Irrefutable Joy

     From this morning's Daily Light:
"Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." (2Tim2:1)
"Be strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power." (Col.1:11)
"Fight the good fight of faith." (I Tim.6:12)
"Not in any way terrified by your adversaries." (Phil.1:28)

     He is mighty to save.  Our Savior-Warrior-Baby.  I just recently wrote about this in our Christmas letter, and I'll write include some of that in the next day or two.  But right now, in the wee hours of the morning,  we are battling in prayer for a number of dear friends: some with sick children, some struggling with hard issues, some in great darkness, one in the hospital right now with complications in her pregnancy.
     In our darkest moments, others formed that mighty army of prayer warriors for us--that formidable, glorious, and powerful force--and now we join the battle on behalf of those who right at this moment are fighting foes of pain, fear, helplessness, uncertainty, desperate need.
     But they are not alone.  O Lord, help them to feel our prayers.  Help them to feel Your presence, hovering, working, moving, strengthening, enabling.
     Might they hear the distant roar of the mighty Lion of Judah on their behalf.  Even as You fight for them, and we fight on our knees, keep them strong in the battle.
     "Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.  Say to those who are fearful-hearted, 'Be strong, do not fear!  Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you." (Isa.35:3-4)
     Lord Jesus, You came on that silent night over 2000 years ago.  You came to us... in our battles... not just to join our struggles, but to win the war.  You, our Savior-Warrior-Baby, came to fight with us and for us and beside us and behind us.  Lord, there are some right now who may not feel as though they can take another step... last another wearying day... fight for another moment of joy.
     But as Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote shortly before his imprisonment by the Nazis in World War II: "The joy of God has gone through the poverty of the manger and the agony of the cross; that is why it is invincible, irrefutable. It does not deny the anguish, when it is there, but finds God in the midst of it, in fact precisely there; it does not deny grave sin but finds forgiveness precisely in this way; it looks death straight in the eye, but it finds life precisely within it."
      So Father,  thank You for the joy of the cradle and the agony of the cross that secured our salvation.  Thank You for sending Your Son, our Immanuel, God with us--always and forever with us, no matter what we are enduring.  And thank You for fighting for us and with us in our battles.  We will not fear... but trust, even with Your invincible manger and cross-secured joy.  Our irrefutable joy--Jesus.
     To God be the glory.