Wednesday, October 7, 2009

This weeks promise. God promises to fill you with joy!

This weeks promise. God promises to fill you with joy!

Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I’d like to revisit this verse today. People often miss the true meaning of joy because they always see joy as some over flowing happiness. Joy is much more than just happiness, it is something that caused Jesus to walk to the cross and endure the shame and the suffering that came with that cross. God wants to teach us a joy that can sustain you through the worst trials and sufferings that we could go through. A joy that isn't measured by how happy we are but how deeply moved and in love with God we are. The bottom line of the joy we have is in the understanding of God's love. It isn’t just an emotion but a quality that is given to us by God Himself and is derived from Him.

Isaiah 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

The above verse is of course speaking of Jesus and shows that it is He that gives us this joy. All through both the Old and New Testaments, believers are shown experiencing this joy of the Lord. The following verse not only shows this but also explains why the person has this joy:

Acts 16:34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.

So we know that this joy the Lord gives us is only given to true believers. Others might be able to fake it for a time, but they will never truly experience it because they don’t have the experience of Jesus living within them. The psalmist then explains that it is Jesus, who is the Path of Life and His presence in us that gives us Joy and eventually eternal pleasures with Him in heaven. How can we not be filled with joy when we have His presence living within us??? Unfortunately that happens when our focus is no longer on Him, but is instead on ourselves or our circumstances. The good news is that it is quite easy to fix! We simply have to keep our eyes on Jesus!

Psalm 16:11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

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