Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13.
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.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Joy is very important. Without joy you will not want to live. Joy gives you strength. My joy is your strength.
In order to be fruitful, you must have joy. And in this series of lessons on being fruitful this is Life Lesson No. 3: Joy. To have joy you must feel your life is fruitful, and for your life to be fruitful you must have joy. So it is time to open your heart to the anointing oil of joy. My Son’s throne is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of His kingdom, He has loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore I, His God, have anointed Him with the oil of joy above His fellows. Psalm 45:6-7, Hebrews 1:8-9.
The night before He died to release you from your sins, My Son gave you His peace, John 15:27, but you may not have noticed, but He also gave you His joy that your joy would be full. John 15:11 (“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”); John 17:13 (“But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.”). But it comes by hearing His Words. Particularly the ones He spoke that night. And what were those? He is the vine and you are the branches and attached to Him you bear much fruit but that you can do nothing without Him. And so that you could have Him with you always, He promised you another helper, the Spirit of truth, to be in you and with you forever.
Joy is not based on your circumstances. The early community of believers, even amid extreme persecution, could not but be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. And that is the key. Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. You produce joy when you are filled with My Spirit. There is fullness of joy in My presence and delights at My right hand forever. I tell you that Jesus rejoiced, but I am very particular about how. He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. In fact, I tell you He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit. “At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.” Luke 10:21. I anointed Jesus with the oil of joy, and you are under the same anointing as your great High Priest.. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13.
Joy and peace in believing. Believing what? My many precious and magnificent promises so that by them you may become partakers of My divine nature. 2 Peter 1:4. And when you know they are all “yes” to you in Jesus, they will give you joy unspeakable glorified with glory. Why? Just consider them, and there will be cause for great joy and rejoicing in your heart. When you sin, by the Blood of Jesus you are cleansed and forgiven. If sickness attacks your body or mind, you have an all powerful healer who has already given you healing that you can take and apply. If you are in financial difficulties or are depressed and fearful, you have a helper, deliverer, provider and rock who will pull you out, redeem you, and place your feet on a height. If you are lonely and seeking comfort you have the Comforter and the God of all comfort available to you all the time who will surround you with love and compassion and embrace you with His left hand under your head and His right hand around you. If you are feeling that you have no good in your life, you have the absolute good One from whom every good thing and perfect gift comes down to you within you and upon you. And if you are feeling old and weak, you have My promise of youth renewal and strength. And you can have them all if you speak them and not the opposite and do My Word. The life and the health are in My Word and My Holy Spirit in you will guide you to all truth, lead you in the way you should go, and quicken your mortal body with resurrection power. I will show you the path to life, fullness of joy in My presence and the delights at My right hand forever.
And all these are yours in Jesus and because of what Jesus did for you. So what is true joy? Jesus. Being in Him and under His jurisdiction, having Him as your Lord. Having access to the Kingdom through and under Him as I clothe you in Christ. JOY = Jesus Over You.
And oh! how He longs to gather you to Him as a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings! And under My wings you will find refuge and you will sing for joy in the shadow of My wings till harm pass by. Psalm 63:7.
And what is the gift that Jesus gives you? My promise of the Holy Spirit. He asks Me and I give you through Him My very own Spirit, which is also the Spirit of Jesus, and is also the Lord Spirit. And with Him in you, My life flows into you, that is, My grace, and produces fruit in you, through you and for you. And the fruit the Holy Spirit enables your spirit to produce is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Love gives joy but I did not tell that love alone was the fruit, I included joy as well. Why? Do you recall Hannah and Elkanah? Hannah’s husband Elkanah loved her above all others and continually tried to please her, but she had no joy in his love. All she could do was grumble, complain, and grieve that she had not borne a child. She wanted to be fruitful. She was so focused on her problem that she blocked My grace to receive her ability to bear a child. But once faith in My love for her came and confidence that I had heard her prayer, her barrenness turned to fruitfulness and she bore the champion Samuel. And her grief turned into a victorious song of joy! 1 Samuel 2:1-10. And the result? She gave birth to five more children after him. Joy makes you fruitful. Grief does not. In sorrow and grief you become a burden to yourself and others. You will notice that nothing happened until Hannah’s face was no longer sad. 1 Samuel 1:18. And that was before she had Samuel. There is great joy and peace in believing. And that bears fruit. You sow in tears but you reap with joy. If you feel that you have been sowing and sowing but no harvest has come, that may be the reason. Stop crying and grieving and start singing joyful harvest songs! And it is good to sow with joy too for I love a cheerful giver. Why? Joy and thanksgiving bring multiplication. So hold on to your confession of faith and do not draw back so that you can receive the promise. By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, because she considered Me faithful who had promised. Hebrews 11:11. And what did Sarah say when she bore Isaac? “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” Genesis 21:6. And the name “Isaac” in Hebrew means laughter.
