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Joy

Joy! joy! joy! there is joy in The Salvation Army,
Joy! joy! joy! in the Army of the Lord.
We will sing, we will sing, till the world is full of joy;
We will shout, we will shout, till glad voices rend the sky.
With a thousand bands and a thousand drums
We will praise the Lord in bright, happy homes,
We will sing and shout till the Master comes,
We will ever praise the Lord.

William James Pearson penned this very famous Salvation Army hymn in the late 1800’s, shortly after the organization was founded. But early Salvationists knew then what they know now; ‘joy’ is not the same thing as ‘happiness’. The world is full of pain and suffering and it touches us both personally and professionally.

The work we do is hard. We are not always happy. But joy is less fleeting than happiness. Of course there’s nothing wrong with being happy; it’s just that when we aren’t, what do we have left?

We’re depending on God; he’s everything we need. What’s more, our hearts brim with joy since we’ve taken for our own his holy name” – Psalm 33:20, 21

We have God; the source of all joy. That’s what we have left when we’re not happy. And that keeps us going; not only in the good times but in the bad as well.

It’s with this joyful certainty that we can continue striving to be ‘The Hand of God in the Heart of the City”.

Peace,

Dion Oxford, Director of Mission Integration

A Joyful Prayer
Let everything that has life,
let everything that has breath
give all the glory and honour
and praise to the One who
overcame death.

Let every living thing
sing of the mercies of our God.
Let us exalt Him wherever we live
with thanksgiving and joy
in our hearts.

If we don’t praise Him,
the mountains will.
If we don’t exalt Him,
the rocks will cry out
in our stead,
‘God is not dead!’
Let every living thing
sing of the mercies of our God.
Let us exalt Him wherever we live
with thanksgiving and joy
in our hearts.

Amen

– Lawrence Chewning, Celtic Daily Prayer vol. 2

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