Joy is Our Strength
The Power of His Name!
Scripture Reading: Philippians 2:5-11
Key Verse: Nehemiah 8:10
“… for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”
One of the reasons our joy in the Lord is our strength is that as Christ-followers we have learned the power of Jesus’s name.
Our God decided to give His Son, Jesus, a “name that is above every name” (Philippians 2:9). Jesus’s name is powerful because Jesus Himself was powerful and paid the price for mankind’s sinfulness when He died on the Cross.
Knowing this, Jesus instructed all those who follow Him to ask for anything, in His Name. The Gospel of John makes this clear:
“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (John 16:24).
No Christ-follower’s joy is complete until they learn the power of asking for things in Jesus’s Name. Think about the progressive nature of joy in believers.
When a person asks Jesus into their lives and God forgives their sins, they experience the first level of joy. At this level, our joy is because we get to spend our eternity in heaven with the God who loves us!
The second level of joy, as we have looked at in these devotionals, is knowing that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
It is not long before a new believer discovers that their relationship with Jesus does not mean they never make any more bad choices in life. Bad choices give the evil one an opportunity to shame a believer. But, when we grasp the truth and stop allowing the devil to condemn us, our joy takes a big jump forward.
Today’s devotional helps us complete our joy by reminding us that we can ask for anything in Jesus’s Name, and the Father hears us. Sometimes we can make some things too small or insignificant to pray about. For God, there is nothing too small or insignificant. If it is important to us, then it is important to our Father in Heaven.
Our relationship to God is not some legal agreement. It is a relationship of mutual love and care. When you asked Jesus into your life, you did not receive a religion; you received a relationship with our Triune God.
Our God loves to give good gifts to His children. Do not be timid in asking for things in Jesus’s Name.
Father, I praise you for being so generous with me; for hearing me when I ask for things in your Son’s name. In Jesus’s Name, amen.