The Joy of the Lord is Our Strength

This afternoon I was called to the bedside of a wonderful lady who is a member of our church who has fought cancer for a number of years.

Several months ago I met this person a few days after I arrived in my office as pastor of First Baptist Church of Sylacauga, Alabama. When she left the office I commented to my secretary that she was a sweet lady who obviously had the Spirit of God radiating from her. Sharon, my secretary told me of her fight with cancer and said that she had rallied back a few times. She has an incredible network of prayer warriors.

When I arrived at the hospital I found a flurry of activity around her bed with family, friends and nurses. I had been told that her liver had shut down and that she did not have long to live. When I walked up to her bedside she looked at me, smiled a very wide smile and said, "well preacher, it's about time you got here!" I was so relieved. Her condition is very serious, yet she found the joy inside to make a joke for her pastor. Amazing grace!

Later, as time passed more people arrived and it was getting very crowded in the room, even though the hospital had transferred her to a suite. I sensed that it was time to have a prayer with the family and make my exit so that the family have spend as much time with her as possible. Just before I called the people together I hear her ask one of her friends if she would let her wear her diamond rings. Her friend had big diamonds on every finger of both hands. Slowly but surely her friend removed each ring and slipped it onto her hands. She was laughing, her friend was laughing, I was laughing -- the whole room was laughing! It was great. Charlie Sanders was standing next to me. (Charlie is a great brother in Christ who can pray heaven down.) Charlie said, "pastor, the joy of the Lord is our strength." I agreed with Charlie with a huge AMEN! It became so obvious that NO ONE could be going through this kind of pain and anxiety with an abundance of such joy unless it was coming directly from the Lord. "THE JOY OF THE LORD IS OUR STRENGTH!" Nehemiah 8:10

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Galatians 5:22-23