Full of Cheer

“A merry heart does good, like medicine,
But a broken spirit dries the bones.”
Proverbs 17:22

And then, of course, we know that very famous scripture, Nehemiah 8:10:

“…the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

You know, laughter is like medicine and today, we need to start laughing - We need to start being joyful. Another translation says: “A cheerful heart brings healing to both body and soul but the one whose heart is crushed, struggles with sickness and depression.”

We really need to concentrate on what Jesus has done for us. You see, joy is the keynote because God, through His Son Jesus, has saved us. When I am on a campaign and I am preaching, the highlight of every meeting we have (and this is the honest truth) is not people getting out of wheelchairs and walking, it is not people getting off those sick stretchers. and blind eyes opening and deaf ears being unstopped. It is not that. It is when we make the altar call and people come forward! Old people, young people, men and women, husbands and wives and they kneel at the altar and they repent and ask Jesus to come into their hearts.

We see the tears of gratitude and thankfulness. We see those spiritual chains of addiction and oppression falling off their shoulders, they get up and they are weeping with joy. Some are dancing, some are in a state of almost shock... I have been forgiven, my sins are washed away! That to me is the greatest miracle that I ever see.

I look at a large crowd, very sombre sometimes, very quiet, some not even trusting. By the end when the Holy Spirit moves upon those people and they come forward and they ask Jesus Christ to be their saviour - it is like a different crowd in an instant. It is absolutely amazing. That is what I live for, that is why that wicked old slave ship captain, that's right - I am talking about John Newton... Could write those amazing words, probably the most famous of all the hymns, Amazing Grace.

Remember the words he wrote:

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch; like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

In the times that we are living there is so much pain, suffering and confusion. It is time to realize that the Lord is coming back soon and that's enough to be joyful about, isn’t it?

John G Lake that amazing, famous American healing evangelist said, “When you get up in the morning, go and look in that mirror. When you are putting on your tie or doing up your hair, putting on your lipstick - what you have got to do is say, to the person you are looking at in the mirror, “Wherever that person goes today, God is going with them.” And then go out there and face the world.

God bless you and have a wonderful day.