Neh 8:10 for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
The seasons of God are good and there is a time for weeping and mourning. Yet if that is all that we have, if we live forever in a perpetual winter of weeping and mourning, whether that is in our personal walk or in our ministries, then nothing will ever grow. We will not grow or flourish in the knowledge of God. Yes there is conviction in the presence of God. There is a time to rent our clothes and throw dust on our heads, yet if this one season becomes the whole then we render ourselves weak and ineffectual. Our real strength comes in the Joy of the Lord. If we cannot put on a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness then we will not stand in the evil day. We will be overcome by trial and tribulation and persecution.
When the Israelites were captured and taken away from Jerusalem, their captors sat them down by the river of Babylon and taunted them. They said to them, “let’s hear your songs of Zion now.” And the Israelites, once famous for their songs of praise to God, hung their harps on the willow trees, unable to sing, overcome in their spirits. The enemy had not only robbed them of their earthly freedom, they had been robbed of their joy. They no longer had a song in the night. The willow tree represents sadness and weeping. Can you imagine how powerful it would have been if the Israelites, trusted in a mighty God to eventually redeem them. This would have been an exercise in faith, the same faith that Abraham exercised when he knew in his heart and trusted that God would provide a sacrifice for Issac.
The Lord inhabits the praises of His people. In His presence there is fullness of joy. The joy of the Lord is your strength. You see how that works brothers and sisters? You see where it starts? Trusting in Him, praising Him even in the darkness and out of that praise comes joy and out of that joy comes strength. Not just spiritual strength in my opinion, but also physical strength. One effects the other. Praise God today, trust in Him and wait upon Him and He will raise you up. You will run and not grow weary, you will walk and not faint and you will rise up with eagles wings in the presence of God.
A Call To The Remnant 