{"id":23362,"date":"2014-12-14T00:20:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-14T05:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=23362"},"modified":"2014-12-13T22:45:41","modified_gmt":"2014-12-14T03:45:41","slug":"23362","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/12\/14\/23362\/","title":{"rendered":"Joy in the Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"gchSHadventjoygraphic\"<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

For hundreds of years the Jewish people had prepared for and hoped for the Messiah to come. Finally the time had arrived, but it didn\u2019t come as many had expected\u2014with great fanfare and pomp. (Not that angels lighting perhaps a moonless sky wasn\u2019t pretty fantastic!) But there was no big parade in the middle of the day down the center of town for all to see. Instead it came to a few. Instead it came to the forgotten of society. Instead it came in the darkness of night.<\/p>\n

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep.
\nSuddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them,
\nand the radiance of the Lord\u2019s glory surrounded them.
\nThey were terrified, but the angel reassured them.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid!\u201d he said. \u201cI bring you good news that will bring great joy<\/strong> <\/span>to all people.
\nThe Savior\u2014yes, the Messiah, the Lord\u2014has been born\u2026.
\nLuke 2:8-11<\/p>\n

The joy<\/strong><\/span>ful news of the arrival (the Advent) of the long awaited Savior, the Messiah, came at night. Not only was the world dark with physical night-time. I quote from Reverend Billy Graham,<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t night because the sun had gone down. It was night because the world was surrounded in spiritual and moral gloom. People were driven by greed, intolerance, and lust for power. Religion had become a device for the rich in the exploitation of the poor. Men robbed and swindled and profiteered under the cloak of religion; they even fought wars in the name of religion. In every arena of life, it was night when Jesus came.\u201d<\/p>\n

excerpted from Arrival, Preparing to Celebrate Christ\u2019s Birth<\/em>.
\n(click here<\/a> for a free download of this devotional)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And all this is still true today. People still live in darkness\u2014the darkness of all kinds of sin and its repercussions. But the joy<\/strong><\/span>ful news is that Jesus came, and He brought light to all mankind.<\/p>\n

The Rock of Israel said to me:
\n\u2018The One who rules righteously,
\nWho rules in the fear of God,
\nis like the Light of morning at sunrise,
\nlike a morning without clouds,
\nlike the gleaming of the sun
\non new grass after rain.\u2019
\n2 Samuel 23:2-4<\/p>\n

Jesus, the Light of morning, came for all people so that none of us would have to walk in darkness.<\/p>\n

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, \u201cI am the Light of the world.
\nWhoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life.
\nJohn 8:12<\/p>\n

Jesus knew that His Light would bring life and joy<\/strong> <\/span>to all who choose to follow Him. Even in His last major prayer for His disciples He said this:<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I am coming to You <His Father.>
\nI told them many things while I was with them in this world
\nso they would be filled with My joy<\/strong><\/span>.
\nI have given them Your Word.\u201d
\nJohn 17:13-14<\/p>\n

If you feel forgotten, if you are mourning, if you are still walking in darkness, then now is the time to allow Jesus, the Light of the world, to step into your world and give you His life and His joy<\/strong><\/span>. \u00a0Rejoice with great joy! \u00a0Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is the Light of the morning! \u00a0We don\u2019t have to walk in the darkness of night (sin), because JOY<\/strong> <\/span>comes in the morning!<\/p>\n

Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones!
\nPraise His holy name.
\nFor His anger lasts only a moment,
\nbut His favor lasts a lifetime!
\nWeeping may last through the night,
\nbut joy<\/strong> <\/span>comes with the morning.
\nYou have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
\nYou have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy<\/strong><\/span>,
\nthat I might sing praises to You and not be silent.
\nO Lord my God, I will give You thanks forever!
\nPsalms 30:4-5, 11-12<\/p>\n

Sing for joy, O heavens! Rejoice<\/span><\/strong>, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains!
\nFor the LORD has comforted His people
\nand will have compassion on them in their suffering.
\nIsaiah 49:13<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0~ \u00a0\u271d \u00a0~ \u00a0\u2605\u00a0 \u00a0 *<\/h4>\n

Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for Your great compassion. \u00a0Thank You for Your joy<\/strong> <\/span>that comes when we walk out of our \u201cnight\u201d and into Your Light. \u00a0For those who make that decision during this Christmas season, I pray they will experience Your Light and Joy<\/strong> <\/span>like they have never experienced anything before. \u00a0For those of us who already walk in Your light, we thank You for Your Joy<\/strong><\/span>, unspeakable joy<\/strong><\/span>! \u00a0You are our Light of Life! \u00a0All honor and glory belong to You, our Savior and King! \u00a0IT IS SO!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For hundreds of years the Jewish people had prepared for and hoped for the Messiah to come. Finally the time had arrived, but it didn\u2019t come as many had expected\u2014with great fanfare and pomp. (Not that angels lighting perhaps a moonless sky wasn\u2019t pretty fantastic!) But there was no big parade in the middle of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":23370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[8010,8014,4651,221,3660,8009,1287,425,8013,554,8011,3101,577,1422,8007,2889,8006,8012,8008,936,4988],"class_list":["post-23362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-2-samuel-232-4","tag-3rd-week-of-advent","tag-advent","tag-christmas","tag-clella-gilbert-fox","tag-darkness","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-isaiah-4913","tag-jesus","tag-john-1713-14","tag-john-812","tag-joy","tag-light","tag-luke-28-11","tag-messiah","tag-night","tag-psalm-304-5-and-11-12","tag-reverend-billy-graham","tag-savior","tag-seeking-him-daily-devotional","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/gchSHadventjoygraphic.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s39pHp-23362","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23362"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23371,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23362\/revisions\/23371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}