Joy of the Lord is my Strength (Nehemiah 8:10)

I asked the Father last night what He wanted me to blog on today so I could start meditating on it and He said “the joy of the Lord is my strength.” I proceeded to go find the psalm that was in (though I can quote scripture all day I am not good at remembering WHERE things are in scripture) only to discover the oft quoted scripture isn’t in Psalms at all! It comes from the latter part of Nehemiah 8:10. Here it is in the Amplified:

…And be not grieved and depressed, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and stronghold.

To give some context, this is being said right after the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem and many have now returned home.  Ezra has just read the Torah to them and then a group of Levites helped the people understand what it all meant. And as understanding hit them, they all wept.

Repent & Be Forgiven

I love their initial response because it reflects what OUR response should be when we come into a full understanding of the weight of our sin.  But Nehemiah’s response reflects the Father’s heart toward us when we repent and turn our hearts back towards Him – in Hebrew: teshuvah, meaning repent and turn.

This brings to mind Romans 8:1, which reminds us there is NO condemnation to those in Christ… and being “in” Christ implies both having already repented and a lifestyle of continuous repentance as we are convicted of our sins.

So one key point we can derive from this scripture is:

Once we have repented from that which He has convicted us of we are no longer to wallow in unhappy thoughts about whatever error we committed, we are to be in joy that we are in fact forgiven and redeemed!

Breaking Depression

Another key point we can see here is we are not to be depressed. For anyone who has struggled with depression (as I have), you know it feels like a literal weight.  It sucks any life and strength you might have right out of you and literally can feel like an anchor.

So how do we break this depression?  It is a spirit of heaviness and part of Isaiah 61:3 tells us exactly how to break it off:

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness

The tie to the Joy of the Lord being our strength is confirmed by 1 Chronicles 16:27 AMP

Honor and majesty are [found] in His presence; strength and joy are [found] in His sanctuary.

The key combination is that as we spend time with Him and praising Him, we find joy and in that joy of the Lord is our strength.

My question to you today is how much time are you spending in His presence?  How much time are you spending praising our King?  I encourage you to walk in the fullness of the joy of the Lord that is our strength!

Father help our hearts be tender to Your chastening, quick to repent, and quick to receive forgiveness and walk in a joy.  I pray we would stay in an attitude of praise all day each day – singing to You both aloud and in our hearts – as we don our garment of praise breaking the enemy’s spirit of heaviness.  Bless us Father as we seek to exalt You and glorify Your name!

10 Replies to “Joy of the Lord is my Strength (Nehemiah 8:10)”

  1. This is a particularly timely word being that it is the 9th of Av and the warfare is particularly strong. We all need the reminder of what “our” response should be to stay in or regain His Joy. This BTW, has been the topic of my household’s day today.

  2. amen!
    this is the way i’m going through this 12 years of my walking with Jesus.
    but, it’s always help to remind where my strength is.
    thanks for sharing.
    blessing and love to you

  3. Meghan: once again you Are intuned to our father this is for me. I have been a Christian all my life and love the word of God I felt the lord calling me closer to him I have for years tried to always in everything I do to keep God fist in my life from giving up things for him. My Mother taught me at a young age and I have never forgot this. Never do anything or go anywhere that you couldn’t take our Heavenly father with you. I’m not saying I have always done this but it has played a big part in my life. My mother was a music minister and fought us at should age how powerful are words our
    and how we should always pray in the spirit and praise him when we are struggling . My Mother went home 2007 i have really been missing her she was my best friend . Well this week has been very rough on me at work God has been dealing with me in certain areas of my life and wishing I had Mom here she would slays help me understand things a little better and help me pray about situations I would be going through. Every day this week you have posted a story or a word that god has given you at some point and time but for me it was perfect timing thank you for being a willing servant I love your ministry and your Heart . Thank you again I’m blessed by God.

  4. Yeah, the Lord has been speaking to me about joy alot lately too….July, in the natural has been a horribly hard month….at the first of the month our daughter miscarried in her 10th week of pregnancy, on the 15th my Mother went home to be with Jesus, (good for her, hard for us….) and just this weekend, I had some sort of a seizure or whatever, but was told that I said that I saw the gates…..I was told I was close to being gone….yet evidentally it wasn’t my time….yet through it all the Lord has been speaking joy, deep everlasting joy to me…..I especially love the verse you posted from 1 Chron 16. So true….His presence is true joy, peace, love…I breathe You in God, cause You are thick all around me…… You are my strentgh.

  5. @Carol – Wow! Bless your heart!!! Times like that it’s good to know our joy is rooted in something more solid than simply our emotions… bless you sweet friend!

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