If you have invested in real love, and you’ve got the Lord, too, then that’s all you need to know pure joy in life. Money ain’t got nothing to do with it.”
–Kenneth Pratt (The Wolves of Windsor Ridge)
“Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them… And there was great joy in that city.”
“Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them… And there was great joy in that city.”
–Acts 8:5,8 (NKJV)
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Another month gone by, or is it another month started? Hard to believe that it’s already September. Goodness, the year is whirling by, summer is almost over and fall will soon be upon us. On this first day of September, I want to focus on joy. “If you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy, let Jesus come into your heart.” (Joseph D. Carlson)
Robert Louis Stevenson said, “A happy man or woman is a better thing to find than a five pound note. He or she is a radiating focus of good will; and their entrance into a room is as though another candle has been lighted.” Paul exhorts us to “rejoice in the Lord always…” (Philippians 4:4). Have you known those with whom it is a delight to be in their presence because of the joy that comes from within their being? Joy, like doom and gloom, is contagious. It is an attitude that can spread hope to those around in the midst of trying circumstances.
Joy (Greek–“chara”) — “delight, gladness of heart; cheerfulness; calmy happy.” Webster says that joy is an “emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune, or by the prospect of possessing what one desires; a source or cause of delight.” We must remember that joy, or the lack of it, is associated with life. H.E. Fosdick writes, “Joy is the tingling sense of being fully alive, and that cannot come to narrow minds, absorbed by selfish concerns.” Someone else has said, “Happiness was born a twin.” I will say here that being happy is not the same as being joyful. Oh, they can coincide, but a person cannot be happy in sorrow, while a person with genuine joy in their heart can “rejoice.” Happiness normally takes an event or special circumstance whereas joy is a condition of the heart.
No matter the situation we need to heed the words of Paul and rejoice. The Prophet said, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” (Habakkuk 3:18) The early English Pentecostal writer, Donald Gee says that “Such a joy becomes independent of outward circumstances, and even of inward blessings. It rejoices in a certain and sure possession of the Blesser.” We have joy in knowing God. He is our Father, and we can depend upon Him throughout this journey called life–that should bring joy to our souls.
We have the joy of salvation–of sins forgiven. There is a sense of relief from the intolerable burden of sin. We can exhale a joyous sigh because our sins are gone. We can be joyful of a spiritual hunger that is now satisfied. I’ve had a craving for steak, and on Wednesday night I prepared steak for Annie and me for supper. I was happy looking at the steak, I was enjoying the aroma as I fried it, but when I consumed it, my inward parts were now joyful, the hunger was abated and also the craving was gone. I sat there with a joyful “aahhh”. Joy is an inward satisfaction of knowing who God is and what He has done for us. Truly we have
“…found the joy no tongue can tell,
How its waves of glory roll!
It is like a great o’er-flowing-well,
Springing up within my soul.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
Full of glory, full of glory;
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
Oh, the half has never yet been told.”
–B.E. Warren
———————————
Another month gone by, or is it another month started? Hard to believe that it’s already September. Goodness, the year is whirling by, summer is almost over and fall will soon be upon us. On this first day of September, I want to focus on joy. “If you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy, let Jesus come into your heart.” (Joseph D. Carlson)
Robert Louis Stevenson said, “A happy man or woman is a better thing to find than a five pound note. He or she is a radiating focus of good will; and their entrance into a room is as though another candle has been lighted.” Paul exhorts us to “rejoice in the Lord always…” (Philippians 4:4). Have you known those with whom it is a delight to be in their presence because of the joy that comes from within their being? Joy, like doom and gloom, is contagious. It is an attitude that can spread hope to those around in the midst of trying circumstances.
Joy (Greek–“chara”) — “delight, gladness of heart; cheerfulness; calmy happy.” Webster says that joy is an “emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune, or by the prospect of possessing what one desires; a source or cause of delight.” We must remember that joy, or the lack of it, is associated with life. H.E. Fosdick writes, “Joy is the tingling sense of being fully alive, and that cannot come to narrow minds, absorbed by selfish concerns.” Someone else has said, “Happiness was born a twin.” I will say here that being happy is not the same as being joyful. Oh, they can coincide, but a person cannot be happy in sorrow, while a person with genuine joy in their heart can “rejoice.” Happiness normally takes an event or special circumstance whereas joy is a condition of the heart.
No matter the situation we need to heed the words of Paul and rejoice. The Prophet said, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” (Habakkuk 3:18) The early English Pentecostal writer, Donald Gee says that “Such a joy becomes independent of outward circumstances, and even of inward blessings. It rejoices in a certain and sure possession of the Blesser.” We have joy in knowing God. He is our Father, and we can depend upon Him throughout this journey called life–that should bring joy to our souls.
We have the joy of salvation–of sins forgiven. There is a sense of relief from the intolerable burden of sin. We can exhale a joyous sigh because our sins are gone. We can be joyful of a spiritual hunger that is now satisfied. I’ve had a craving for steak, and on Wednesday night I prepared steak for Annie and me for supper. I was happy looking at the steak, I was enjoying the aroma as I fried it, but when I consumed it, my inward parts were now joyful, the hunger was abated and also the craving was gone. I sat there with a joyful “aahhh”. Joy is an inward satisfaction of knowing who God is and what He has done for us. Truly we have
“…found the joy no tongue can tell,
How its waves of glory roll!
It is like a great o’er-flowing-well,
Springing up within my soul.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
Full of glory, full of glory;
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
Oh, the half has never yet been told.”
–B.E. Warren