Congratulations and welcome to the last few days of June 2021. Three weeks ago, we began a series titled Commanding Signs and Wonders. In the course of the series, we have explored the book of acts and so far, we have established that signs and wonders are a miraculous and unique series of events, performed by God through the apostles and a select few others, for a unique purpose.
As we conclude on the series this week, I will like to begin by asking this question: How many times does the Bible use the words “great joy?”. Without waiting for you to go do your research, I will straight up give you the answer – less than a dozen times in the entire Bible. Interestingly, every single time these two words appear in the Bible, whether in Greek or Hebrew, they are talking about truly memorable events and the emotions of VERY happy people. Furthermore, they involved events that were basically spiritual in nature.
In the Old Testament, the people had GREAT JOY at the coronation of Solomon, and when sacrifices were offered for the building of the temple, and at the completion of the wall around Jerusalem. In the New Testament there was GREAT JOY at the birth, and then at the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Twice we read of GREAT JOY as sinful societies received the gospel and once Paul spoke of his GREAT JOY in the love of Philemon.
In Acts 8, the Bible has a mention of a man named Simon Magus, a magician and sorcerer. He was a Samaritan Rasputin who practiced a polluted, hybridized, satanically-inspired religion and everybody in the city respected but feared him; mostly because for a very long time, this Simon had bewitched them with his sorceries. That narrative however changed when Phillip arrived at Samaria to preach the Kingdom of God in the Name of Jesus Christ.
The Bible records that there was much rejoicing in Samaria and the reason for the GREAT JOY was that Jesus was being proclaimed and significant changes were taking place. Philip preached Christ to Samaria. Men and women, including Simon, believed and were baptized. GREAT JOY came to the city and although there was a church being gathered there, it wasn’t the presence of a church that made the difference, NO. . . the difference was the presence of the power of Christ. Revival time is a time of personal spiritual reawakening and anyone spiritually asleep in a revival stands the risk of missing out on the blessedness of a revival so as I sign off on this series, my prayer for you is that you will make the most of this season at the place of prayer, intercession, and soul winning. Today, no matter who you are, what you have, or where you came from, the same joy can come into your city and into your life. That is what revival is all about.
God BLESS You!
Triumphant Obamoh