OT
Hab 3:17-18 (AMP)
v 17 Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, [though] the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls,
v 18 YET I will REJOICE in the LORD; I will EXULT in the [VICTORIOUS] GOD of my SALVATION.
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NT
Heb 12:2 (AMP)
Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the JOY [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (ever making intercession for us)
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1523 AD
DEAR CHRISTIAN PEOPLE ALL, REJOICE Martin Luther
Dear Christian people all, rejoice
Each soul with joy upraising.
Pour forth a song with heart and voice,
With love and gladness singing.
Give thanks to God, our Lord above,
Thanks for His miracle of love!
Dearly He hath redeemed us.
He spoke to His beloved Son
With infinite compassion:
"Go hend, my heart's most precious One,
Be to the lost Salvation;
Death, his relentless tyrant, stay,
And bear him from his sins away
With Thee to live forever!"
The Son came, saying: "Cling to Me,
Thy sorrows now are ending;
Freely I give Myself for thee,
Thy life with Mine defending;
For I am thine and thou art Mine,
And where I am there thou shalt shine,
The foe shall never reach us.
"To heaven again I rise from hence,
High to my Father soaring,
The Master there to be, and thence
My Spirit on thee pouring;
In every grief to comfort thee,
And teach thee more and more of Me,
Into all truth still guiding.
"What I have done and taught on earth,
Do thou, and teach, none dreading;
That so God's kingdom may go forth,
And His high praise be spreading;
And guard thee from the words of men,
Lest the great joy be lost again;
This my last charge I leave thee."