“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
~ Phil. 4:4
Joy. What a wonderful feeling…
Who doesn’t desire it?
The American Declaration of Independence grants us “the pursuit of happiness.”…and if you ask various people
you may find various opinions, and hear various formulas for obtaining and maintaining joy.
For most people in our culture the concept of joy is linked to possessions…things- new cars, a fancy house (or houses), luxury vacations,
the latest gadgets, wardrobe, or wealth. Maybe it is their career and the prestige that an executive position or
social prominence that may give what is interpreted as joy.
But is that feeling, that emotion, that this variety of things provides really joy?
What happens to joy when something comes along -say a tornado or a terrible illness/injury or some other form of life “storm”-
and devastates a person’s world…is it possible for joy to be present in the resulting conditions?
I believe that the real definition of joy has nothing to do with these things, precious little to do with how our culture defines it.
Consider what God’s Word has to say about Joy:
It is a fruit, a result, of life that comes from abiding in Yeshua, a fruit of the Spirit.
Psalm 28:7 says that when we trust in God (not in stuff) realizing that He helps us, we are joyful.
Neh.8:10 instructs us not to grieve-the Joy of the Lord is our strength.
Psalm 51:12 reads “restore unto me the Joy of Your salvation”- indicating that Joy is found in the Lord,
rooted and grounded in eternal things-beginning with our salvation-being ransomed from Hell and eternal damnation.
My challenge to you today is a simple one: Ask God to re-align your Joy paradigm—re-revealing His love for you.
Consider the essence of where Joy is intended to emanate from:
” For God so loved the World that He gave His Only Begotten Son, That
whosoever believes in Him shall have eternal life.” ~ John 3:16
Consider: He loves us that much….
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all
—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—
is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
As it is written:“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
”No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:31-39