The Fullness of JOY

I love Margaret Feinberg’s insight about Jesus and Joy in her Women’s Bible Study entitled Fight Back With Joy.  After quoting the angels’ proclamation at Jesus’ birth in Luke 2:10 (NIV) “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people,” and Jesus’ promise spoken to His disciples before His ascension in  John 15:11 (NASB) “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full,” she says, “Jesus arrives in joy, departs in joy, and calls us to great joy through unbroken fellowship with Him. The gospel is an invitation to experience more of God’s joy in our lives – not just when we get to heaven, but beginning here, now, today.”

There was a time in my life when I thought I had lost my joy. I was desperately searching for it but could not figure out where to find it and how to get it back. I was doing everything I possibly could to be the good Christian woman I knew God wanted and expected me to be. I was serving in full-time ministry, tithing, witnessing to others, involved in worship ministry, reading God’s Word regularly, praying multiple times throughout each day, and yet I had no joy in my walk. I was plagued by a critical spirit which I knew displeased God, and thus, I saw myself as a disappointment to God.

I have heard so many women grieve what they believe is a loss of joy in their lives. In part, this misconception is due to many thinking that joy is an emotion. In fact, joy is the fruit of The Spirit (Galatians 5:22). It is the manifestation of Christ’s life being lived through a believer. It is God’s will, as we can see from the scriptures quoted above, that we experience joy. 2 Peter 1:3-4 assures us that He has given us everything we need for life and godliness and that we are partakers of His divine nature.  If that is true and His divine nature includes joy, then we have all the joy we need. We haven’t lost anything. If we have received Christ, we are one with Him, and that cannot be undone. (John 17:20-22; Hebrews 13:5; John 10:29). So what is it that hinders us from experiencing the joy that is ours in Him?

Ultimately what hinders joy from being manifest in our lives is our flesh. Flesh is a mindset or condition that we acquired and lived from when we were apart from Christ and had no choice but to live from self-sufficiency. God’s design was for man to be completely dependent on Him but when Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan and chose to disobey God so they could be “like God” and be independent, they were separated from God. This separation forced them to live in self-sufficiency and try to get their needs met, protect themselves and make life work apart from God. This way of living ultimately brings conflict and frustration.

Sadly, even after receiving Christ who is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control - all that we need for life and godliness - most of us still choose to live independently of Him and in dependence on self. As a result, we miss out on much of what He came to give us. The solution is simple.

Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world [and live in self-sufficiency –my addition], but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” What did we say God’s will for us was? That His joy would be in us and our joy would be made full. We simply need to renew our minds according to the truth that Joy lives within us and we have all the Joy that we need. It’s about being aware of His Presence in us and all around us. It’s about transforming our minds according to the true nature of our God and seeing Him as a God who IS LOVE (1 John 4:8) and wants only the best for us, a God who is for us and not against us (Romans 8), a God who is able and wants to meet our EVERY need (2 Corinthians 9:8, Philippians 4:19), a God who delights in us and rejoices over us (Zephaniah 3:17). Sisters, join me in exchanging your self-sufficient life for Christ’s all-sufficient life. Declare with me Psalm 16:11:

“You [God] will make known to me the path of LIFE; 

In Your presence is the FULLNESS OF JOY; 

In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”

Dear ones, if you are in Christ, you are never apart from His presence.  Enjoy the Fullness of JOY!

 Feinberg, Margaret, Fight Back with Joy, Lifeway Press, 2014 p. 20.