Your Joy ...

Monday, April 27, 2015. Let us talk about some particular topic which is important for every Christian - as soon as he or she has started to live with the Lord. Let us talk about joy! The bible promises joy to the believer. It promises a joy which comes from deep within. It is a joy which comes from the salvation, which the Lord gives to us …

Where does the joy come from? …

It is a joy which is a joy of the Lord himself. He is full of joy. This joy is nothing which you could capture by reason. It is not something we could reach by arguments. It is just there, in him and with him. And it can be proclaimed. It can be believed. it can be experienced - as a side effect of discipleship!

His joy can be experienced. When I came to faith, I found this joy. It was fantastic. I realized that God accepts me, and that I do not have to bring anything to earn this acceptance. I even cannot bring anything to get it. It is given for free. This freedom, to be given full acceptance for free, is a wonderful experience. And a wave of joy reached me when this happened. I could sit and laugh. I could sit and be glad. Just freely, without further reasons. Just because his salvation reached me!

But I have also realized that times can be hard, that Christians do not always feel this joy very prominently. There are plenty of challenges to us. There is plenty of pain in the life of every being. Joy needs to be found, it needs to be given space, again and again. I believe that God wants us to grow in his presence. And that growing into his joy in the presence of challenges is part of this story, the fantastic adventure of discipleship. Let us listen to Psalm 84, talking about this joy.

Joy and a Home …

1 To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! 2 My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. 3 Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. 4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. (Psalm 84, 1-5)

The joy of the Lord is coming from HIS strength. It is not our strength or our position or our ability which drives it. We have a home with him. He is our home. And in his house we will be glad and full of joy. That is already a reality today - you enter his house by faith and through Christ Jesus.

How do you get there? It is about faith. It is about trusting him, that he holds me, at this very moment, and every hour today and tomorrow. You enter his kingdom by faith - give it a try, it is worth it. When you let go and trust him, when you open your heart, you will find him. He promised it. And he shows it day by day to people who search him.

It might be good to do this explicitly. I have gone through it many times now - just yesterday I had a strong challenge, it was like a wave of frustration flooding me. This morning it looks as if the wave calms down, and the joy of having him is taking over again. He will guide me - let us see what the day brings. I am looking forward to it, because it is his day, and nothing else . (RWEP) ... more texts