Apostle Aje Pelser
25 May 2008, 10 AM

If you need strength, you need to check your joy levels. The world, society and the devil, robs you of your joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength!

This is something that Nehemiah said while building the city. The joy of the Lord is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) It was difficult for them to build at that time because they had to fight with the one hand and with the other hand build the wall. They were being attacked while building. It is just like life. Take courage from Nehemiah's  words. The joy of the Lord is your strength.

Sometimes you need to rejoice. Paul writes to the Philippians, Philippians 4:4- " rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice." He says it again, because they did not listen the first time. God says it to us, but we don't hear. When you rejoice you release His joy into your situation. When you start obeying the Word of God it is like that joy comes up out of your inner most being. You have to let it out through obeying the command that says rejoice.

Romans 15:13- "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  We don't have a vain hope, but a God of hope. My God hears and sees, He is not deaf and mute or an idol.

I am speaking about the super strength of joy, but also about kingdom principles and if you hear what I am saying you'll see that there is a different kingdom here than what you see in general religion and Christianity. There are some principles that have been neglected in the last 2000 years which we are unearthing. We need to get back to the basics as Christians and stand up for God, find out what is wrong in Christianity and correct it. There is no perfect church, but we need to make change our comfort zone so that we can continually change from glory to glory to glory. Let us hear what God says through others in our lives. Let us be lead by the Spirit. We are part of a heavenly kingdom not an earthly kingdom. We are speaking about a kingdom principle of joy. But this is a joy that does not depend on what you have or don't have. It does not depend on your situation or on how happy you are.  Whether you are sad or happy you can have joy, because it is a deep set kingdom joy that comes from the Holy Spirit. It is a joy that comes from Him.

 The devil tries to rob you of your joy. He clouds your mind with depression and knows that he is sapping your strength by sapping your joy. The Bible says that he is a fleeing serpent and a deceiver. You must submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. You can't just resist him. If you are out of submission in your life and not submitting to God's ways and principles, you can't resist the devil. If you are not in a church that covers you, you can't resist the devil. God has called us to be in a body so that we can stand together. There are times when we need prayer and support. When you go through tough times you shouldn't ask why or saying this happened because I did this and that. That is cause and effect. It is a dualistic way of thinking and then you are going to back to your old way. Let the joy of the Lord be your strength through a trial. A trial is an extended test of your faith. A test is once off, but a trial is an on going thing in the same area and it takes years sometimes. That is why Peter says to count it all joy when you fall into various trials. It produces genuine faith that is more precious than gold. You go through a furnace of affliction. You must go through it. The good news is that it is not forever. If you stand and overcome, Revelation tells you all the promises for overcomers to the churches, one of them is that you will be made a pillar in the temple of God.

As apostles we tell people what church really is. God gave these five gifts, apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers and pastors, to perfect the saints and equip them for the work of the ministry. God has given apostles a clear understanding of what church should be. We don't know it all but God has given us a glimpse and an understanding of what the true church is. In that understanding we realize and admit that we are not the true church, but are part of something greater. This church is just an entry point into the new church. Hebrews 12:22-24- " But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel."

The blood of Abel speaks vengeance. The blood of Jesus speaks forgiveness. We enter in to this new church through the veil which is His flesh. (Hebrew 10:20). We enter to the holiest place of intimacy with God through the veil which is His flesh. We are also the body of Christ. When Jesus tore His body on the cross, He gave His body for us. And then He constantly says that we are the body of Christ. The tearing and turmoil you sometimes go through in your church life, is like you are going through the body and the suffering of Christ to get into the holiest of all. The churches on the earth here, are like garments that you go through. Harvester is not the true church, nor the AFM, or whichever denomination. We are just an entry point through which you can enter into the true church. We are not trying to see who is the best or the most accurate. The true church is something that is registered in heaven. The spirits of just men made perfect assembles there.

When we come into worship and we experience things beyond this auditorium, we are getting a glimpse of, because it says that you have come to Mount Zion. Jesus prayed for His disciples that they may be with Him where He is. Where was Jesus when He was praying that? He was in a place with intimacy with God.

The understanding of joy is a different level. He fills you with joy and peace when you believe again. And the power of the Holy Spirit makes hope abound in you. The word abound refers to rebounding joy like a tennis ball that bounces back from a wall. Hope puts the bounce back in your life and the spring in your footstep. The joy in what you believe in and trusting God for. Rebounding joy. No matter what, you will come up again. That is the resilience that christians have, it is a resurrection life.

Laughter is emotionless, that is why it can serve as an escape valve for pent up emotions. We laugh better in a group than by ourselves. Laughter indicates the social nature and the therapy value of laughter, it does good like medicine. A merry heart is a continual feast. But laughter is also corrected. When you see someone else does something silly, you laugh at other people's faults, but in doing that you correct your own thinking, because next time you get into that situation, you'll remember that you actually laugh at it and you will think again. We laugh at stiffness in people. When someone tries to be too proper, you laugh at them. We also laugh at absent minded professors.

We are not going to let the enemy rob us of our strength. Deut. 28:47- "Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things ; this is a warning not to grumble about things and not to murmer about how you are serving  but to serve Him with joy. Joy is an essential ellement in kingdom activities and God requiers joyful prayer in the house of prayer.

Is. 56: 6-7-"Also the sons of the stranger, who join themselves to the LORD to serve Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants, everyone who keeps from defil