The King has come

Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!

The LORD has taken away your punishment,
he has turned back your enemy.
The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you;
never again will you fear any harm.

Zephaniah 3:14-15

God promises His perpetual joy and security for His people. The world we live in is uncertain, times surprise us unpleasantly, and everything is a risk. But in the midst of all this, God affectionately calls out to His people saying, “Be glad and Rejoice with all your heart”.

When God says "Rejoice"; you better mind it: because is not some cheesy phrase put there, whose effect will wear out with time. God asks you to celebrate because He has reasons. And when you experience the truth of what He has accomplished for you, New Year celebrations don't end with the few days in January.

“he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;” Psalm 103:10-11

We mess up big time. We've done things we should'nt and not done things that we should. In the course of our actions, we put lots of things under strain. Our words, our thoughts, our emotions and our actions ---- everything is bruised.

And we end up having a place inside, where there's so much of guilt piled up, mistakes of the past, and unbroken high places. There's another picture of me that the world sees, but I know, that there's a luggage that I'm always carrying beneath.

And when I am alone, it drains up all my strength. Most of the times, we're just so tired with the amount pretense and masks in our life. We cringe in fear, when we think about the consequences of letting the world have a glimpse of our misery inside.

You started off with zeal, but somewhere down the road, your distractions led you somewhere else. Now you find yourself in a place quite not like something that you can show around. You are drowning inside, realizing how hopeless life can get everyday.

When there's hardly any reason left to survive, God says, “Rejoice”.

That's because His plan for your restoration is already in store. God has scored off your punishment. God says, “You don't have to receive what you actually deserve”.

as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us. - Psalm 103:12

God would at no point, endorse the sinful things in our life and in no way compromise on His stand. Nevertheless, He is not going to leave things the way they are, and abandon us either.

His command to rejoice, is because of His promise for redemption. God's verdict is not going to be life threatening, rather life transforming. The joy of the divine, can replace the suffering of the carnal, if you believe and receive the promise of restoration that He has for you today.

Examine yourself. Recognize the ways in your life that are detestable in God's sight, Repent and Reconcile. Ask Christ Jesus to purify you, so that you can receive the fullness of His promise. We repeat this process so routinely, that now it sounds just like another religious rambling.

God commands us to rejoice, because this is the easy task. He has done the difficult one for us on the cross. We need to receive the power of Christ's forgiveness in every area of our life continually.

I would like to quote Selwyn Hughes, "In John 13:10, Jesus said to His disciples, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet". You may have indeed experienced repented fully at your conversion, but daily contact with the world, the love of self, and tactics of the enemy means that you need to have Jesus "wash your feet". Repentance is a daily attitude."

I have to repent of my sin, my slackness, my indifference and my willful overstepping of God's commands. We don't have to carry this burden for yet another year. We can boldly approach God's throne of grace, and ask of Him to give us the joy He promised.

The punishment threatening your life, and the enemy with his plan of destruction is no longer there. The presence of everything dangerous and harmful has been replaced with the strength and security of your King. Maybe the crafty serpent wriggled into your life and swallowed up your peace and joy.

But now the Sovereign Lord reigns is in your midst, preserving your life from all harm and giving your enemy a run for his life.

Be glad and rejoice with all your heart.

Happy New Year! :)