“He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.” (Job 33:26)
The Bible tells us that the righteousness of God also brings joy.
The Word of God tells us that we have no righteousness of our own, but that when we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, God transfers His righteousness unto us.
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isa. 64:6)
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2Cor. 5:21)
To understand this and really believe it can also release the fullness of joy in our lives.
To really believe that no matter what mistakes or bad decisions we make can change the fact that we are righteous in the eyes of God, and that nothing we could ever do can stop God from loving us should make us realize that we are always in the presence of God and able to have fullness of joy.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Rom. 8:35)
“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Rom. 8:37)
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:38-39)
When we genuinely believe that we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ and that nothing can separate us from the love of God, then we can be secure in the fact that God will do whatever is necessary to keep us, protect us, and provide for us.
“For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” (Deu. 4:24)
“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)
“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32)
This also includes His correcting us when we err and begin walking a path that leads away from Him.
“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” (Heb. 12:6)
He chastens us with His Word and scourges us with the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. It is only because He loves us so that He goes to such great lengths to keep us from departing from His presence.
This security we have in His love and righteousness also provides for the fullness of His joy.
“But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.” (Psalm 5:11)
“To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!” (Psalm 21:1)
“Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” (Isa. 12:3)
The manifested presence of God and the fullness of His joy are found in doing the will of God.
That wonderful joy that we first felt when we accepted Christ and were born again, the exhilaration we experienced when we realized that all of our sins had been forgiven and we were saved, and the rhapsody that filled our hearts when our names were penned in the Lamb’s Book of Life were all created in us because we obeyed the Lord.
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;” (Acts 3:19)
“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:17)
The glorious joy that we experienced when we were first filled with the Holy Ghost and spoke with other tongues was because we were obedient and obeyed the Lord.
“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38)
Ever since then, every time that we have experienced that momentary fullness of joy has been a direct result of our obedience to Christ and His Word.
There have been times that we were glad when our prayers got answered.
There have been times that we were relieved when God’s deliverance came just at the right time at the last moment.
But the times that we experienced real fullness of joy were those times that we obeyed the Lord and experienced the results of that obedience.
Perhaps it was the time that we experienced victory after finally yielding to the sweet conviction of the Holy Spirit and putting away a particular sin, habit, or weight that was hindering our walk with Christ.
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” (Heb. 12:1)
Perhaps it was experiencing God’s faithfulness as we answered the gentle call of the Holy Spirit to be a vessel for His glory and we preached, shared, or taught the Word of God and saw lives changed by His power.
“For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.” (Mat. 10:20)
“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isa. 55:11)
“Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.” (Psalm 18:35)
Or perhaps it was the joy we felt when we shared our testimony and the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ with someone and they accepted Christ because of it and were saved.
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Rev. 12:11)
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” (Prov. 11:30)
Whatever the case, obedience to God and His Word results in God’s miraculous fulfillment, the manifested presence of God, and the fullness of the joy of the Lord.
Being determined to live our lives continuously in obedience to the Will and Word of God will open the floodgates to the fullness of joy that already resides in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
Continuing in daily obedience begets continuance in daily fullness of joy that will abide and never leave.
There is no special way to pray, no verse to memorize, no Scripture to quote repeatedly that will miraculously manifest the joy of the Lord and its fullness in our lives.
There is, however, faith and godly works.
Faith that comes by hearing the Word of God and obedience to fulfill His Word that we hear.
Throughout these few posts we have looked at Scriptures that explain what the “joy of the Lord” is.
We have seen that joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit and that if we have been born again the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us.
His peace, His faith, His joy and all the fruit of the Spirit flows inside of us like a river.
However, for various reasons we lose access to that flow and the manifested “fullness of joy” ceases to be present in our daily lives.
We have seen that the devil wants to keep us without joy and without strength, and we have seen what the Bible says we must do to behold the manifested presence of God and the fullness of joy in our lives.
We have seen that if we have faith in God’s Word and we are obedient to do the things that He has called us to do, then we will behold God’s presence as He brings His will to pass and we will experience the fullness of joy that accompanies His presence.
We will spiritually live our lives daily in Christ, at the right hand of God, being conscience of His presence and filled to the overflowing with His joy.
“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Psalm 16:11)
Tomorrow– Communion (Friendship) with God
“How to Walk in the Joy of the Lord” by Raymond Candy is available for $2.99 at bn.com for the Nook, amazon.com for the Kindle, at the iBookstore on iTunes for the iPad, and Lulu.com for the PC and all e-reading devices
As Seen Through the Eyes of Faith 