The Lord Rejoices In You!

The Lord Rejoices in You!

Zephaniah 3:17 “ The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

I think this verse is great because it brings God’s love and affection into light.  This verse gives us a different view of God.  It begins by telling us that the Lord, our God is in our midst.  Is this news to you, or did you already know this?  Did you know that God isn’t just sitting on top of a throne in Heaven looking down on us?  He is all around us.  He is everywhere.  Next, it says that He is a warrior who gives victory.  Do you ever picture the Lord as a warrior?  It’s funny because I know that the Lord fights for us, but I don’t picture Him as a warrior.  When I think of the Lord, I picture Jesus and He seemed to be far from a warrior.  

When I think of the word warrior, I think of a soldier that is dressed in armor and armed with weapons.  I bet you get a similar picture in your mind when you hear that word.  However when I looked it up online the Merriam Webster website said the definition of warrior is a person engaged or experienced in warfare broadly.  When I hear this definition I do think of God.  We are all engaged in spiritual warfare, whether we want to be or not.  The enemy is fighting for our souls and if we are not paying attention and fighting back, he will win them.  However, this verse gives us hope.  This verse states that the Lord is a warrior who gives victory.  God has already defeated evil.  The moment Jesus voluntarily gave up His life for ours evil was defeated.  If we can remember this and hold onto this truth we can fight off the evil one.  

The reason I said the evil one will win our souls if we aren’t aware and if we aren’t fighting back is because the enemy is constantly trying to trick us.  It says right in John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”  If we are not aware that the enemy is out there trying to steal our happiness and destroy all the good in our lives, they we may not see his lies for what they are.  He always begins by telling us half truths so that he can gain our confidence.  You may find some truth in the things that the enemy is telling you.  One great way to tell if it is the enemy talking to you or the Holy Spirit talking to you is to pay attention to how you feel afterwards.  The enemy uses these half truths to make you feel bad about yourself, to make you feel angry, shameful, full of regret, of any other negative emotion that you might feel.  The Holy Spirit does sometimes point out things we are doing that are not good, but He always does it with love.  It is always convicting, but not condemning.  If you feel condemned that is not from the Lord.  

The last part of the verse gives us an image that we may not have had before. It said, “He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will renew you in His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.”  Not only is it something that you have not thought of before, but it may be hard for you to believe.  If it is hard for you to believe this verse, I want you to remember all the other verses we have done over the past year. I started this podcast last June.  This is episode #252.  If you have been listening for awhile you have heard a lot of verses from the Bible.  You know that God gave us the Bible so we could learn about Him and His ways.  He does not put things in the Bible that are not true.  The Bible is The Word of God.  If you read something in the Bible you can know with confidence that it is true.  

This verse says that the Lord rejoices over you with gladness.  How amazing is that?  Can you even imagine what that looks like.  The love of God is something that is given so freely and yet we can have a hard time accepting it.  When we look at ourselves all we see are our flaws.  It’s kinda like when you find the perfect partner.  When you first start dating you wonder what he or she sees in you.  We think this way with God sometimes.  He is so amazing and when we think of ourselves all we see are the ways in which we don’t measure up or the ways we let Him down.  This isn’t how God sees us.  He loves us, flaws in all, and as this verse says, the Lord rejoices over us with gladness.  Take a minute and just sit with that thought.  The Lord rejoices over you with gladness.  Know this to be true with the same certainty that you know all the other verses to be true.  God doesn’t just rejoice over some of His children and not others.  He rejoices over all of us.  This may be easier to understand if you are a parent.  If you are a parent you know that your children are not all the same.  Some behave well, and others not so well.  Some make you happy and others make you sad at times.  However, you love all your children and you rejoice in all of them, you rejoice in their differences.  Our heavenly Father does the same.

The verse also says He will renew you in His love.  I don’t know about you, but I could sure use a renewal in the Lord’s love.  This world is a tough one and it can really wear us down.  There is so much negativity and hatred right now.  I am not sure what is going on but the enemy is having a hay day with our families and our family values.  I hope that God will renew the whole world with His love.  I wonder how many would be receptive to it?  I wonder how many would reject His love.  It seems the world today has decided that they can do things better without the Lord, and look where it is getting us.  I say, Yes Lord, renew me with your love!  I accept all of it.  I will take all the love you want to give me.  It makes me sad that so many are rejecting God’s love these days because the people of this world are starving for love.  They feel so alone and lost.  This world definitely needs a renewal of God’s love.  

The verse ends with He will exult over you with loud singing.  Exult means to rejoice, so this verse is repeating the fact that the Lord is rejoicing over us.  However, He is not just doing it with gladness, He is also doing it with loud singing.  Think about the last time your rejoiced with loud singing.  What were you excited about?  We wouldn’t rejoice with loud singing over something that we weren’t excited over.  We don’t rejoice with loud singing that we lost our job or that our car broke down.  We don’t rejoice with loud singing about things that we don’t care about.  Imagine how much the Lord must care about you to be rejoicing with loud singing.  Yes, you.  I know some of you are dismissing the fact that I am talking to you.  You find it easy to believe that the Lord would be rejoicing for other people, but not for you.  The Lord is talking to you specifically in this verse.  The Lord loves you and He is rejoicing with gladness and loud singing for you.  Why is it so hard for you to believe that?  If you are struggling to believe this, first know that you are not a lone, many people struggle to really believe God loves them and the thought that He rejoices over them is too much to believe.  Second, that doesn’t make it any less true.  It is a fact that God loves you and He rejoices over you.  So, if you are struggling to believe this, I challenge you to write this verse on a post it note and place it on your bathroom mirror.  Then read this verse every time you look in the mirror until you start to believe it for the truth that it is.  God loves you, yes you, and He rejoices with gladness and loud songs over you.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord we ask that you help us to feel your love today and every day.  Lord, help us to believe that you rejoice over us.  Help us to know this is true and to accept your love and rejoicing with a glad and humble heart.  We are not worthy of your love or rejoicing and yet you give it so freely.  Help us be more like you Lord.  Help us to rejoice with gladness and loud singing about those in our lives.  Help us to bring your love into the world around us.  You are so amazing and if we could share a fraction of your love with the world it would be our honor.  We love you Lord and we are so grateful for your love.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name, Amen.  

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails

CLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life

CLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace