PROMISE
WORD | JUNE 2022 | JOY OF JESUS
Joh
16:24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive,
that your joy may be full.
Loving
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
Perhaps,
after a gap of two years, the month of June is once again going to mark the
beginning of a new academic year for children.
Due to Covid-19 and its aftermath, the School final exams, this year,
were unusually, during summer vacation. While
some schools have declared a brief vacation, there are others planning to resume
in a fortnight or so. The next few days
are going to be a time of fun and frolic for kids. For parents, however, it is
going to be feverish with fees and financial commitments, topping the list. Joy to the children, jinx to the parents, if
I may say so.
Regardless of what you and your family might be going through this summer, the Promise Word for the month is “Ask, so that your joy could be full”. Hallelujah! BBE translation says, Ask so that your hearts may be full of joy. Jesus longs to give not just joy, but ‘His’ joy. Jesus wants to give not ‘some’ joy, but “full” joy. What did Jesus mean when he said, “Your joy be full”?
Serious about Joy
The Greek term for Joy is Chara (spelt as Khar-ah). It means cheer, cheerfulness, gladness and exceeding joy, joyful, joyous.
Temporal or Timeless
What
is then this Joy of Jesus?
I tell you!
Jesus Christ, in many places, not only expounded the meaning of scriptures, he showed them a better way to understand and to follow. He abridged the commandments of God in one simple statement. Today, we are going to look at three occasions, where Jesus spoke about Joy to discover three types of Joy that we should know and pursue in our lives.
(1)Excellent Joy (Not ours, but others) (Luke 15)
Luk_15:10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in
the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
When the religious sect of Jesus’ time
murmured his camaraderie with sinners, Jesus responded by speaking three
parables. The Parable of the lost Sheep,
the lost Coin and the lost Son. In all
stories Jesus was explaining to them that the heart of the Father God is ever
after lost sinners. Jesus himself said that he came only to save the
sinners. To the dogmatics, who had no revelation about heaven’s perspective, Jesus
said there is great joy in heaven over a sinner who is saved. Jesus was showing to them a picture of
angelic celebration. We all desire to go to heaven, we preach about heaven, and we even pray that God’s will
to be done in earth as it is in heaven.
If that is the case, look at this perspective. Instead of finding ways
and means to secure our own happiness, we must labor for heavenly joy. If our
pursuit is after the lost souls, the Lord will surely fill our hearts with
heavenly joy, or in other words, excellent joy.
(2)Extraordinary
Joy (Not in safety, but in suffering)
(Luke 6)
Luk_6:22-23 Blessed are ye, when
men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and
shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's
sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward
is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.
In his most illustrious discourse, ‘The
Sermon on the Mount’, Jesus spelt out “The Beatitudes”, the outlook of a
blessed Christian life. He lists out
different character traits that needs to be seen in a person to live a happy
life. He says, if we are hated,
isolated, rejected, reproached and even defamed for Christ’s sake, we should
rejoice and not weep. In fact, he
expects us to leap with joy! This may sounds
a bit odd and out of place. But this is
our Lord’s prescription. People may
hurt, abuse, ill-treat, reproach and even hate us to the core for the sake of
Christ. But we should develop a mindset
of taking it all with joy. Even the
brother of Jesus, Apostle James in his
letter encourages, “My brethren,
count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations”. This is not possible without the grace
of God. But we need to ask for it? And our reactive joy is not in response to
what we are facing, but in the knowledge that every beating, every abuse, every
suffering will be rewarded in full measure in heaven! Hallelujah! If our pursuit is reward in
heaven, the Lord will surely fill our hearts with extra-ordinary joy.
(3)Everlasting
Joy (Not in earth, but in heaven) (Mat
25)
Mat_25:23 His lord said unto him,
Well done, 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.
This is one of the Kingdom parables
spoken by the Lord. It speaks of three servants. Two were productive in multiplying the
talents given to them, yet one was lazy and sceptical. Those who were profitable for the master were
rewarded with larger estates to manage. The indifferent one was punished. The underlying lesson that we learn is that
every child of God, be it a believer or a minister, has a gift or a talent given
by God. The Master expected his servants
to not just be faithful, but also be fruitful.
Jesus said, If you abide in me and
I abide in you, you will bear much fruit.
A servant, a child of God who does not waste the time, talent,
resources, and abilities etc., given to him by God and utilizes the same effectively
to bring forth much fruit/profit to God’s Kingdom is granted the privilege to
enter into the joy of the Lord. In one
way, this may mean entering into divine peace, rest and an everlasting joy, after
our race on earth is over, but in another way, this would imply a life in which
we experience the joy of the Lord. Hallelujah! If our pursuit is laboring for
Lord and producing more fruits, the Lord will surely fill our hearts with everlasting
joy.
Kingdom
Joy
Rom 14:17: For
the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy
in the Holy Ghost.
Joy is not just a gift that we get from
our Lord. Joy is part of God’s
Kingdom. Anybody who has received the
gift of salvation and considers himself to be part of God’s Kingdom will
experience this joy. The Bible calls
this ‘Joy in the Holy Ghost’. The joy
that this world gives is based on the happenings and is always momentary. But the joy of the Holy Ghost is a joy that
remains with us at all times. If we have
this joy, no peer pressure, no loss, no defeat, no abuse, no despair, no
deficit will be able to shake us. We
shall not be moved!
However, many of us, even after being Christians
for more than 10, 20 or even 30 years are unable to experience or abide in this
joy. All because of their failure to
live in close communion with God, listen and follow his Word and relish the
fellowship of Holy Ghost.
The reason Jesus could promise to give
his own joy to his disciples is
because of the fact that he had it in abundance. The Bible says that he closely communed with
his father, he lived by the Law and Prophets and He was full of Holy Ghost.
Therefore, Joy of the LORD is not just a
sign but an unquestionable proof that we are in HIM and HE is in us.
Journey
to Joy
Heb 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.
Jesus who promised to
give the ‘fullness of His own joy’ to his disciples, to His own people looked
forward to another joy that would follow the cross. He took the path of cross to attain heavenly
joy. He endured shame to achieve heavenly
joy.
Even in our own lives,
heavenly joy or Joy of Jesus can come to us when we develop a spirit of
endurance, when we disregard the same.
We will not only enjoy heavenly joy, we will enjoy being in the throne
of God.
May the Lord God fill you with excellent
joy, extraordinary joy and everlasting joy.
God bless you,
Yours in Christ,
Vinod Kumar
9840011374
