From the Desk of Steve Shultz:
I met Emma Stark a few years ago at Cindy Jacobs' ACPE gathering and conference.
I was really impressed with Emma's fiery passion for the Lord and her prophetic gifting.
In this recent article from Emma, you're going to find out how to steward your JOY and PEACE, which is so necessary for us all right now.
I pray God's perfect peace surround you and your family as you experience great strength which is after all...the joy of the Lord! (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
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Steve Shultz, Founder and Publisher
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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 wellbeing.
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" (see 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. (Photo via Unsplash)
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.
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" (see Neh. 8:10) is an oft-spoken truth, but we rarely understand how to apply it. Our tendency to... (continue reading)
