Receiving Joy

Hello! Welcome to the blog. We’ve been discussing joy. Today is our last in in the series: Receiving Joy. Here’s a quick review of what we’ve discussed:

1. Day 1 – the definition
2. Day 2 – Good and Upright – An understanding of joy.
3. Day 3 – Joy: Where does it come from?

First, before I begin the last of this series. I want to thank all of you who’ve been following. I pray that you’ve been blessed by these posts. May you be filled with His joy.

Now to our discussion today.

We have heard of and read about joy. Have we received it? A great deal will say “yes”. Some will say, “I’m not sure”. Some will say, “no”. Let’s see what God’s word says:

Psalm 45:7 & Hebrews 1:9 says:
You love justice and hate evil.
    Therefore God, your God, has anointed you,
    pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.

Matthew Henry explains this scripture:
“The Spirit is called the oil of gladness, because of the delight wherewith Christ was filled, in carrying on his undertakings. The salvation of sinners is the joy of angels, much more of the Son. And in proportion as we are conformed to his holy image, we may expect the gladdening gifts influences of the Comforter.”

This is pretty special. God has anointed you. Yes, you! You wonder how so. Well, here’s more of what God’s word says about that:

Psalm 35:9
And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD;
    It shall rejoice in His salvation.

Isaiah 61:10
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

When you receive God’s salvation your soul shall be joyful. We talked about this last week as well.

Lay down all those burdens you’ve been carrying around. Look to God. Receive His joy of salvation. Thank Him for it. Continue to seek Him. He will fulfill your joy. Turn from your old ways, not returning to them. Remember, God loves you and wishes that you be joyful. God is a God of love, joy, peace and all the fruits of the Spirit.

Prayer: “Dear Father God, and friend, I lift my heart up to You. I thank You for the joy of Your salvation through Jesus Christ, Your Son. I pray for those who haven’t received it yet and ask in Jesus’ name that they seek You and receive salvation, thus joy. I praise You in Jesus’ name, amen.”

Joy: Where does it come from?

This quote is a great way to start this week’s lesson in joy.

“Joy is a condition of the soul, and that condition is fully capable of being immune to circumstances. Happiness is temporary, joy is its own missionary to a fallen world because few have it, and yet mistake happiness for the real thing – joy. When happiness has faded, joy still has a voice. Joy is a choice. Joy is a mindset. Joy is a world view.” The Minute Man

Last time we discussed “Good and Upright“, the understanding of joy. This week we’ll discuss, as the title asks, Where does our joy come from?

I like the quote because as it says, “When happiness fades, joy still has a voice, joy is a choice, a mindset and a world view.” So then, where does our joy come from?

Here’s what Matthew Henry, famous commentator of scripture, says:

“The matter of a Christian’s joy, is the remembrance of the happiness laid up for him. It is incorruptible, it cannot come to nothing, it is an estate that cannot be spent. Also undefiled; this signifies its purity and perfection. And it does not fade; is not sometimes more or less pleasant, but ever the same, still like itself. God not only gives his people grace, but preserves them unto glory. Every believer has always something wherein he may greatly rejoice; it should show itself in the countenance and conduct.”

I remember the benediction my youth group used to pray at every meeting, found in Numbers 6:24-26,
²⁴ “The LORD bless you and keep you;
²⁵ The LORD make His face shine upon you,
     And be gracious to you;
²⁶ The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,
     And give you peace.”‘

That being said leads me right to more of God’s word:
Isaiah 61:10
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

It took me a long time to make the connection between joy, happiness and salvation. Maybe there’s others who haven’t made the connection either.

If I’m understanding this correctly; our joy comes from our salvation. Living out Christ’s gift to us will imply that we’re full of joy. Psalm 21:1 says:
1 The king shall have joy in Your strength, O LORD;
     And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!

As well as Psalm 35:9:
9 And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD;
     It shall rejoice in His salvation.

Even through our sorrow and trials we should be rejoicing in our salvation. God’s words says:

1 Peter 1:6-9
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 4:12-14
12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. 14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.

John 16:22
Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.

No matter what’s happening around you or even to you, express joy that is from the God of your salvation. You’d be a great example to unbelievers to the love of God. As John 16:22 tells us: no one can take your joy away that is from God.

However, because of things that had happened in my life I allowed others to take my joy because I wasn’t focused on God even though God’s joy was still there. When we lose sight of God and His Word in our lives the adversary sneaks in and takes over. God is still there. He’s trying for all His might to get our attention. God got my attention in 2009. He started a work in me that was unmistakably His. When everything was at the bottom the only way was up. God reached His Almighty hand in and offered it to me. I accepted it of course. At the same time some other miraculous things took place that made it unmistakable that it was God pulling me and my husband from the mire. Did God take it all away and make everything perfect for us? No. He left us at the doorway and offered us the choice to follow Him. We still have adversities. Here’s what Habakkuk 3:17-19 says:

17 Though the fig tree may not blossom,
    Nor fruit be on the vines;
    Though the labor of the olive may fail,
    And the fields yield no food;
    Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
    And there be no herd in the stalls—
    18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
     I will joy in the God of my salvation.
    19 The LORD God is my strength;
    He will make my feet like deer’s feet,
    And He will make me walk on my high hills.

