Welcome to the Femino podcast. This is Nancy Wilson. Thanks so much for joining me today.

The topic today is the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Nehemiate 10 says this,

Then he said to them,

Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet,

and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared.

For this day is holy to our Lord.

Do not sorrow for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Nehemiate records this when the people of God had heard the word for the first time.

Remember it had been lost.

And at hearing the word of the Lord read, they were devastated by their own guilt

not keeping his word.

But Nehemiate didn't want them to be overcome by their sorrow.

It was a Sabbath and he wanted them to celebrate.

And that is what they did.

Our God is full of joy and mercy and he wants us to experience it.

Taste it and see that the Lord is good.

He doesn't want us to be abstainers of his joy,

but to enter into his joy.

The unbeliever has brief moments of joy and happiness,

but it can't be sustained.

Before I was converted, I used to wonder if anybody was happy.

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