We Are in a War to Steward Joy and Peace
The Atmosphere of Heaven
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).
The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy, meaning that the atmosphere of Heaven is infused with contentment and ease, with laughter and safety. Heaven has no tension; it does not have stress; it is not shaken. There is never a day when any inhabitant of Heaven wakes up grumpy, angry, fearful, or anxious. The atmosphere of Heaven is so wholesome and secure that no one feels invisible or jealous. It is almost impossible for us to truly comprehend what it must be like to sit in that atmosphere of no decay, where nothing negative could invade our emotions or our thinking or infect and pollute our sense of well-being.
The absolutely amazing truth of Isaiah 65 is that when the new heavens and the new earth are created, the things of our past will be forgotten:
See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind (Isaiah 65:17).
There will be no ability under any circumstances to recall what we consider to be “normal” emotional undulation here on this fallen earth. You will not be able to source emotional pain. You will never “walk” with a “limp” in your heart. You will not weep, you will not grieve, and you will not have a memory of the times when you did. In Heaven there will never be a child who only lives a few days or an old man who does not live out his years. I do not want us to think, however, that we must endure torturous emotions on the earth, just hanging on by our fingernails until we can sit in pure, unadulterated righteousness, peace, and joy in our future home! We can experience it here and now. When we cry the prayer of Jesus that His Kingdom would come, “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10), we are contending for the atmosphere of peace, ease, security, and certainty to be established daily, here on earth, all around us.
God Laughs
I have watched God in Heaven laugh uproariously, dance furiously, and sing loudly. He is totally at ease. God laughs in Scripture, but His laughter is not reserved only for those comically funny moments. In fact, He uses laughter often in the Psalms when nations are in rebellion, partnering with idolatry, and outworking injustices. His laughter is not sarcastic, acerbic, or mocking. Rather, it is a sign of His unshakable Kingdom. He is so certain about the future that nothing can rob the ease and joy that He feels. When He tells us that His Kingdom is “joy,” and when He asks us to pray for it to come, it’s another way of saying that even in the midst of trial and in the darkest valley we can have an emotional response of ease and contentment that owns us—because our hope is in Him.
Even in the darkest valley, we can have an emotional ease and contentment—because our hope is in Him.
When laughter is first recorded in Scripture, it is in the story of Abraham and Sarah. In the midst of the excruciating pain and trauma of barrenness, we find that both Abraham and Sarah laugh. Laughter is the external sound of a heart that is nestled in security over the future; thus, the virtuous woman in Proverbs laughs without fear of the future:
She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future (Proverbs 31:25 NLT).
When we initially come to Jesus, a range of emotions determine our decision-making to choose Christ. Our hearts become convicted, the guilt and shame become too much to bear, and we have an expectation of an emotional change coming through our uniting ourselves with Jesus. In the Psalms, King David identifies an emotion that is linked to our salvation when he sings, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (Ps. 51:12). Salvation is supposed to feel like something. It is supposed to have an associated emotion—the emotion of joy. This is the emotion of our salvation that, when fully working in us, makes us strong. “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh. 8:10) is an oft-spoken truth, but we rarely understand how to apply it. Our tendency to independence leaves us short of biblical “normality.” In error, we believe that our own determination makes us strong or that the force of our personality is our strength. Or perhaps we tell ourselves, “If I just keep my head down I’ll get through this.” But in the place of trials and tribulations, the medicine of Scripture is that I should seek the emotional joy of salvation to help me overcome. This does sound slightly foolish—after all, how can we be joyful and laughing when we’re in the place of frustration? It’s hard to laugh when you’re terrified. But God provokes laughter as a sign that He has overturned the hierarchies of the world. (Jesus often interrupted the “normal” order of things. Even His birth was a transgression of normal order; He was rude at dinner parties; He spoke in parables; He was angry in temples; once He even called His favorite disciple, “Satan”!) In this upside-down Kingdom of God, laughter and peace are the gifts given in our most unlikely situations. They are gifts, not always to change the circumstances around us, but to put a security in us about our future.
God provokes laughter as a sign that He has overturned the hierarchies of the world.
We Are at War to Steward Joy and Peace
The kingdom of satan wants to slime you with grief, fear, sadness, and anxiety, the opposites of joy and peace. Therefore, for us as believers it is not business as usual. We are in a war to steward joy and peace and to stamp out our grief and fear.I do believe that the Lord has navigated His church and His people to a place where they now stand at the door to their future. Now the pressure is on to navigate this tight space and to win with our daily issues so that we can steward life for many people in the days ahead. You are being reset and moved to enter a new era because God needs you in the right place for what is ahead.God needs you in the right place for what is ahead.
What this means is that Father God is asking you to face some long-standing issues. Right now, God is forcing issues in you to the surface. Because of this you will feel pressure, you will feel that you’re in a tight space, you will feel uncomfortable, you will feel the need to move, and you will feel the need to work with God’s Spirit afresh, which is going to secure the major changes your life needs.The Lord is saying to you today, “My hand is at your back and you will feel My pushing you forward. I have even used others around you to behave in ways that look unfair and they may even have been unkind to you. All that is happening around you is to ensure that you are shifting. Do not partner with offense. See, I am enabling you to be provoked to move in My time, and to walk out a new level of wholeness and freedom.”The earth is groaning for you to get into the right place. Can you even hear the sound of the earth longing for you to find and shift to the right place, for you to be revealed in your healed and fully well form? It’s a time to decree that, “I am moving to the right place! I am moving to the place of wholeness, and I will be used by God.” This is a day of your liberation.
Activation Prayer
Prayer walk around your home. Lay your hands on every window and door, commanding the atmosphere of Heaven to come.Invite the Holy Spirit to infuse each room with righteousness, peace, and joy. Command all atmospheres that do not line up with the Kingdom of God to be removed immediately, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Speak over the atmosphere of your home that, “As it is in Heaven, so it will be here in my home!” Enjoy the process of sensing and seeing radical atmosphere changes that will impact your entire household—even those who are not yet believers.
Pray out loud:
Lord Jesus, would You restore to me the emotion of my salvation? I want to connect with the feelings of joy, contentment, and ease that You want to give me. My desire is to live in the atmosphere of Heaven every day. I banish emotional numbness from my life and I release my heart to feel the wonder of belonging to You, Jesus.In Your holy name, amen!
Emma Stark
