These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. John 15:11.
Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. John 16:22.
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. John 17:13.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
My Kingdom is one of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. As we continue our series on how to live your life IN CHRIST we are on Life Lesson No. 2: “A Life of Joy.” A life lived IN CHRIST is a life lived IN JOY. For the anointing of the anointed One (Christ in Greek, Messiah in Hebrew) is the anointing with the oil of JOY. Hebrews 1:9; Psalm 45:7.
My Son gave you gifts, legacy gifts, the night before He gave His life for you so that you could have eternal life in Him and live in His love. John 15:9. He specifically bequeathed to you His peace, John 14:27, His joy, John 15:11, John 16:22, John 17:13, His body and blood, Luke 22:19-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, and the promise of the Holy Spirit to be in you and with you. John 14:16-17; John 16:7. And IN CHRIST you have these gifts and can enjoy them. Your life should give witness to them.
Today let us talk about walking in that joy. You will not be strong without joy. You will lose your desire to live without joy. Hope and joy are tied together. But Jesus is your hope, 1 Timothy 1:1, and He shared His joy with you, which is also My joy, as all I have is His. John 16:15. Do you remember what the Master said to the good and faithful servant? “Come share your Master’s joy.” And in Jesus, I invite you to do the same. IN My presence is fullness of joy.
Joy is not an option. It actually is a command if you want to be doing My Will for you in Christ Jesus. “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. In My Word I frequently tell you to rejoice, to sing joyful songs of praise and thanksgiving, and to give the joyful shout. These are acknowledging by faith that I have given you the victory in Christ Jesus your Lord. I surround you with songs of deliverance—and these are your way to be delivered out of every work of the devil, for you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace. Isaiah 55:12. Fixing your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of My throne. Hebrews 12:2.
Grumbling and complaining kept the Israelites in fear and out of the beautiful abundance of the land I had promised them. A critical attitude makes you like the barren bush in the desert waste that does not see good when it comes and so lets it pass right by. Jeremiah 17:6. Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, My children above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as bright lights in the world, holding fast the Word of life. Philippians 2:14-16.
This is very serious, I warned the Israelites, “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and the enemy will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. Deuteronomy 28:47-48. Satan works in the dark realm of ingratitude, pride, wickedness, complaining, judging, jealously, envy, depression, offense, unforgiveness, bitterness, anxiety and fear. You walk in these and you open your door to the devil and his demons. If your light is darkness, how deep will the darkness be!
But in Jesus I have redeemed you out of the pit and rescued you from the realm of darkness and translated you as a new creation into the Kingdom of My beloved Son and in Him is fullness of JOY. His joy, the same anointing of the Oil of Joy. But look further what brought that anointing to rest on Him above all others? “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You, with the oil of joy above Your fellows.” Psalm 45:7; Hebrews 1:9. He loves righteousness and hates wickedness (lawlessness), which is sin.
Sinning robs you of joy. It also robs you of peace and peace and joy go together. There is no peace for the wicked. You were not made to sin but to be in My image and according to My likeness, to walk in dominion authority and reign in righteousness and love, so sin defaces that image and puts you into hiding and fear of being exposed in your nakedness, which is merely the absence of the glory in which I clothed you on the day of your creation, which is My goodness. But in Christ you are clothed in My glory again, for Christ is My glory, and IN HIM you are walking in His authority, which is an absolute authority over the works of the devil. You should not be giving into grief or fear but taking it down as improper for you since Jesus took all that and bore it for you.
If you have no joy and are bound in addictions to sinful things or excess in areas of your life, you must begin hating those things instead of saying you cannot help doing them, seeking, or giving in to them, talking of them as if they give you pleasure. What you hate you will not do. What you permit you will do. What you starve will die. What you feed will grow.
“Hate evil, you who love the LORD, who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.” Psalm 97:10; Amos 5:15.
But just as evil things are like that, joy is like that too. Love joy and hate grief, love joy and hate depression, love joy and practice it day and night. There is a reason I tell you to rejoice always, again I say rejoice! It is your health and your strength. I led the Israelites out of Egypt with joyful singing and shouting and they came out healthy and wealthy. They had been sheltered by the blood of the lamb and partaken of the flesh of the lamb. And Jesus gave you His body and blood which are much more powerful than the flesh and blood of lambs, goats, and bulls.
But when they stopped singing (you only find record of them singing to Me once, just after the Egyptian army drowned in the Red Sea), and got into the rut of complaining, seeking sinful means to give them fleeting pleasures (such as the golden calf and their sinful orgy), seeking to take authority over Moses and Aaron, whom I had set over them, in envy and pride, and being totally ungrateful for their redemption from slavery and for the manna with which I fed them and kept them healthy, they lost all their joy and consequently they lost their destiny. They remained barren in the desert, wandering around the same mountain for forty long years and dying prematurely.
Joy comes from walking in the light, from knowing you are fruitful and are blessing others and are yourself blessed. When Jesus gave you His joy He gave it to you in a very particular way, He gave it to you by sharing My Word with you. It My Word, and particularly My precious and magnificent promises, that should fill you with joy and peace. “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.” Hebrews 13:15. When you know you are healed by the stripes of My Son and that I the LORD am your healer you should not fear sickness but rejoice that you have a Healer, and that He is in you by the Holy Spirit by whom I raised Christ from the dead and by whom I give life to your mortal body. When I tell you to rejoice always, I then tell you not to quench the Holy Spirit (that is, put out the anointing of joy with which He lights your lamp (your spirit is My lamp that I light with My Spirit, similar to an oil lamp upon the menorah being lit by the pure oil of beaten olives), and not to despise prophetic utterances, but to examine everything carefully; to hold fast to that which is good and to abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-21. Love the righteousness I have given you in Christ and hate evil. Reverence for Me is to hate evil. Be like Me and hate pride, arrogance, the evil way and the perverted mouth. Proverbs 8:13.
Build yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the My love, waiting eagerly for the second coming of your Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. Jude 1:20-21. Rejoice in so great a salvation! For I am well able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in My glorious presence blameless IN CHRIST with great joy, now and forever. Say “Amen” to that. Jude 1:24-25.
You cannot fill yourself with My Word and stay sad. You cannot sing praise filled with My Word and stay sad. You cannot pray in tongues and stay sad. The more you get in My presence, and you are there IN CHRIST, the more joy you will have. Therefore you may have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. John 16:22.
Jesus cleansed you and gave you His joy by the Words He spoke and speaks to you. He is My Word, the innermost expression of who I AM and My Words, if you believe them, are for your shalom and not evil to give you a future and a hope. And that is joy unspeakable and filled with glory. My Kingdom is yours, take it now, and its flow is that of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The more full of the Spirit you become, the more of His fruit will be produced in you and in His fruit are joy and peace.
Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what My will for you IN CHRIST JESUS is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourself and one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to Me; ALWAYS giving thanks for all things in the name of your Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:15-20.
I love you. Rejoice, I am taking care of you according to My riches in glory IN CHRIST JESUS your Lord.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 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 1:3-9.