From the Editor
Strength Through …
By Andrea Johnson
I must have been about eight or nine years old, old enough to know better, when I walked in on a conversation with my grandma, who lived with us, and three of her friends all standing by our front door about to leave. In our neck of the woods, we are known for our long goodbyes, and this was no exception. The nice ladies got to listing off all their ailments, each “one-upping” the tale told before her. The scene struck me as comical, and I burst out laughing, right there in front of these sweet matriarchs. Horrified, I fled to the bathroom and tried to stifle my giggles.
I stayed in my self-appointed little cell until I thought for sure the gals had gone, fearful about facing my grandma and receiving a well-deserved reprimand. Indeed, Grandma was waiting for me when I emerged, but instead rebuking me, she looked at me with a sheepish grin, chuckled, and said, “I guess we did sound pretty silly talking about all our aches and pains, didn’t we?”
Talk about grace!
I wonder if God thinks we’re pretty silly, constantly airing all our complaints about the world. The other day I was reading in Nehemiah about a remnant of Jews who had returned from exile to Jerusalem, their homeland. Though facing extreme opposition, they had rebuilt the temple and city walls and were in the process of returning to their worship of the Lord God. After hearing the words of the law, the people realized they had failed God miserably. Repentant and fearful of judgment, they wept. They were right to first be repentant, but Nehemiah knew they needed to move on. Failure was not to be their legacy. He told them,
Go and celebrate. . . . Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”
Nehemiah 8:10, NLT
So, we are not to keep lamenting our past failures? We are not supposed to go around bemoaning the state of the world? Apparently not! We are intended to walk in the joy of the Lord. And like the Jews, we have every reason to be joyful when we grasp what God has done for us. Although the people felt sad at first as they became aware of their own sin, they could now walk in joy because God had restored their relationship with Him. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus did the same for us.
Our emotions are not beyond our control; we can make the choice to rely on the “joy of the Lord” even when we do not feel like it. We can walk in joy because we know who God is.
Joy originates from the Lord. He is not up in heaven wringing His hands, wondering what He’s going to do about the state of our world. He is and always will be in control. He has perspective; He knows Himself. As we get to know Him better, we know we can trust Him as well.
Joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Bitterness, self-loathing, and anxiety are not.
Walking in the joy of the Lord is so important that the Lord made sure people were appointed to the purpose of praising God and thanking the Lord. In 1 Chronicles 16:4 we find that David appointed “some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, even to celebrate and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel.” Again, in Nehemiah we find that Levites were to “take part in the joyous occasion with their songs of thanksgiving and with the music” (12: 27). Appointees to this role needed to keep this mindset before the people because sadly it is not our nature to be thankful or joyful.
But what if? What if the first words of our day were words of praise and thanksgiving? What if those things that bring us joy were the things we thought about as we quiet our brains at night? What if we shared our joy with others?
Throughout the Psalms we are instructed to rejoice and given reasons for doing so:
Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth!
Worship the LORD with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
Acknowledge that the LORD is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.
(Psalm 100, NLT)
Our joy is not dependent on circumstances. After the apostles in Jerusalem were arrested twice, beaten, jailed, and ordered not to preach in Jesus’ name, they returned home. But instead of bemoaning the fact they were targeted because of their faith, they rejoiced because they had been counted “worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus” (Acts 5:41).
A grateful outlook improves your health and makes you more fun to be around. It also changes your appearance! “Praise is becoming to the upright” (Psalm 33:1, NASB).
I challenge you today to start thanking God verbally for little things, like the fact that you found your keys or that you had a hot shower. Thank Him that He gave you a creative answer for that work challenge. Thank Him for His faithfulness, for His grace. Thank Him that even though He knows EVERYthing about You He still loves you.
Walking in joy does not mean we ignore other people’s burdens or our own. It means that we pray in faith with joy because we know our God is well able to handle any situation we experience. Jesus was able to “die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy He knew would be His afterward” (Hebrews 12:2, NLT).
Start thanking God for things He has already done and watch your faith (and your spirits) soar. Consider who God is, think about His attributes, and your heart will swell with praise (and your body will relax). Quit giving Satan the fear he craves. Give God the praise He deserves! You will find yourself “happy with a glorious, inexpressible joy!” (1 Peter 1:8. NLT).
Of all people, Christ followers have every reason to be joyful. We love and are loved forever by the one true all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present God. The joy of the Lord is our strength!
About the Author
Andrea Johnson, a credentialed Open Bible minister, is the managing editor of the Message of the Open Bible. A graduate of Open Bible College with a major in theology/missions, she has edited and co-edited several books, including Servants of the Spirit: Portraits of Pentecostal Pioneers, We Believe: Core Truths for Christian Living, and We Believe for Kids! Her goal is to reveal Christ to those who are searching for Him. In her spare time you will most likely find Andrea enjoying time with family and friends or hiking. She and her husband, Dennis, are blessed with four children, three of whom are married, and eight grandchildren.
When I was in first grade, I attended William Carey Academy, a small private school in Pasadena, California, that primarily served the children of missionaries who were on home assignment. The school was on the campus of the U.S. Center for World Mission, a collaborative mission base, which meant that I got to learn alongside students and be taught by teachers who had traveled the world. One specific perk of this season was learning Spanish. My teacher was a missionary to Guatemala who had a passion for the language and the Guatemalan people.
