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GENUINE JOY!
Have you ever thought to yourself that if you could have one specific thing in your life, then you would be truly happy and content? Have you said, "if only I were a millionaire, then I'd be fully satisfied"? Or, "if I had that job...", or "if only I had that house...", or "if only I had that one thing, I would be totally content"? But God says, "delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart" (Ps.37:4).
There are so many promises of God in Holy Scripture that we have learned to live by. Many of us have learned to walk by faith in many areas of our Christian life. We have learned to practice "the love-walk" even when we don't feel like it. Some of us have learned to apply the healing Scriptures to our lives to overcome obstacles to our health. Yet many of these very same Christians tend to go through life down, sad, unhappy, and even depressed.
There are many things that we could say about the resolution to this problem, but one key passage is this one in the 37th chapter of Psalms. We have to make up our minds that we are going to have a delightful or joyful mindset and outlook regardless of our soulish feelings. The God-kind of joy begins with a decisions. Most people believe that once they receive the desires of their hearts, then they'll have joy. This verse presents just the opposite view.
Delight yourself in Jesus, then He'll give you those things that you desire. I'm not talking about "faking it". I'm talking about intense genuine joy. Get excited about Jesus. Fall in love with Him all over again on a daily basis. Outwardly express radical excitement about your relationship with your Creator, then watch Him provide those things that you deeply desire.
WHERE THE FULLNESS OF JOY IS FOUND!
We know that Christians are supposed to be a joyful people. Yet when those feelings of sadness, sorrow, or depression come upon you, are you just supposed to ignore those feelings. As usual, I believe the Holy Bible present the proper remedy for those situations and circumstances. Scripture lays out God's plan for overcoming those negative feelings: "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Ps.16:11);
When you are tempted to feel sad or lonely, go into His presence! When you are tempted to feel sorrow or depression start worshipping Him. Get alone with your God and whole heartedly praise and worship Him. Fervently enter into His presence and you will notice that that sadness and sorrow has fled away. You will soon begin to recognize the flooding of joy through your soul. This is where the fullness of the God-kind-of-joy is found. No you don't have to "fake-it". You can have intense genuine joy, by spending quality time in His holy throne room, worshipping Him.
We also learn from the New Testament that the fullness of joy comes from God through His Word. In at least four places in the New Testament we find the statement, "that your joy may be full." All four times are in John's writings. And all four times are in reference to the Word of God, either spoken or written. Notice that the Word of God is presenting God's plan for you to experience the fullness of joy. Yes, it is found "in His Presence", but there are two primary ways to enter His Presence: through Worship and through His Word(Jn.15:11; 16:24; I Jn.1:4; II Jn.1:12);
He's not talking about partial joy or a cheap imitation. This is the real thing and the fullness of it. God wants His people to experience the fullness of His joy. People who call themselves "Christian", yet live sad, unhappy, depressed lives, are not living the life of intense genuine joy that God intended. "Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance" (Ac.2:28); "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory (I Pe.1:8);
JOY, BY FAITH!
Keep in mind that we are not just talking about how to walk in joy, we are talking about how to obtain the deep-seated desires of your heart. This is important, because in learning how to walk in joy, you will start receiving those desires of your heart and soul. Now, it could simply be that as you spend quality time with the Lord, in worship and in the Word, and start walking in His joy, that your desires begin to change. It could be that you will no longer desire the things that you desired before. It could be that as you walk in the intense genuine joy of Jesus, that those things that you thought you wanted so badly, are not all that important to you anymore. In other words, as we spend quality time with Him, we become more like Him, and we begin to desire the things that He desires in our lives. Our desire become more pure and in line with the desires of Jesus Christ Himself.
However, another key to walking in the God-kind-of-joy that we must emphasize is faith. Yes, faith is key to receiving anything from God. It is faith that makes our prayers effective. It is faith that God responds to in our lives. If you have not been receiving those things that you desire, especially the things that He has promised, you should check to see if you are really walking in faith. Many Christians think they are walking in faith, but in reality they have no clue as to what the God-kind-of-faith is. They don't know what basic principles of the faith walk are. If you don't yet "feel" the joy of the Lord in your life, even after spending quality and quantity time with Him, the next thing you must do is to receive it by faith. After spending quality time in His Presence and in His Word, if you still don't "feel" His joy consuming your soul, use the four basic faith principles to receive your joy by faith. (II Cor.1:24; Ph.1:25; 2:17); |
