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Joy comes in the Morning!
Psalms 30:5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life: weeping may
endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
The dictionary defines joy as , "great delight or happiness, the expression of glad
feeling and festive gaiety." Likewise the related word "rejoice" is defined as "to make
joyful."
I believe that the biblical sense of joy goes far beyond gaiety and emotion.
Obviously we can't be on an emotional high constantly. Yet we see the examples of
those who counted it joy to suffer, to be persecuted and to be scattered because of
their faith in Jesus.
Joy is a fruit of the Holy Ghost. Joy does not depend on circumstance
or the emotion of the moment. Joy depends on our faith. When we have
a deep abiding trust in the Lord, we will have joy even in the most severe circumstances.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
We joy in knowing that Jesus purchased our salvation.
Luke 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings
of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ
the Lord.
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We have Joy in Relationship!
Our main joy is in having a relationship with the God of our salvation. We rejoice
because of what he did for us by shedding His blood at Calvary. He translated us from
the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. He washed us and cleansed us.
He made us sons and heirs and allowed us to be a partaker of His divine nature.
Isaiah 12:3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Isaiah 51:11 Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto
Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy;
and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
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Joy doesn't depend on money!
Joy does not depend on our bank accounts. I don't have any desire to be poor and God
has blessed me that I am not. However, there are people all over this world who have had
to live in dire poverty, because of their faith. Their property has been confiscated.
They have been denied employment. Their children have been denied education.
They have been imprisoned, beaten and tortured, yet they have persevered, because of
the joy of the Lord. Joy cannot come from material possessions. Some of the very richest
people of this world are the most miserable. Likewise, I have seen the joy of the Lord
expressed in a very vivid way from those who were in dire poverty.
It is often argued that the church must obtain untold millions to spread the gospel.
Yes, it does take money, but God has always been able to promote His own church.
The apostles were said to have, "turned the world upside down," in just a few years.
They preached the Word and God confirmed it!
In the Great Awakening that stirred this country in earlier centuries,
God's presence would come over
whole towns, when men like Whitfield and Wesley came in the area. Sinful men would cry out in repentance when the man of God simply came into their presence.
At the stroke of midnight in 1901, a group of bible school students in Topeka Kansas who had been seeking God in prolonged prayer, had a sudden visitation of His Spirit. A women who was later to be a missionary to China for the Assembly of God began to speak in the Chinese language. She continued to speak in this unknown tongue for three days. Revival began to spread. Just like the early church, they preached the Word and God confirmed it. God's Spirit began to fall and people saw the demonstration of His power. A little later in Los Angeles California the Holy Ghost fell on a group of people who were meeting in a converted horse stable, later to be known as the Azusa Street Mission. People were drawn from all over the world to witness the demonstration of God's power. The story is related of a reporter who came from Iran for the purpose of ridiculing these poor ignorant people who were acting so strangely. His attitude changed when he heard a six year old girl speak in his native language.
These people didn't have money or position, but they did have the joy of the Lord.
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There is Joy in Contentment!
Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content
with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
I Tim.6:6 ¶ But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after,
they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows.
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Joy is an extension of the Lord's presence.
Psalms 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is
fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Habakkuk 3:18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my
salvation.
We rejoice in the Lord in every situation, pleasant or unpleasant because our joy is
our strength.
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: [and] again I say, Rejoice.
Nehemiah 8:10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat,
and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared:
for [this] day [is] holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the
LORD is your strength.
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You can have joy in Trials!
James said that we should have joy in the midst of trial, because trials and
difficulties perfect us in the sight of God.
James 1:2 ¶ My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting
nothing.
We may weep in persecution and yet like Paul and Silas we can have joy.
They were in jail, secure in stocks. At midnight they began to pray and to sing
praise and the prisoners heard them. The foundations of the prison were
shaken by a great earthquake. Being in prison was not pleasant for Paul and Silas,
yet they had the joy of the Lord. Their joy was no doubt greater when after having
spoken the Word of the Lord to the jailer, they were able to baptize him and his
household.
Acts 16:25 ¶ And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God:
and the prisoners heard them.
Likewise , the earlier apostles were filled with joy as a result of suffering
and persecution.
Acts 5:41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were
counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
We may have to suffer, but we rejoice! Jesus said that if they persecuted Him, they
would persecute us.
Matthew 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall
say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so
persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings;
that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
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We Keep Our Joy By Obeying His Word!
