109 - The Joy of the Lord

Nehemiah 8:10 NASB

“Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Philippians 4:4 NASB

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!”

1 Peter 1:8-9 NASB

“though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.”

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Joy, and the overflow or expression of that joy, rejoicing, wells up from within, from a heart genuinely focused on God, who He is, and what He has done. It is what fills our hearts with joy and rejoicing that matters most. As a fruit of the Spirit, joy is a natural outflow of being filled with the Spirit, from a pure heart whose reality rests in God’s reality; whose future is our eternal heavenly home; whose conscience has been cleared through grace; who trusts in God’s transformational power in our lives; holding on to a confidence in God that transcends circumstance because He is faithful and His Word is everlasting. It is in seeing ever clearer the unseen and believing with all our heart that what He says to be true, is the ultimate truth. It is in an understanding that our God is caring for us, and will till the last day, the eternal salvation of our souls.

Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord always, not as an act to follow, but because we have so much to rejoice over. Joy and rejoicing, without the basis of that joy, without recognizing, acknowledging, and grasping what produces it in our lives, is just an emotion and lip service. The ever-increasing reality of what we have in Christ is the foundation of what wells up within and overflows in a life of joy and rejoicing.

We spent our lives before Christ searching externally for happiness, a semblance of joy, yet void of an internal reality that could bring about something far deeper. True joy is not based on external factors, which are circumstantial, but on God and His reality within us, becoming a constant and steady source, a wellspring of joy bubbling up to eternal life. Christ is the truth that brings life to our walk in the body. Nothing in this world is able to bring about what is lasting and eternal, since it is transient, fading, and will one day be destroyed.

As long as our eyes are fixed on what is transient, and our lives are focused on the makings of this world and the work of our hands, we will never experience the joy Christ gives. Joy comes when we release what holds no power to lift our hearts and minds out of life’s weariness and embrace the truth that Christ holds the key to a life of inexpressible joy.

Christ overcame the world, and through our faith in Him, and by holding on to all that is right and true, we also overcome, taking part in His life, His understanding, His perspective, and His mind. Christ, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross and sat down at the right hand of God. That same joy becomes part of us as well, enabling us to transcend this world and experience what we were recreated and reborn to experience.

Our eyes are opened to the truth that what we have in Christ, what we have been given and all that is yet to come, far exceeds anything we could possibly ask or imagine. This is the root of joy and rejoicing, the realization that what we now possess surpasses all we have searched and longed for. It is an eternal truth beyond what we can now fully comprehend, culminating in an eternity where all will be changed and made new, according to all that God has prepared for us.