, it takes much more courage to believe what the Bible says is true, rather than saying that the stories in the Bible are myths, or rejecting and mocking the moral standards commanded by the Lord.

People say that they refuse to believe in something that they cannot see. That’s exactly the point; it takes faith to please God:

“Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Furthermore, proof that God exists cannot be understood by science:

“By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3).

However, the evidence that God exists is the foundation and result of all scientific discovery. Those who choose to willfully ignore the scientific evidence are only fooling themselves:

“For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse… Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:20, 22).

Do you long for a world free from the moral constraints of the Holy Bible? Do you wish for a world free from those who preach, teach, and sincerely endeavor to practice God’s moral commandments?

Be careful what you wish for.

Without God’s true children here, you will have the earth all to yourself. You will then be able to mold and shape the world into your own image.

Are you sure you want that?

Yes, you continue to do that now, but you have not as yet received full compensation for your efforts.

While true believers remain here on earth, the restraining of the Holy Spirit also remains. What exactly is the Holy Spirit “restraining”?

The Holy Spirit is holding back evil from becoming overwhelmingly dangerous and/or violent on a worldwide scale.

God is very patient; He allows humankind to continue to devolve into moral decay while waiting for His lost sheep to be found.

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

However, He has set a date on the calendar that only He knows. On that appointed day, He will remove all of His true children from this earth along with the controlling power of His Holy Spirit.

All of God’s true believing children are filled with His Holy Spirit:

“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13).

As a consequence of all true believers being filled with God’s Holy Spirit, the unbelieving world receives the blessing of being surrounded by the life-giving waters of the Holy Spirit.

“‘He who believes in Me,’ as the Scripture has said, ‘out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive” (John 7:38-39a).

Just as our loving God has so generously given His Holy Spirit to the world:

“But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:39).

He can and will also take Him away:

“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7).

The result of the removal of the current restraining work of the Holy Spirit will be worldwide trouble and extreme tribulation:

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:21-22).

As for those of us who believe and accept the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ as the ONLY atonement for our sins, we do not plan on being here during the time of unrestrained evil:

“For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).

We cannot wait to meet our Savior in the air:

“For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Would you like to join us?

If you’re absolutely ashamed of your sins, and you are completely heartbroken over rejecting God’s free gift of salvation, and you are now ready to receive Him:

“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved’” (Romans 10:9-13).

“The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit” (Psalms 34:18).

I sincerely hope and pray that you have chosen salvation!