Joy Comes After the Mourning

In Christ’s Kingdom, the only Way Up is Down

Mourning Trumps Merriment in Christ’s Kingdom

“For his anger (for our sin) endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Psalms 30:5

The LORD is so gracious that He gives us His joy after a season, a time of weeping/mourning.

“Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth (concerns a time of repentance), and girded me with gladness.” Psalms 30:11

Here we see how God clothes His people with His righteousness as they come before Him in true repentance.

Concerning Psalms 30:5, one sister in Christ has observed the following:

“Every morning, we have the opportunity to make that morning the first day for the rest of lives.”

IF I am not truly seeking the face of the LORD, engaging daily in the life-giving abiding relationship He desires, I am simply going through religious motions, have a hardened heart, and a mere “form of godliness.” (1 Chronicles 16:11; Psalms 27:4, 8; Philippians 3:10; 2 Timothy 3:5) Seeking God 

Hosea 10:12 comes to mind:

“Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.” Hosea 10:12

Drawing close to God begins at repentance and receiving Jesus – the moment He saves us. And yet, continually drawing close to the LORD is taught throughout Scripture and essential in the abiding relationship Jesus ordained for each of His children (John 15). Let’s read this important passage again. To His own, through James, the LORD beckons:

“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness (the cross). 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up (resurrection).” James 4:8-10

Being “double minded” would mean to be other than cross-minded. You MUST consent to the death of your own will before the LORD will raise you upward in His grace to do His will.

Is it not in the place of affliction that our hearts are opened to truly learn – to be made fertile for the Word to be truly engrafted into our lives? (James 1:21) It’s obvious that the psalmist under this truth:

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” Psalms 119:71

Scripture plainly teaches us that if we wish to be comforted, we must first mourn in repentance for our sin.

There will be no raising up until there is first a laying down. Life can only spring out of death (John 12:24-25; 1 Corinthians 15:36).

The Holy Spirit tells us through the apostle Peter that there are 4 things that happen after we suffer awhile in Christ:

“But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” 1 Peter 5:10

Resurrection transformation and joy come only as and after we mourn in our sufferings, repentance and death to self.

Mourning for Joy!

“Love is the key. Joy is love singing. Peace is love resting. Patience is love enduring. Kindness is love’s truth. Goodness is love’s character. Faithfulness is love’s habit. Gentleness is love’s self-forgetfulness. Self-control is being the reins.” ― Donald G. Barnhouse

We must be willing to “mourn” in order to experience divine comfort and joy. We must be willing and obedient to do things God’s way – to die in order to experience resurrection.

“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4

The “comfort” of Christ’s resurrection grace in our lives is utterly priceless. No matter what we may be walking through, His comfort will fill us as we remain rooted and grounded in the cross He prescribed (Luke 9:23-24).

The words “mourn” and “mourning” appear 96 times in God’s Word. Ever heard a message on it?

Regrettably, the biblical doctrine of mourning is nowhere to be found in the modern “church” along with the doctrine of suffering. Why? Well, these truths don’t entertain the goats modern pastors have deceitfully corralled for their own self-serving purposes (Isaiah 30:9-10; Philippians 3:18-19; 2 Timothy 4:2-4).

Have you noticed that most messages in the apostate modern church center upon the feasting and never the mourning. Their assignment from Satan is to mislead, ultimately bringing damnation. Read closely the following treasure of a passage, noticing what is “better.”:

“It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. 5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.” Ecclesiastes 7:2-5

We all love to be at a celebration, right? Yet, only those who sincerely seek God and are granted by Him a clean heart of contrition, can actually, truly enjoy times of celebration – “by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.”

Perhaps, when we begin to grasp this divine truth of being stripped, and cherish the outcome of it, we will welcome times of mourning, weeping, and repentance in returning to the LORD as our “first love.” (Revelation 2:4-5)

“I would rather be sitting at the feet of Jesus getting my heart right with Him than involved in any empty worldly celebration. Sorrow makes our hearts better because it draws us to the feet of Jesus. And Jesus purifies, cleanses and transforms us. True fulfilment comes from pouring our hearts out before the Lord and allowing His healing hand to make our hearts better.” Karen Cochran

Remember when you were punished as a child? Remember how you cried in your room, reflecting on your offense? Then, remember how internally cleansed and well-adjusted your felt afterwards?

Regrettably, there are few who teach the cross today. Most preachers seek to keep you in the house or the realm of feasting instead of mourning for your sins. They coddle their prey in their sins, never teaching what God’s Word clearly states about holiness, walking in the holy fear of God, the daily cross, eagerly anticipating and preparing for the return of Christ, etc. They are preaching “another gospel” which is a false gospel and are “accursed.” (Galatians 1:6-9) In doing this, those who patronize these church busine$$e$ are bogged down in their sins, unable to overcome, “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (2 Timothy 3:7)

God will never raise us up while we are still alive under our own power. Surrender.

“Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:” Joel 2:12 

Some insist upon continual feasting or being where the feast or celebration is. Though celebration for specific things is the gift of God, always wanting to be celebrating seems to identify a deeper heart issue – a lack of understanding of the cross principle and an evasion of what is true.

Until we grasp and experience His cross in our daily lives, nothing is going to work as God intended. Here’s the prayer of Jesus ….

“Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Luke 22:42

Are you willing to pray this prayer today? Are you willing to declare to the LORD “not my will, but thine, be done”?

Those who don’t camp on this message of the cross but rather seek to circumvent it, will not experience the victory Christ died to procure for His beloved saints. It’s only in bowing down low that God will lift His people high. This is the death, burial, and resurrection in our daily lives.

John the Baptist declared:

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30

Have you declared this today?

Though nearly never heard in the modern church, the message of the cross is an irreplaceable mainstay of the original Gospel.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

“Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:10-12

“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3

Those who mourn for their sin, who are truly crucified with Christ, will be raised up in the power of the Holy Spirit and greatly used of God (2 Corinthians 4:10-12).

WHO WANTS to walk around smiling, bursting with joy, every day? Only those few who choose, who decide to be anchored, nourished in the holy presence of our LORD will certainly, without fail, be filled full with His great joy! The light of Christ fills and shines powerfully through those who commune with Him, He who is “the light of the world.” (John 8:12) Pour over Matthew 6:6 and Psalms 16:11.

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