There’s this one girl at my church. Her name is Abi and at the time of this situation she was 12 yrs old. In 2008 when her family came home on furlough from the mission field they had no idea what they were in for. Abi contracted the flesh eating bacteria on one side of her face. She’s since been through treatment to stop it. She’s also been through many surgeries. Here’s a quote from her:

“My surgeon can’t figure me out, my teacher wants to clone me, Lydia and I are back in school, my scar is my name tag at every church I visit, my hair has been cut, my writing is going well, my dad still makes me cry (in a good, special way), and my Christmas was wonderful. Yet, more important than all these things that… bring me happiness I have THE POWERFUL, WONDERFUL, ALL-KNOWING, EVER-CARING GOD who gives me JOY!”

That is one powerful statement. This girl, Abi, has been such a great example of the joy from God. She’s an inspiration to us all.

Here’s what Billy Graham says:

http://www.tangle.com/flash/swf/flvplayer.swf

The choice is ours. I’ve made the choice to be joyful and rejoice in my salvation from the LORD. Have you? Where does your joy come from? Is it fleeting? Or, is it firm and stable? Join me today & everyday and be joyful, rejoicing in the LORD.

Song of joy and blessings

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to participate.

Good and Upright

Hello and welcome!

Last time we talked about the definition of joy. You can read up on it here. If you recall joy means: to feel joy, to be glad and to rejoice.

This week I pray that you will take away from this teaching the understanding. The good and upright of joy and that one can thrive in their understanding and be full of joy from that knowledge.

Below are some scriptures I felt led to use by the LORD. I pray that the connection will be clear in that God gives us wisdom and understanding that in turn gives us joy. A foolish and evil person knows no joy. How could they? They do not know the Lord. Joy comes from knowing and being obedient to the Lord. This verse is clear in that idea:

Ecclesiastes 2:26a
²⁶ For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight;

So… if we look at being good and upright what does that look like? Good and upright are defined as:

• good: of moral excellence [virtue: the quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong.]
• upright: righteousness as a consequence of being honorable [ethical: adhering to ethical and moral principles] and honest [not deceptive].

Verse 9 in Proverbs 14 below states that God shows favor to the upright and in v.11 the tent of the upright with flourish. Well, if one is flourishing they must be glad and full of joy, correct?

Now that we have a clear view of being good and upright we now look toward wisdom and knowledge. For they lead to joy. Understanding plays a major role here. Understanding is knowing. So, as v.6 says, knowing is easy to him who understands. What are we to understand? We are to understand that being sensible in our ways will lead to wisdom from the Lord because we’re careful to be upright. Therein lies the difficulty. Being upright.

Proverbs 14:5-11
⁵ A faithful witness does not lie,
  But a false witness will utter lies.
  ⁶ A scoffer seeks wisdom and does not find it,
  But knowledge is easy to him who understands.
  ⁷ Go from the presence of a foolish man,
  When you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge.
  ⁸ The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way,
  But the folly of fools is deceit.
  ⁹ Fools mock at sin,
  But among the upright there is favor.
  ¹⁰ The heart knows its own bitterness,
  And a stranger does not share its joy.
  ¹¹ The house of the wicked will be overthrown,
  But the tent of the upright will flourish.

We are stuck with these mortal fleshly bodies. Humans by nature of corrupt and foolish. However, v.28 in Job 28 tells us that we can have wisdom from God by fearing Him and departing from evil is understanding. Understanding leads to joy.

Job 28:28
²⁸ And to man He said,
      ‘ Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
      And to depart from evil is understanding.’
[emphasis mine]

As we are led right back to our first scripture,

Ecclesiastes 2:26a
²⁶ For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight;

God’s word tells us that when Christ became our savior as we accepted Jesus all our sins are wiped away and that he sees no sin in us. We must then lean on God’s understanding and be full of joy in Jesus as our Savior. Next week we’ll discuss where our joy comes from. It comes from the Lord! That’s your homework. Seek in The Word where your joy comes from.

Prayer: “Dear Father God, I pray that this lesson today will bless whoever needs it and that they will be enlightened. I pray that I learn from it and be enlightened. I thank You for all that You did and are still doing to produce joy in all of our lives. I pray that this series will reach all that You want it to reach. I praise and thank You in Jesus’ name, amen.

