The Fruit: Next is Joy

Joy

 

Definition of Joy:

1. the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation
2. a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated.

 

Joy is the second fruit named in the fruit of the Spirit. Remember the fruit of the Spirit is the result of having God’s Spirit inside. All of the fruit of the Spirit were first created by God and are qualities of God. The fruit of the Spirit are also all inter-related. Love will give you joy, joy will give you peace, it takes faith to live in kindness, self-control leads to gentleness. Joy, the second fruit, can only exist because of love, the first fruit.

 

Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

 

God has joy over us, He delights in doing good for us. I love the fact that He rejoices over us with singing. This is a far cry from the angry God we were taught about in the past. Our God loves us and He wants us to have joy in Him. This doesn’t mean that all of our days will be one big party, but it does mean that although we have to go through issues and losses, the joy of the LORD is still our strength. (Neh.8:10). I have been challenged in the area of trying to maintain God’s joy in my life. I guess the only way to  honestly have joy is to trust that there will be a good outcome in all circumstances. I talked to someone recently about having hope. This person felt that hope was an empty concept and that only hard work would improve a person’s life. I really didn’t know how to convey to him that we had to have hope, life has too many variables to depend on your own hard work alone. Hope is just having a positive expectation of good things happening in your life. What I didn’t realize at that time was that hope actually came from God.

 

Romans 15:13 “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

 

God wants us to have joy in Him at all times and He actually provides the way to have this joy by giving us hope. God is to be our source of joy continually.

 

Psalm 16:11 “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

I want to have the sustained and unconditional joy expressed by the prophet Habakkuk. He expresses that even though his livelihood is diminished and he’s even threatened with the possibility of starvation, he would still rejoice in the LORD.

 

Habakkuk 3:17-18 ”Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls-18. Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

 

We can’t have joy or even hope unless we are willing to trust God, that He has His best in mind for us. It takes patience to get to where He wants us to be. Sometimes when I am going through trials, I actually think to myself, “Where is the joy?” According to Scripture joy always seems to be on the other side of something: the other side of pain, the other side of weeping, the other side of waiting. Note the following:

 

Psalm 30:5 “For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.”

 

John 16:20-21 “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. 21. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

 

Even our Lord Jesus had to suffer before coming into the joy of being back in the presence of the Father:

 

Hebrews 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

 

Not only are we expected to maintain joy during trials, looking forward to the other side of the pain, we are also to rejoice: the action of joy. Most of this rejoicing is to be in active praise to God:

 

Psalm 98: 4-6 “ Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth; Bring forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises. Sing to the LORD with the harp, With the harp and the sound of a psalm, 6. With trumpets and the sound of a horn; Shout joyfully before the LORD , the King.”

 

Psalm 100:1-2 “Make a joyful shout to the LORD all you lands! 2. Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.”

 

Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always, Again I will say, rejoice!

 

1 Thessalonians 5:16 “Rejoice always”

 

There was a time in my life when I had no respect for “church people.” I would see them pouring into churches on Sunday mornings, dressed in their fancy clothes, carrying their Bibles and their tambourines, and I would think to myself, “it’s just another kind of “partying.”  Back then that was a negative thought for me, but now it’s a positive thought: “It is another kind of “partying.” It’s rejoicing in praise to a perfect Father in heaven, who loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for my sins and He protects me and provides for me every single day!” Am I perfect? No. Does He love me? Yes. The real “action” of joy for the believer is to join in with other believers in rejoicing and praising God. We are social beings, God made us this way. “Having a good time” for the believer is in rejoicing with others within a group.

The people in the Old Testament had a lot of rules and a lot of days that they had to set aside for worship, but these weren’t to be days of somberness, they were to be days of celebration:

Zechariah 8:19  “Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘The fast of the fourth month,
The fast of the fifth,
The fast of the seventh,
And the fast of the tenth,
Shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts
For the house of Judah.
Therefore love truth and peace.’”

 

 There was a time when David was unable to go to the temple because he was hiding in the desert from his enemies. Just by remembering the times he attended worship sustained him in his time of loneliness.

Psalm 42:4 “When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go with the multitude;
I went with them to the house of God,

With the voice of joy and praise,
With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.”

Sometimes, in the privacy of our own home, feelings of loneliness and feeling overwhelmed by our problems causes us to “forget our joy.” I find that listening to music will lift my mood. The songwriters and musicians have been blessed with the gift of providing a vehicle for restoring joy. Singing, dancing, and clapping my hands even when I’m alone, causes me to remember the presence of God and the joy He has given me. We can enjoy God’s presence while quietly doing a crossword puzzle, taking a walk or working on a craft project. He said He’d never leave us or forsake us. We can have the joy of His presence at any time.

 Day by Day Joy

Not only are we to actively praise God with singing and music, we’re to rejoice in our everyday living, ever thankful for a chance to make a living and having food to eat. King Solomon examined every part of life, and after coming to the conclusion that it was all “vanity,” summed it up in the following verses:

 

Ecclesiastes 3:22 “So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?”

 

Ecclesiastes 5: 18-19 “Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. 19. As for every man God has given riches and wealth and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor-this is the gift of God.

 

Ecclesiastes 8:15 So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.”

 

In the book of Isaiah, even though it was prophesized that Jerusalem would be sacked and the Israelites would be taken into captivity, they were promised that their ordeal would end and that they would be restored:

 

Isaiah 61: 1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tiding to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound. 2. To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3. To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteous, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

Isaiah 61:7 “Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; Everlasting joy shall be theirs.”

