oy is a word which I seldom hear used. Do you use the word "joy" often or regularly? Some consider it to be an 'old fashioned' word!
I have been reading of this subject recently, and giving myself to serious study of what is meant when the Bible speaks of joy.
It is the Holy Spirit who encourages the presence and growth of JOY. We read of this in Paul's powerful letter to the disciples of Jesus in Galatia. You will find the fruit of the Holy Spirit described in Galatians Chapter 5 and verses 22 and 23.
There is one fruit but it has nine segments and the picture of an orange with it various segments may be helpful. We read of love and joy and peace and then another six qualities or characteristics.
JOY is very different from happiness which might spring from pleasure.
Happiness - by the very word - depends upon what happens - upon what is going on around us.
Joy depends upon Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Happiness can evaporate within a few hours or days, but when Jesus Christ grows fruit through the Holy Spirit, it remains.
Joy is a by-product of love - it follows love.
If a man concentrates on finding JOY it will elude him. He will miss it.
Things and people come and go - as do pleasures. What lasts is Faith, Hope, and Love.
The source of JOY is our relationship with the Holy Spirit.
As we keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit, JOY will be present in some measure. These are not natural attributes. We cannot manufacture them.
In Psalm 43 - turn there - the Psalmist is going through what we would call a bad spell.
He felt rejected by God, in one sense, and that must be terrible. I know nothing of that type of harrowing experience.
Jesus says, "I am with you always" - even when we may not want Him to be with us!
Can you imagine anyone saying this - "Now Jesus - you just wait out here - I am going in there to enjoy myself."
Interesting word that, isn't it - 'enjoy myself'! If we ever wanted to say that to Jesus
His reply is - Sorry, I have promised to be with you always - when you so need me - and also when you think you don't want me or need me!
The Psalmist felt rejected. He was being attacked. He was mourning as his enemies attacked him. Things were not looking too bright for God's Chosen Anointed King.
How did he get out of what we might wish to call depression? He went to God - to the place of Worship - to God my JOY. Check it out in Psalm 43. It is always good to read the Word of God and check it out for yourself - and Almighty God invariably has a blessing for those who read His Holy Word.
If you have any questions about this, please do feel free to contact me through the excellent facilities available to us on this website and if I can answer your question I will and if I cannot answer your question, I will say so. Ask and you will receive and seek and you will find and knock at that locked door and the door will be opened.
Our loving gracious generous God wants to meet our various needs and satisfy us and he wants us to grow some real deep lasting joy so that we may share this joy with others who may be very down and sore and sad and rejected and isolated.
Jesus gives us gifts and fruit for a reason and a purpose.
Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children's Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.
He broadcasts regularly on WSHO radio out of New Orleans, and writes a weekly commentary at http://www.studylight.org entitled "Word from Scotland" on various biblical themes, as well as a weekly newspaper column.
His M.A. and B.D. degrees are from The University of Edinburgh, and he continues to run and exercise regularly to maintain a level of physical fitness.
I have been reading of this subject recently, and giving myself to serious study of what is meant when the Bible speaks of joy.
It is the Holy Spirit who encourages the presence and growth of JOY. We read of this in Paul's powerful letter to the disciples of Jesus in Galatia. You will find the fruit of the Holy Spirit described in Galatians Chapter 5 and verses 22 and 23.
There is one fruit but it has nine segments and the picture of an orange with it various segments may be helpful. We read of love and joy and peace and then another six qualities or characteristics.
JOY is very different from happiness which might spring from pleasure.
Happiness - by the very word - depends upon what happens - upon what is going on around us.
Joy depends upon Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Happiness can evaporate within a few hours or days, but when Jesus Christ grows fruit through the Holy Spirit, it remains.
Joy is a by-product of love - it follows love.
If a man concentrates on finding JOY it will elude him. He will miss it.
Things and people come and go - as do pleasures. What lasts is Faith, Hope, and Love.
The source of JOY is our relationship with the Holy Spirit.
As we keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit, JOY will be present in some measure. These are not natural attributes. We cannot manufacture them.
In Psalm 43 - turn there - the Psalmist is going through what we would call a bad spell.
He felt rejected by God, in one sense, and that must be terrible. I know nothing of that type of harrowing experience.
Jesus says, "I am with you always" - even when we may not want Him to be with us!
Can you imagine anyone saying this - "Now Jesus - you just wait out here - I am going in there to enjoy myself."
Interesting word that, isn't it - 'enjoy myself'! If we ever wanted to say that to Jesus
His reply is - Sorry, I have promised to be with you always - when you so need me - and also when you think you don't want me or need me!
The Psalmist felt rejected. He was being attacked. He was mourning as his enemies attacked him. Things were not looking too bright for God's Chosen Anointed King.
How did he get out of what we might wish to call depression? He went to God - to the place of Worship - to God my JOY. Check it out in Psalm 43. It is always good to read the Word of God and check it out for yourself - and Almighty God invariably has a blessing for those who read His Holy Word.
If you have any questions about this, please do feel free to contact me through the excellent facilities available to us on this website and if I can answer your question I will and if I cannot answer your question, I will say so. Ask and you will receive and seek and you will find and knock at that locked door and the door will be opened.
Our loving gracious generous God wants to meet our various needs and satisfy us and he wants us to grow some real deep lasting joy so that we may share this joy with others who may be very down and sore and sad and rejected and isolated.
Jesus gives us gifts and fruit for a reason and a purpose.
Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children's Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.
He broadcasts regularly on WSHO radio out of New Orleans, and writes a weekly commentary at http://www.studylight.org entitled "Word from Scotland" on various biblical themes, as well as a weekly newspaper column.
His M.A. and B.D. degrees are from The University of Edinburgh, and he continues to run and exercise regularly to maintain a level of physical fitness.
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