Anxiety is a thief of joy, which is very crucial, vital and important to the believer. Without joy, nothing gets done. The very presence of joy means the absence of anxiety and vice versa. Joy emanates from a thankful heart. Having considered all that God has done, a thankful man will let his joy find expression. Several times you meet people who claim to be joyful, yet they are of a sad countenance. Joy cannot be masked; it is like a volcano, erupting into praise and dances.
Read Isaiah 12:2-6 from your Bible
Without joy, you cannot really benefit from your salvation. If you are gloomy all the time, choosing to focus your attention more on the things God is yet to do, rather than on the things He has done, your salvation will be a miserable experience. If you choose to compare yourself with others, who, perhaps, have made more progress through dubious means, then you cannot make the best use of your salvation experience.
Having been born again, so many things accrue to us – health, peace, prosperity and progress, but you need joy to draw them out of the wells of salvation. Without joy, you cannot receive a revelation, and without revelation you cannot enjoy health or any of the benefits of your redemption.
Think of a man who wishes to prosper financially. He must receive an insight into the law of sowing and reaping. Perhaps, he understands the basic principle of tithing, but until he has a revelation of giving cheerfully, his returns will be minimal (2 Corinthians 9:7). Full of joy however, he will be able to dig deeper into the things of God and receive outstanding revelations.
No one who murmurs, complains and spends time accusing God, can have access to the mysteries of His Kingdom. Joy is actually judging God faithful at all times.
Joy, however, must be expressed in our speech. A joyful man cannot help but say “Praise the Lord, for He is good.” He may look weird, but he possesses in his hand a masterkey. Even when challenges stare you in the face, joy emanating from a trust in the Lord begins to find expression in your speech and in your singing.
Williams I. Rowley, in his book, Nothing to Hide, describes joy as being a gift from God. He describes it as “A sense of contentment that comes from deep within the soul.” Whereas, happiness is often related to external events, joy begins on the inside and moves to the outside. You don’t earn it. You can only receive it, for it is placed in your heart.
Explaining further, Dr. Rowley points out that “Joy is not a function of possessions, but of one’s quiet contentment and acceptance of life in Jesus.”
Job was attacked by the enemy, the devil. On the same day he received one shocking news report after the other, each one aimed at stealing his joy and injecting anxiety into him. Many people would have thrown up their hands in despair and probably run insane. Just the thought of all his earthly possessions lost could have destroyed Job’s confidence in God. As if that was not enough, he lost his family and health as well, all in one day.
But rather than accuse God, Job turned to the Lord. He lifted up his eyes to the Helper of the helpless, the Hope of the hopeless — Jehovah God. No wonder, at the end of his ‘trial’, God gave him more than he had initially (Job 42:12-16).
Shalom!
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