Joy In The Lord

"Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let those who love Your salvation say continually, 'The LORD be magnified!' " -Psalms 40:16

"Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice; and let them say among the nations, 'The LORD reigns.' " - 1 Chronicles 16:31

"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." - Matthew 13:44

"...for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." - Romans 14:17

"...and 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." - 1 Peter 1:8-9

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!" - Philippians 4:4

I cannot help but think of a popular song that says, "We stand and lift up our hands, for the joy of the Lord is our strength!" How great a truth that is! Our joy must be first and foremost in Christ, for if it lies anywhere else it is a false hope. I spent a good portion of the day, yesterday, pondering what it means to have my joy be made complete in God alone... I wrestled with the thought that it means I should not put so much emphasis on my friendships or relationships with other people, because they are not and should not be my primary source of joy. How often, friends, we fall into the trap of the world which says, "Your joy will be found in the acceptance of others!" ...I have been held captive by these thoughts for long enough! I have, indeed, decided to follow Jesus! How many times have we sung that faithful hymn without a second thought of even attempting to actually apply such a wonderful principle to our lives? "I have decided to follow Jesus! I have decided to follow Jesus! I have decided to follow Jesus! No turning back! No turning back!" ...So simple, yet such a revolutionary idea! NO TURNING BACK! What does that mean to you?
Anyways, all of that to say: I want my joy to be in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I could tell you many stories from my own life of just how wrong things can go when you put too much emphasis on the things of this world... When my joy has been in people, and let me tell you it has been very much in people, I find that they are not as reliable as I had hoped. But thanks be to God! He is faithful to be my Comforter and my Strength... I am beginning to realize that joy in Him can actually change your entire outlook on life. If we can learn to find joy in Christ, then we will not become depressed when we are not "happy" because we would understand that joy in Christ is not about our happiness, but it is the ability to rest in His promises to, "not fail you or forsake you" (Deuteronomy 31:6).
I love the parable that Jesus gives about the man finding a treasure in a field... What if we truly understood what it meant to have so much joy in the Lord that we were actually willing to sell everything that we owned in order to obtain it? To chase after the kingdom of God with all of our might... How noble an endeavor!
I am convinced that if we truly understood what it means to have joy in the Lord, then we would have no problem replicating what we see in Acts... Where all of the believers were working together to supply each other's needs.
Joy is satisfaction in the necessities of life, with the understanding that they are a blessing from God. The "American Dream" is really a lack of joy and, instead, a mindset of happiness... When we are told that, no matter how much we already have, we will never quite have enough, we by into the happiness mindset and forfeit the joy of the Lord in our lives.

What am I saying? I am saying that it is of absolute importance that we learn to have joy in the Lord above all else in our lives. Think about the order of the fruits of the Spirit... love, joy, peace, patience... This was no idle order in which they were put... Am I saying that some are less important in our lives? No, but we do see in 1 Corinthians that love is the most stressed point that God places for growth in our lives. From love comes all other fruit in our lives. You cannot have the joy of the Lord, without first having a love for God... it just isn't possible. Not only that, but without a love for God you would have no desire for Him... What then would make you rejoice in Him, if you didn't love Him?

I may be going in circles, but for me it is almost necessary to do so in order to truly grasp this concept of joy. Joy is born in us when we love God with all of our heart, soul, and might. (Deut. 6:5) Joy is, in fact, the overflow of our love for God. It is what causes us to witness to those whom we meet and who are in our workplaces. Have you ever met someone with so much joy that they seemed almost incapable of containing it? I have! And let me tell you something, those are the people who are so saturated with the words and promises of Scripture that you cannot carry on a conversation with them without Christ coming up somewhere in the mix. I want, with all of my heart, for that to be the same with me... for Christ to be on my tongue at all times!

I hope this hasn't been too confusing of a blog entry for all of you, but I'm afraid that I'm quite new to the study of joy and I'm having trouble putting everything into understandable sentences... If you understand nothing else, please understand this... Having joy in Christ is the most important thing, next to having love in Christ, that we can ever learn to do! For from that joy will come the desire for all of the other things of God.

Friends, may God's Grace and Peace be with you all! Rejoice in the Lord, as you go throughout this day!