JOY

What is joy?

God's Response
Let the godly rejoice. Let them be glad in God's presence. Let them be filled with joy.
Psalm 63:3

Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.
2 Corinthians 6:10

Our Takeaway
Joy is the celebration of walking in God's presence. It is an inner happiness that lasts despite the circumstances around you because it is based on a relationship with Jesus Christ. If you are a believer, this gives you absolute confidence that God is real, personal, and involved in your life, that evil will one day be defeated forever, and that heaven is a reality. When you have that perspective, you grow in your realization that your happy or sad feelings may go up and down, but the joy God gives runs so deep that nothing can take it away.

God's Promise
Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return. They will enter Jerusalem singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be filled with joy and gladness.
Isaiah 51:11

Big T's Thought to Ponder
Lasting "Joy" can only truly be found in the abounding love of Jesus Christ. It is found in our relationship and it is available to us now, today! It is that intimate relationship we find when we abide in our Savior and allow Him to reveal to us who we are in Him and the Truth about our identity in Christ.

For over Forty-Five years I searched the world for "joy" in every place humanly imaginable - business success, money, houses, cars, boats, jewelry, alcohol, drugs, world travel and the lusts of the flesh and I thought I found joy many times, but it never lasted; it never stood the test of time and was just so temporary - it wasn't joy, it was counterfeit. Looked good on the outside, rotten on the inside - I was deceived by the deceiver.

I have often heard a phrase used in the real estate industry, that real estate is all about - "location - location - location... Our Eternal joy, the joy promised in the victory we all have through the shed blood of Jesus Christ is all about a - "relationship - relationship - relationship!

Joy, eternal pleasures, safety and rest, a delightful inheritance - everything the human heart craves can be found in the Risen Jesus. Do you know that joy? If not, here's how to get it: Ask.

Talk to Him, tell God you want no more of the counterfeit and temporary joy found in the world, but only His Heart; His Spirit; His (Agape),Love. Ask His to stir His passion into you. Do not let the gift of His joy be wasted.
John 15:1-11