FIRST AND FOREMOST AND ALWAYS:
take your position in Christ…

next, rebuke the lies of Satan…

then:

celebrate the victory you already had before these feelings of sorrow came upon you!

Beloved (and enemies of the cross – by the way, you are loved by God and the Church) Satan is a liar and Jesus Christ tells us Satan not only lies… he never tells the truth! Never! Did you hear that?! Satan lies; he only lies; he lies all the time! God says: “There is no truth in him.”  One of his well-deserved titles is the father of lies!

John 8:42-47
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.  You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

Satan, my beloved, does not tell some lies. He lies. He only lies: and, he does this all of the time!

Selah.

There is no reason to reject the joy of the Lord! Amen and amen! People do so because they reject the truth of God.

I must interject here: we all have sorrows sometimes in our lives. People die. This brings the sorrow of separation from them: and, that separation should be temporary. Our loved ones leave us or we leave them. However, dying in the Lord is a kingdom apart from dying in the world.

The difference?

Hell.

Hell is a teaching you don’t hear much about! Because I love God, truth, and you, I’m not going to take a scissors, cut out and ignore the tremendous amount of teaching Jesus teaches on Hell. He warns and He chastises. He rebukes and He encourages. If you choose to be lonely, feel blue, it is your fault if you ever remain and die that way!

SCRIPTURAL TRUTHS FOR THIS JOY STORY:

Proverbs 15:21
Folly brings joy to one who has no sense, but whoever has understanding keeps a straight course.

Nehemiah 8:10
Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

3 John 1:2-4
Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Jude 1:24
To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Galatians 2:19-21
“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

John 8:42-44
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.  You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.