January’s Word: Joy-Day 1

I will post each Monday in January about joy. I’ll start today with the definition. The following Mondays I’ll simply make a quick summary with mr. linky to previous post for reference. I’ll follow this same format for the rest of the year.

Word: Joy

Definition from Dictionary.com:
noun: the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation: She felt the joy of seeing her son’s success.
verb: to feel joy; be glad; rejoice.

The Hebrew word for joy used most commonly is: simchah (pronounced sim-khaw’)

The King James & New King James Version of the Holy Bible use the word joy 155 times. All the other versions have more. I will use NKJV for this year’s word list posts just to keep it consistent. Feel free to use what ever version works best for you. I find certain translations simply describe things that are easier for me to follow. We have to seek God in our life journey not ourselves or another man. The Holy Spirit is our true guide within us. Listen to the Holy Spirit within you. If you are wondering how to do that because you haven’t reached that stage yet… there’s some awesome articles online that teach you discernment of good and evil. Do a search at google.com (here’s a link to a list of search results in google: http://snipurl.com/tyf83).

Proverbs 2 describes the benefits of seeking wisdom from God. Specifically v.10, which I have underlined.

Proverbs 2
¹ My child, listen to what I say,
and treasure my commands.
² Tune your ears to wisdom,
and concentrate on understanding.
³ Cry out for insight,
and ask for understanding.
⁴ Search for them as you would for silver;
seek them like hidden treasures.
⁵ Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord,
and you will gain knowledge of God.
⁶ For the Lord grants wisdom!
From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
⁷ He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest.
He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.
⁸ He guards the paths of the just
and protects those who are faithful to him.
⁹ Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair,
and you will find the right way to go.
¹⁰For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will fill you with joy.
¹¹ Wise choices will watch over you.
Understanding will keep you safe.
¹² Wisdom will save you from evil people,
from those whose words are twisted.

We are compelled to seek joy in our lives. As verse 11 & 12 say above, seek wisdom from God, who watches over us and saves us from evil. Doing so will fill you with joy. There are many things in life that give us joy, but we must remember that true joy comes from God. The adversary likes to distract us with false joy, which discourages us when we discover its emptiness. God does not do that to us; His joy is completely fulfilling. We need discernment in knowing God’s joy from the adversary’s joy. Ask yourself these simple questions when you are seeking joy (be very honest in your answers):

Is this joy leading me toward or away from God?

Will this joy fulfill you or leave you feeling empty?

What are the consequences of seeking this joy?

Your answers should lead you to God every time. If not, run in the opposite direction as fast as you can; run right into the arms of our loving Father. The consequences of not following God are destructive. Personally, I’d rather grow in the wisdom and knowledge of a loving God. I want true joy from God; joy that will carry us through the tough times.

What about you? You are probably thinking this is a very tough area. Yes, it is, because the adversary keeps throwing stuff up in your face distracting you and telling you that you can’t do it! Well, I’m here to tell you… the adversary is a big, FAT, liar! The adversary can just take a hike, right back to the pit of hades, and burn; in Jesus’ name, amen!

As children of the Most High King, Jesus, we have already won the victory over the adversary. All we must do is seek God in Jesus’ name and the adversary buckles at the knees, collapses, and crawls back into his hole. Picture victory when saying those words. Read scripture with God’s promises and listen to some praise & worship music that fills your heart with joy and blast the adversary out.

I could go on forever with this… I’ve been down this road and I’ve won the victory through Jesus and so can you.

Prayer: Dear Father God, I lift up all those who are struggling to get to You and make You Lord over all in their lives. I pray that they will be filled to overflowing with Your joy in their lives. I thank YOU Father for enveloping me and those out there who need You, and encouraging our hearts & minds. Thank You for Your joy in our lives. I pray that we continue to seek Your true joy. In Jesus’ name, amen.

JOY & SERVING

 

Daily Christian Quote
One of the key things for people as far as joy is concerned is not living a selfish, self-centered lifestyle where we live our lives expecting everybody else to do something for us. ~Joyce Meyer

Galatians 5:13-14
13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Romans 12:3
For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly, as God has dealt with each one a measure of faith.

Psalm 32:11
Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous;
And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Psalm 118:23-24
23 This was the LORD’s doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day the LORD has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.

People, human nature, is very selfish & self-centered. Human nature wants for itself. God word tells us we are to die to self and live for Christ. The above scripture highlights parts of God’s word that mean the most to me about loving your neighbor as yourself and not thinking more highly of one’s self. HIS word tells us to rejoice & be glad in it. It being servanthood. We are not able to serve two masters. We’re either going to choose self or God. Which will you choose?

Shout to the Lord

Psalm 98:3-5
3 He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth;
Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.
5 Sing to the LORD with the harp,
With the harp and the sound of a psalm

http://www.godtube.com/flvplayer.swf