But just as when Jesus gave you His peace, He told you that it is your part to receive that and not let your heart be troubled or afraid, so too, though I have given you My joy and anointed you with the oil of joy, which is the anointing of the Holy Spirit, for there is power in joy, you have a part. As long as Hannah refused to have joy I could not give her the joy she sought for she spoke against it by saying she could not conceive, and so she did not. But once she had faith that I was answering her prayer she opened herself to the answer. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing and give constant thanks. There is a reason I tell you that is My Will for you in Christ Jesus. I give you joy; it flows into you as My love and peace do by the Holy Spirit I pour in your heart, but the fruit must appear on your branch. Do not be a grace blocker as Hannah was. Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; break forth into joyful singing and shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed; for the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman! Isaiah 54:1. If your life seems barren now, start shouting and singing for joy at the harvest that is coming. Do not grow weary in well-doing, in due time you will reap your reward. Those on the highway of holiness only arrive at Zion (the place of grace) by coming with joyful shouting and singing. Isaiah 35:10.
There is cause for rejoicing here. You are forgiven, your sins are gone, taken by Jesus, and I remember them no more. You are healed by the stripes He endured. I have taken illness and laid it on My Son’s back and He willingly gave His back to those who beat Him, yes for the joy that lay before Him He endured the shame. You are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Heaven in Him and I have raised you up with Him and seated you with Him even now in the spirit. You can come with confidence right to My throne of grace for He has opened to you a new and living way and given you a firm anchor of hope that goes behind the veil. You should not let yourself be tossed about by the winds and waves, the storms, of trouble that the devil stirs up, your anchor is not moving for it is hooked and deeply embedded into the everlasting rock.
When I brought My people out of captivity in Babylon back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the walls they again discovered My book of the Law and as they had it read it they wept in regret that they had not kept it. But My servants Nehemiah, Ezra and the Levites told them “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our LORD. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved.” Nehemiah 8:9-11.
You too may be grieving over the sins and mistakes you made in past years that rendered your life unfruitful but take courage and listen to the words of Nehemiah and celebrate with joy that you have forgiveness, healing, restoration and renewal, but above all that you have My Word in your mouth to move mountains and rearrange things. My grace is sufficient in you to go on and do the mighty works you are now dreaming of. Indeed, in the story of Nehemiah and the people taking joy rather than grieving that day, I tell you the result, “All the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to celebrate a great festival, because they understood the Words which had been made known to them.” Nehemiah 8:12. It always goes back to the seed of My Word for every good thing in your life. You are wise to read it, speak it, hear it, and do it. Joy will come.
Be like My prophet Jeremiah, for just as I called him so I have called you, a prophet to the nations, “Your words were found and I devoured them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.” Jeremiah 15:16.
Joy. You all need it to be strong and to want to live on. And I am happy to give it to those who ask. And I give it to you by giving you the Holy Spirit. Be filled by speaking to yourself all the day in songs, hymns and spiritual songs, making joyful melody in your heart to Me. And I sing over you with joy and rejoicing anyway so you might as well join Me. Come share your Father’s joy. It is for you.
There is fullness of joy in My presence. True, lasting joy that no one and nothing can take from you can only be found in My presence. So if you have gotten out of joy it just means you have taken yourself out of My presence. The devil is cast out of My presence and he has no joy. If you abide in Me and My Words abide in you, you will stay in joy. You will share My joy and your joy will be full. Stay aware of My presence with you and in you and you will have joy.
I love you. Joy comes from having Jesus over you. So sound the trumpet and play the tambourine and sing your song unto the King, the King of kings. I lead you along the path to life, fullness of joy in My presence and the delights at My right hand forever. And who do I send to lead you? The Holy Spirit.