Today, Thanksgiving, I contemplated that for which I am most grateful. The answer came easily. God has blessed me and given me many things for which to be thankful – my family, my church, my friends, my home and so much more. But what I value most, what I am most grateful for, and what I find the most joy in, is the relationship I have with my God. I thought of the following verse:
Psalm 16:11
You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
When I come before God in prayer, praising and thanking Him for who He is, God blesses me by filling my heart with the joy of Him: the joy of knowing and loving and trusting Him and of being known and loved by Him. God draws me deeper and deeper into relationship with Him and blesses me with the experience of His presence and His love and, through His Word and with the enabling of the Holy Spirit, gives me a greater awareness and understanding of His goodness and majesty and faithfulness and care.
While I think this is too big a topic to address in one post, and I do have turkey waiting for me, I will give you some of my thoughts related to it.
Undeserved Grace
There is nothing special about me, no righteousness of my own, nothing that I have done to deserve the blessings that God pours all over me. It’s all grace. Jesus suffered and died for me, then rose from the dead, so that to anyone who chooses to believe in Him and turns away from their sin, He gives eternal life. Because of Jesus, I have been adopted as a child of God, and I can come before our Father, accepted and loved.
Command to Be Joyful in God
We are commanded to be glad in the Lord, to rejoice, to delight in the Lord, to shout joyfully, and more. Here are some of the verses that encourage me to find my joy in God.
Psalm 32:11
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones;
And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.
Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of Your heart.
Psalm 100:1-2
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful singing.
Philippians 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.
I find that when I follow the command to be joyful, even when it may be difficult to do so during times of trial, God always brings my heart back to Him. God comforts me during these times and enables me to then to experience and express the joy which He commands.
Choosing Joy
It seems to me that if we are commanded to be joyful, then we must be able to choose joy. All of us have struggles and difficulties in life that may make this sometimes seem impossible. But I strongly believe that when we choose to obey God, pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit for help and strength, God will enable us to obey His commands. So, with God’s enabling, how do I choose joy?
This is, once more, not only a question deserving many posts, but also a question much bigger than me. I will humbly give you a list of what helps me. It is not meant to be all inclusive.
- Take my eyes off myself and keep them on Christ.
- Begin each day in God’s Word and in prayer.
- Dwell on who God is and what Jesus has done for me.
- When I become depressed or self-focused, or when my focus is on negative thoughts, pray that God will change my perspective and thinking.
- Be grateful and express that to God.
- Remember God’s faithfulness to me.
- Spend time worship, prayer, and fellowship with other believers.
- Obey God.
- Forgive as God has forgiven me.
- Pray for God to reveal my sins to me, and, when sin is revealed, respond quickly asking forgiveness and making possible amends with anyone I’ve offended.
Joy in Trials and Suffering
My joy does not come from my circumstances in life. It comes from God and my relationship with Him. God is always with me; His Holy Spirit dwells within me. I can abide in Jesus and find rest in Him. Not only that, the Bible tells that we can have joy in our trials and suffering. Here are just a few verses:
Habakkuk 3:17-18
Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
Romans 5:3-5
And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
James 1:2-4
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Joyful Equation
You may not know this about me. I am a math and science nerd, and I can find joy in both. I am a bit rusty in calculus having taken my college classes in the 70’s, so at dinner one evening maybe 8 or 9 years ago, I asked my son to help me with an equation for the total joy we will experience. Since our total suffering compared to joy will be insignificant, that term in the equation can drop out. Here’s our equation:
Finding Joy in God’s Presence
As I have (slowly) learned to depend more on God, my prayer life has changed. God has enabled me to recognize and experience more of His love and has grown my heart to love Him more and more.
I am astonished when I ponder that the Lord God Almighty, Creator of all things, Sovereign and all-powerful ruler of the universe, who said the Word, and there was light, welcomes me to become before Him in prayer. I matter to God. He loves me and cares about my hurts and concerns and needs. And I am welcomed before His throne of grace because of Jesus and what Jesus did for me – did for all of us. I am humbled and honored that this is so. And it is really quite incredible. So I do bring my needs before the Father, but first I bring my praise.
As I praise God, I become aware of His presence, and my heart is filled with joy. Experiencing God’s presence is not something I do or can make happen. It’s what God does for me, another undeserved blessing of grace. But there is nothing more wonderful, no one I would rather be with, and no place I’d rather be than in the presence of my Father God in prayer.
Joy Inexpressible
Sometimes, when I read God’s word, I come across a verse or passage that seems brand new. I read the Bible regularly, and there have been a few years in which I have read the entire Bible. So I know I have read these verses, but God makes them new. Just as God’s presence fills me with joy, His Word, which is alive and active, does also.
This morning, as I was reading 1 Peter 1:3-9, I again had the experience that what I was reading was brand new to. The following verse stood out to me in a new way:
1 Peter 1:8
and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
I haven't studied this verse, and I can't tell you about verb tenses or the original words in Greek. But part of what I love about this verse is that I experience it- although I know it would be true whether I experienced it or not. I really do rejoice in the hope I have because of Jesus. And because of God's grace, I love God more than I was ever thought I was capable of loving. God fills my heart and soul with awe of Him and His love. And could it be that the joy that I experience honors and glorifies God? I think this verse suggests that.
Experiencing the Fullness of Joy
Back to Psalm 16:11. Although I know I experience joy that is wonderful and profound, I am uncertain if indeed the joy I experience is what the Bible refers to as “fullness of joy” such as we read in this psalm. John Piper suggests three possibilities for what this term might mean in practically. (Please note citation at the end of this post.) I given these three possibilities below:
- “We can be said to have fullness of joy in God if our joy in God is so full that it outweighs all other competing emotions and overflows in love to others… In other words, the joy in God — not in freedom from affliction, not in freedom from poverty — (the Macedonians’s) joy in God was so full, it outweighed affliction. It outweighed poverty. And it overflowed in generosity. That is a real fullness, even if there was pain and sorrow along the way.”
- “We can be said to have fullness of joy in God if our joy in God is so full that we know we have arrived at the end of our quest for satisfaction. In other words, there may be ups and downs in our level of satisfaction owing to sin or pain, but we never need to be in doubt that Christ is the end of our search. We will never leave this fountain to find a more satisfying one. Here is fullness. He is fullness.”
- “Finally, we can be said to have fullness of joy in God if our joy in God is so full that it rises to the heights of overflowing gladness in song or other forms of exuberance.”
I can relate to and have experienced each of these. Perhaps then it is accurate for me to say I experience fullness of joy.
Loving and Enjoying God
God delights me. He is my soul’s satisfaction and my heart’s delight. I love God with all that I am and I am so very grateful that He enables me to do so. Loving and enjoying are interconnected. I find joy in loving God. I love enjoying God. God is so very good, so very kind and caring to me. My response is to want to know and love Him more, obey Him always, serve Him better, and find my joy in Him.
Prayer
Dearest Father God,
Thank you for the great honor and privilege of prayer. And thank You for your presence with us in a special way when we please.
Please fill us with Your Holy Spirit to enable us to experience fullness of joy in Your presence. Fill us with gratitude with who You are and all You do. Please help us to love You more and more, and help us find our satisfaction in You.
Thank You for Your love and Your care and compassion. Thank you for how you provide for us and our families. Thank You for the joy You fill us with.
It’s in Your Son’s, Jesus’, name we pray.
With all my love,
Your daughter,
Joy
Piper, John. “ What Is ‘Fullness of Joy’ and Do I Have It?” desiringGod.Org, 9 Nov. 2016, www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-is-fullness-of-joy-and-do-i-have-it.
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