A joyful heart makes a face cheerful, but a sad heart produces a broken spirit. Proverbs 15:13
When Adam and Eve brought sin into the world, the world became a nearly unbearable place to live. Relationships were cursed (Genesis 3:16), the earth was cursed (Genesis 3:17-18) and work was cursed (Gen. 3:19). Since the fall, Satan has unleashed his demonic hellhounds on God’s people to wage war and remind us that though we are heaven bound, this place…well, it isn’t heaven. Satan does his best to make our trips around the sun, hell on earth.
And so, we are at war. Spiritual warfare is very real. We struggle daily with demonic forces that want to steal our joy and make us miserable. Because the war we are engaged in is very real, much of the Bible is written like a battle guide. We read passages like “Fight the good fight (1 Tim 1:18); “Put on the full armor of God” (Ephesians 6); and the reminder that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.” (Ephesians 6:13).
When you read a battle guide, you walk away with the idea that this is serious business…and to be sure it is. We really do have an enemy in Satan, and we need to be prepared to fight him. We need to take serious the Bible’s instructions to fight spiritual warfare with all that we have, and we need to always remember that because of Christ we fight from a position of victory not for a position of victory. In Ephesians 6 we read about our armor for battle. The Lord has given us our only offensive weapon Ephesians 6:17, the “sword of the Spirit—which is the Word of God.” The Word is our only weapon. We use it to slice and dice the enemy into silence. I’d like to suggest one activity that we don’t utilize enough as a tool in our tool belt to silence the enemy. It’s a simple, three letter word, and it’s a word that Satan hates with all his hate-filled heart…FUN.
How do I know that FUN is a tool in our tool belt to silence the enemy? The Word tells us so. Let me share with you just a few examples:
A joyful heart makes a face cheerful, but a sad heart produces a broken spirit. Proverbs 15:13.
This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24.
I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” John 15:11.
The prodigal son’s father rejoiced and threw a party when he returned home. Talk about fun!
Your Father in heaven loves to see you having fun. He loves the sound of your laugh. He loves to see your smile. I think about my own son and how much I love to hear his laugh, see his smile and watch him having fun. It warms my heart. How much more does it warm the heart of your heavenly Father when he looks down on his children and sees them laughing and having good, wholesome and heavenly fun. Your father loves to hear you laugh. Isn’t that a thought that makes you smile?
This past Sunday, our church gathered for our All-Church Birthday party. We sat around 12 tables, one for each month of the year. We played games, we laughed, we heard some corny jokes from me (but c’mon, the best Birthday party to throw a dog…a ball. That was golden!), we heard kids tell some jokes, show some talents, played a few more games, ate way too much ice cream, sang a hymn and went home. We had a BLAST!
Church family, it is good and right for us to have fun! Our Father in heaven LOVES to see His children gather in His house and laugh. He loves to see His children gather in His house and celebrate.
Your Father loves to hear you laugh. He loves to see his children getting along and laughing in His house. Life is hard, believe me I know. Every day is another reminder that life is short, and death is sure. We live with a constant stream of heartache and hurt. We live with disease and destruction. Sin has made life on earth hellish. But, Christian, remember this: You’re in the family of God. You’re only renting your little spot on earth, you didn’t buy it. You’ve got a place up in heaven reserved for you because your Father adopted you into His family through Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. That alone ought to make you joyful. Life is tough…Satan has taken so much from you…don’t let him take your fun too. Tell Satan to buzz off, put yourself in a healthy church family where you can grow deep in the Word, and grow deep in community. In community we cry with each other, we hurt with each other, we walk with each other…and we laugh and have fun with each other.
It was a beautiful sight to see so many of you laughing on Sunday night. Let’s do that again real soon. Satan hates it. But we don’t care. Our Father loves it…we’re after His approval.
To God be the glory, great things He has done.
To God be the glory, great things He will do.