 

Isaiah 65:22 “They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands “

 

So, we’ve seen that God wants us to praise Him with joy, He wants us to enjoy the work of our labor, and He’s promised that even after a terrible ordeal we might have to go through, “everlasting joy shall be ours.” In spite of all this, the most important reason to have joy as expressed by Jesus in the New Testament, is that “our names are written in heaven.” In Luke 10, Jesus had sent out seventy ambassadors two by two into the towns he would be visiting. When the seventy workers returned from their assignment, they were all excited about what they were able to accomplish, even demonic spirits were defeated before them. Jesus responded that their joy was misplaced:

 

Luke 10:20 “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Verse 21 goes on to say, “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit…”

 

There is a time to mourn

 

It’s impossible to talk about joy without considering that in life there is a time to mourn. Solomon wrote in the books of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs that appropriate time is to be given to respectfully mourn the loss of life. Note how the Israelites wept for Moses:

 

Deuteronomy 34:8 “And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended.

 

In Ecclesiastes 3:1 King Solomon wrote, “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven. Verse 4 says, “A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance.”

Proverbs 25:20 “Like one who takes away a garment in cold weather, And like vinegar on soda, Is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.”

 

Even Jesus wept (John 11:35) along with the people when he saw the grieving over the death of Lazarus, even though He knew that He would raise Lazarus from the dead.

 

Romans 12:15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”

 

Jesus wept along with the people who wept for Lazarus. We grieve when we lose our love ones and we express our sympathy when we hear of the loss of life of others. The Bible tells us that yes, we suffer grief, we share sympathy and we mourn the loss of life, we are not to become overwhelmed with sorrow as though we have no hope.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

So joy, the second fruit named in the fruit of the Spirit is a quality of God, it was given to us by God, He wants us to praise Him joyfully with music and singing, He wants us to rejoice in the benefits we derive from working, He wants us to rejoice because on the other side of any trial, there is joy, and most of all, He wants us to rejoice because our names are written in heaven. He instructs us to mourn at appropriate times but our underlying state should be a state of joy in Him.

 

 

 

Love Began With God

Love Began With God

We can’t talk about love for each other until we establish that love began with God. It was He who first loved us, giving us the spirit of love. Remember one of the definitions of love describe a oneness or a kinship. God is our Father. He loves us. He loved us from the beginning and He has our best in mind. His plans for us are better than any plans we can think of for ourselves. Sometimes we feel like things just aren’t going our way and we’re saying, “God, where are you?” He is right with us, working all things together for our good. Because He can see the end from the beginning, and we can only see right now, it appears that we’re abandoned. But we are not abandoned. He said He will never leave us nor forsake us. It’s completely possible that we have to learn to trust Him and we’ll never learn to trust Him until it appears that we’re losing the battle. That’s when He will show Himself strong on our behalf. Because He can see the end of the matter, He’ll work it out so that even though it seems hard right now, He’s actually lining up the circumstances so that we’ll have an even greater victory in the end.

 One of my cousins told me that God allows us to go through trouble so that we will become closer to Him. I’m not sure that I agree with that, but I have found that because I need Him so much more now after suffering some financial setbacks, I do find myself talking to Him so much more and for depending on Him to make a way for me. So maybe my cousin has a point.

 Love is the first fruit named in the fruit of the Spirit. Again, because love is the attribute that all the other fruit stem from. We can’t have joy unless we have love. We can’t have peace unless we have love. We certainly can’t have faith unless we have love. This is why the fact that God loves us has to be firmly established in our hearts. I can say, “oh yeah, I know that God loves me” a thousand times a day in my head, but until it’s established on the inside of me, it’s really just saying words. Until I get to the belief deep inside me that God loves me and He is for me, I can’t even begin to have faith. Sure, I know the verse from John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life.” This verse is the proof of God’s love for humanity. I think that yes, if I believe that God sent His Son to die for me and that believing this I can get into heaven, but what about here and now? I need the assurance that God loves me. He cares whether I get a better job. He will provide the money to pay my bills. He will protect me and my family from harm. He will give me the right words to say in a given situation. He will hear my prayers and heal the sick relative or friend I have prayed for. I need to know and really hold on to the belief that God loves me. He will by His power provide for me, keep me well, keep me on the right path in life, and more importantly of all, He has really forgiven my sins and wiped the slate clean on my behalf. Really? All those self-centered ways, all those mean thoughts I’ve had about others? All the conniving underhanded things I’ve done? How I have (and have done lately) told other people’s business? And here’s the worst: I have watched the news or heard bad reports and ingested the negativity and the fear going around in the world. In spite of all this and in spite of what I’ve done and am sometimes still doing, God loves me and He is for me.

The writers of the Old Testament referred to God’s love for us as “His merciful kindness” (Psalm 117:2). Mercy is described as compassionate forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one’s power. It can also be described as forgiveness, benevolence, kindness, clemency, and pardon. 

 Psalm 103:8-10 says, “The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. 9. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. 10. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our sins.”

 Joel 2:13 says, “…Return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.”

At the end of Jonah Chapter 3 (verse 10) God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them (the people of Nineveh) and He did not do it. Chapter 4 begins with Jonah getting angry and explaining just why he didn’t want to go to Nineveh as he was instructed.

 Jonah 4:2: “So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah LORD, was this not what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.”

We, in the present, also receive God’s mercy daily and if that weren’t enough, we also receive God’s grace: the free and unearned favor of God that He gave us when He sent His son to die on the cross to atone for our sins and the provision of His daily blessings. Whereas the Old Testament writers only could describe God’s love by His mercy, we can describe it by His mercy and His grace.