While most of my Spanish has left me, my love for Hispanic nations, culture, and people has not. One of the most fun parts of my job as Message editor has been working with teammates like Mindy Khanthavixay (Mexican-American), Areli Estrada (originally from Mexico), and Ximena Urra (originally from Chile) all of whom are fluent in Spanish. Without these women, it would have not been possible to launch our fully translated Spanish issues of Message of the Open Bible. As our current issue of the magazine is being released in tandem with Hispanic Heritage month (September 15 – October 15), we would be remiss not to honor our many Hispanic coworkers, pastors, and ministry partners within Open Bible. We would not be who we are without you!
Open Bible is currently active in eighteen Spanish-speaking countries and has 556 churches within these countries. Our Hispanic Ministries within the states is also flourishing with twenty-eight churches across the nation, many of which are leading the charge in church multiplication. I am so excited for you to read the story of Melissa Alvarez, who is a second-generation Mexican American and a second-generation church planter. You will also love reading the testimony of Mary Lou Wolfe, who grew up in a Hispanic Open Bible church (Templo Santo in Antioch, California) and whose parents come from Nicaragua and El Salvador. Mary Lou’s miraculous kidney transplant has made it possible for her to continue a vibrant ministry where she currently serves at Life Church in Concord, California.
In addition to these articles by Hispanic authors, don’t miss out on our other great articles, including a thoughtful reflection on modern discipleship by Gary Khan and
an important global missions update from Vince McCarty. And if you didn’t catch our special edition President’s Perspective article, you’ll want to read “The Power of We” by President Michael Nortune.
I am proud to be part of a movement that has honored and advocated for ministries in many languages, cultures, and nations. Let’s continue to celebrate every part of our Open Bible family as we fulfill the Great Commission together.
Hannah Bemis currently serves as the editor and director of Message of the Open Bible. She always wanted to do too many things when she grew up, and God has been kind enough to let her do most of them in different seasons. After seasons of mothering, teaching, writing, and staff pastoring, Hannah’s most recent adventure is planting College Street Church in Newberg, Oregon, with her husband, Jordan. After Jesus and all her favorite people, she spends the remainder of her passion on pizza and dark chocolate in equal measure.
My life was forever changed a few years ago when I read a book called The Insanity of God. Written by Nik Ripken, a missionary who has given his life to take Jesus to some of the darkest, most dangerous corners of the world, this book calls Western Christians out of the casual faith many of us enjoy. Ripken asks irritating, important questions like:
I found myself convicted by how little of my life I had given up for Jesus and how resistant I was to become uncomfortable for Him.
“Does God really ask us to sacrifice everything?”
“Is God at work in the hard places, and does He expect us to join Him in those hard places?”
“Isn’t it possible to love God and to pretty much keep living the life I already have?”
Ripken freely admits that he doesn’t have answers to all these questions, but he challenges his readers to remember that following Jesus means saying “yes” even when it hurts.
“We have the high privilege of answering Jesus’ call to go,” Ripken says. “But let us be clear about this: we go on His terms, not ours.”
Reading this book felt like being shaken awake after a long sleep. I found myself convicted by how little of my life I had given up for Jesus and how resistant I was to become uncomfortable for Him. (How ironic that is, when He became incredibly uncomfortable for me.) I began offering up a new kind of desperate prayer, begging God to make my life matter. To make me willing to go anywhere, do anything.
Lord, let my life be a sacrifice.
That’s a dangerous prayer. It’s a prayer that has led to my saying “yes” to assignments and callings that scare me: serving as a staff pastor at my previous church, becoming the new editor of Message of the Open Bible, and most recently, uprooting my family from our home of twelve years and moving to another state to plant a church.
The comforting thing is, I’m not alone in trying to live this kind of radically obedient life. I stumblingly follow in the footsteps of the Hebrews 11 heroes of faith, who “obeyed and went” even when they didn’t know where they were going (vs 8, NIV). Heroes who “conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised” but also “faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment” (vs 33-36). I walk alongside others in the Church and within Open Bible who are saying “yes” to difficult and daunting things. You’ll read about many of them in this issue, and I hope you will be challenged and encouraged by their stories.
To walk in obedience is to walk hand in hand with Jesus.
In truth, none of us is alone when we say “yes” to a God-given assignment. Let’s not forget that directly after the biggest, scariest assignment was given to Jesus’ disciples, the one that would take them to the ends of the earth and would include hardship and suffering for many of them, they were also given this promise:
“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt 28:20).
To walk in obedience is to walk hand in hand with Jesus. That’s a reward worth even our most frightening “yes.”
About the Author
Hannah Bemis
Hannah Bemis currently serves as the Editor and Director of Message of the Open Bible. She’s always wanted to do too many things when she grows up and God has been kind enough to let her do most of them in different seasons. After seasons of mothering, teaching, writing, and staff pastoring, Hannah’s most recent adventure is planting College Street Church in Newberg, Oregon, with her husband, Jordan. After Jesus and all her favorite people, she spends the remainder of her passion on pizza and dark chocolate, in equal measure.
