“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit comes into our lives when we are saved, and brings three particular gifts into our lives. The first of those gifts given was “joy.” Jesus promised us joy in John 14:11: “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” Observe: The Holy Spirit brings the joy of Jesus into our lives. I want to share three aspects of this joy in this article. First, the joy that the Holy Spirit brings into our lives is joy in the Lord – joy of the Lord.” I love an Old Testament reference to the joy that the Lord gives in difficult circumstances in Nehemiah 8:10b: “…for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” This was a message to the Israelites as they rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity. The joy of the Lord is our strength because it is joy in spite of the hard circumstances that we face in life. I’m not just preaching it, I have experienced it in the last twenty-five years of my life as I faced some serious illnesses – all of which could have killed me. I am not bragging on myself, but I am sharing that the joy of the Lord is real, even in difficult circumstances. Second, the joy that the Holy Spirit brings into our lives is joy in Christian fellowship. We are not saved in a vacuum. We are saved individually, but we are ushered into fellowship with fellow Christians. The joy is that we do not have to travel this road of life alone when we are saved. We have fellowship with our Christian brothers and sisters. I served churches for fifty-three years and I encountered problems, of course, but in the midst of that was the joy of fellowship with fellow Christians. This joy is part and parcel with the joy of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Thank God, we do not have to walk this road alone. The joy of fellowship with Christians over the years is still with me after all of the years. Third, the joy that the Holy Spirit brings into our lives is the joy of service. Frankly, I never thought, as I went to work in the morning, that I was really going to work, but I was going to serve. Even as I write Couch Potato articles, I do not consider it work, but I consider it as Christian service. It brings joy to me that I can send these articles out into the ether for anyone to read. It has been a joy to hear from Christians as far away as Pakistan. That is not work, it is joyful service. If you are doing what God put you on this earth to do, you should enjoy it as service for God. If you are not doing what God put you on this earth for, find out what it is and go to it! This is certainly not all that the Bible teaches about the “joy of the Lord,” but they are three things that we should pray about and seek that joy in all circumstances of our lives, in Christian fellowship and in service for Him. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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