Sometimes we lose our joy and weep because of our own willfulness and disobedience.
Jesus said His joy would remain in us, if we obeyed His commandments!
John 15:9 ¶ As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's
commandments, and abide in his love.
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you,
and that your joy might be full.
We weep when we are chastened of God.
Hebrews 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous:
nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them which are exercised thereby.
We weep when we are confronted by His Word and realize of deficiency.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any
twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,
and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents
of the heart.
Sometimes the Word hurts. It confront our ignorance, our willfulness,
our pride, and our sin. If we ever get to the place where God's Word does
not confront and challenge us, something is wrong. We are chastened of God because
we are sons. If we are not chastened, we are not sons.
We weep in affliction. Yet, as Job, we have joy.
He was expressing joy when He spoke of his Redeemer.
Job 19:25 For I know [that] my redeemer liveth, and [that] he shall stand at the
latter [day] upon the earth:
Hebrews tells us that Jesus was made perfect and learned obedience by the things
that he suffered.
Hebrews 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he
suffered;
9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them
that obey him;
I believe that God will use whatever means he must to see us saved. He will see
us perfected. If it takes affliction to accomplish it, we'll have affliction.
Psalms 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
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After the Weeping, Comes the Joy!
We rejoice when we realize what the Word has accomplished in our lives.
We are not perfect yet but we are not what we used to be. We are being changed into
he image of Christ. It is a joy to know that's God's Son has been
revealed in me, and formed in me.
Galatians 1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb,
and called me by his grace,
16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen;
immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
Galatians 4:19 ¶ My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until
Christ be formed in you,
He is Changing Us, From Glory to Glory!
It is a joy to behold the perfection of the Lord and realize that He is doing a work in me.
Peter said we were made partakers of His divine nature. When we look at our Lord who
displayed perfect love, it is a joy to know that He has replaced the strife of my
heart with His love. I behold His many other attributes and it is a joy to know that
I am being conformed and changed into His image.
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory
of the Lord,are changed into the same image from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
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Don't Lose Your Joy, Because You Can't See the End Result!
We sometimes weep as we sow the seed of the Word of God. We get discouraged because we
don't see immediate results. We have labored hard in barren fields.
It's a whole lot different preaching in a jail or a prison than in a revival meeting.
We are like the sower of the seed in the parable. We scatter seed to someone that we
will only see a few times, and often wonder if we've done any good at all. Yes, we weep
as we sow the seed , but we can joy in knowing that God will send someone to water His
seed and will ultimately give the increase. When we get to heaven, our joy will be
full when we see those whom we have helped along the way.
Psalms 126:6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless
come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
1 Corinthians 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth;
but God that giveth the increase.
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Jesus, The Perfect Example
Jesus is our example: His condescension from glory is our ultimate guild.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was
made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above
every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things
in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father.
He did not cling to His prerogatives as God. He: made himself of no reputation,
took upon himself the form of a servant, He humbled himself, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Because of this, God also hath highly exalted him.
His exaltation did not come until after He humbled Himself, neither will ours.
Jesus was heard in strong groaning and crying. He agonized in the garden and was
forsaken of God at the cross. Yet he counted it all joy.
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 is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
We have joy in knowing that we are sons and heirs of God.
Romans 8:17 ¶ And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;
if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
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We Shall Behold Him!
But our ultimate joy will be in seeing Jesus and hearing Him say, :Well done, enter in."
Matthew 25:21
His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast
been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter
thou into the joy of thy lord.
We can take joy in knowing that He is keeping a record. He takes note of something
so simple as giving a glass of water in His name.
An old song says,
It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus.
Life's trials will seem so small when we see Him.
One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrow will erase.
Keep running in the race, till we see Him.
1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:
now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what
we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we
shall see him as he is.
Revelation 7:17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them,
and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes.
Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more
pain: for the former things are passed away.
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Hold On! Joy Comes in the Morning!
It won't be long and we will behold Him, face to face. He will wipe away all tears.
he will abolish pain, suffering and death. We will joy in His presence and He in ours.
Weeping will have lasted only a few short days in this life. Our joy will be
eternal.
The purpose of About-Him.Com is to glorify the Lord Jesus
Christ whom we preach as the Almighty God manifest in the flesh.
It is our desire that everything presented on these pages increases your
faith in our God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Last modified: 08-06-2007
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