Joyfulness
The Bible tells us in Nehemiah 8:10 that “the joy of the Lord Yahweh is your
strength”. So then when you are anxious, worrying about things, that is your
weakness. The main reason we should be joyful is because the devil can’t
understand what to do with you; he can’t understand why you don’t get upset at
the situation, and turn away from God. Remember just like he tricked Adam and
Eve into thinking that God was not looking after their best interest. He does the
same things today, trying to get people to think that it is God that is bringing the
hardship on them. But as you rejoice, your faith grows stronger. Remember
James 4:7 says “submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will
flee from you”.
Joy is a positive attitude or pleasant emotion, delight. Many levels of joy are
described, including gladness, contentment and cheerfulness. Joy rises above
circumstances when focused on the very character of God. Paul and Silas were
beaten after Paul had cast the devil out of the girl which was possessed with a
spirit of divination, which brought her masters much money by fortune telling.
Acts 16:22-31 tells how they were beaten with many stripes and cast into the
inner prison, having their feet fastened in the stocks. This situation didn’t look
very joyful, but verse 25 and 26 says “and at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and
sang praises to God; and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a
great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and
immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed”.
When you stand trusting God, He can take what is trying to destroy you, and turn
it around. That’s how Paul and Silas was able to praise God in their darkest hour
and see the out come. Not only were Paul and Silas loosed, but all the prisoners
as well and the jailer who was saved and his family that night.
The psalmist rejoices over God’s salvation (Psalms 21:1, 71:23) “the king shall
joy in Your strength, O Lord Yahweh; and in Your salvation how greatly shall he
rejoice; my lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You; and my soul, which You
have redeemed”. And over God’s righteousness (Ps 71:14-16) “but I will hope
continually, and will yet praise You more and more. My mouth shall show forth
Your righteousness and Your salvation all the day, for I know not the numbers
thereof. I will go in the strength of the Lord God, I will make mention of Your
righteousness, even of You only”. And of God’s faithfulness (Psalms 33:1-6)
“rejoice in the Lord Yahweh, O you righteous, for praise is comely for the upright.
Praise the Lord Yahweh with harp, sing to Him with the psaltery and an instrument
of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise. For the
word of the Lord Yahweh is right; and all His works are done in truth. He loves
righteousness and judgment; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord
Yahweh. By the word of the Lord Yahweh were the heavens made; and all the
host of them by the breath of His mouth”.
God’s character as well as His acts are a cause of rejoicing; knowing that God is
good all the time. The joy required of the righteous person is produced by the
Spirit of God (Galatians 5:22-23) “but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. Meekness, temperance, against such
there is no law”. This kind of joy is district and different from mere happiness.
The Spirit in you produces the joy. Romans 15:13 says “now the God of hope fill
you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the
power of the Holy Spirit”.
Jesus said “these things have I spoken to you that My joy might remain in you,
and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11) and again “these things I have
spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace. In the world you shall have
tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have over come the world” (John 16:33). Joy
like this is possible, even in the midst of sorrows, Paul writes (II Corinthians 6:10,
7:4) “as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having
nothing, and yet possessing all things. Great is my boldness of speech toward
you, great is my glorying of you; I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in
all our tribulation”.
There are many things to be joyful for (Proverbs 17:22) says “a merry heart does
good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones”; so it benefits us to be
joyful. We rejoice in the One who can change any circumstance.
We rejoice because Jesus paid the price for our redemption and we are brought
into the covenant of God (Galatians 3:7,29) says “know you therefore that they
which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. If you be Christ’s, then
are you Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise”. We being a child
of Abraham has the right to stand and demand the devil to loose us from
whatever bondage he tries to put on us. We have a covenant with God, that was
ratified by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
We rejoice because we have been redeemed from the curse of the law. We have
been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (II Corinthians 5:21). We
have been justified (made right with God, just as if we had never sinned). We
have been sanctified, set apart for God (I Corinthians 1:30) “but of Him are you in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption”.
We rejoice because we have been adopted by God, the Bible tells us in John 1:
12 “but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on His name” and in Romans 8:15 which says “for
you have not received, the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received
the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba Father”.
As we meditate on Psalms 23 and Psalms 91 we will get joy unspeakable; and we
must remember that the Bible says the New Testament is made up of new and
better promises.
We rejoice because we have read the end of the book and know that we win,
giving us strength to go through any thing, “looking to the author and finisher of
your faith” (Hebrews 2:2). The problem is that people are trying to accomplish
this in their flesh (Proverbs 3:5-8) says “trust in the Lord Yahweh with all your
heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes, fear (reverence)
the Lord Yahweh and depart from evil. It shall be health to your navel, and
marrow to your bones”. When you lean to your own understanding, you try to
figure it out on your own, and God is not in that.
James gives us two good clues (James 1:2-4) “my brethren, count it all joy when
you fall into divers temptations. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works
patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and
entire, lacking nothing”. The reason he can do this is because he has
confidence that God is able to do all things. Then is verse 5-8 says “if any of you
lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not,
and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that
wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that
man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is
unstable in all his ways”.
In I John 5:14-15 says “and this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we
ask any thing according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him”.
Our job is to find the word on what ever situation is coming your way and meditate
on it, speaking what God says about it and then telling the problem that you have
been redeemed from it, by saying “it is written”, and in the name of Jesus, cast it
out of you life.
Don’t panic, we see in Philippians 4:6-7 says “be anxious for nothing, but in every
thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made know
to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”. We have been adopted into the family
of God, and can ask our Father when we need help. Remember Isaiah 41:10
says “fear you not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God, I will
strengthen you, yea, I will help you, yea, I will uphold you with the right hand of My
righteousness”.
You can live a joyful life when you believe that all things are possible to them that
believe, and focus on what Jesus can do to change any circumstance, and even
if you miss it and take your eyes off of Him and begin to sink, you can cry out and
He will save you, just like He did for Peter (Matthew 14:25-31).
David rehearsed what God had done in his life, he proclaimed that God had
helped him defeat the lion and the bear, and that God would help him defeat
Goliath that uncircumcised Philistine (I Samuel 17:34-37). Paul tells Timothy to
stir up the faith that is within him. We have to stop looking at the problems and
start testifying what God has done in our lives. In Revelation 12:11 it says “and
they overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their
testimony, and loved not their lives to the death”.
Paul tells us “rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice” (Philippians 4:
4). Remember that the joy of the Lord is your strength; and that the devil is
roaming around seeking whom he may devour. Psalms 52 tells us that God shall
destroy the devil and we shall see it; verse 5-7 says “God shall likewise destroy
you for ever, He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place,
and root you out of the land of the living. Selah. The righteous also shall see,
and fear, and shall laugh at him. lo, this is the man that made not God his
strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in
his wickedness”.
Study by: Harriet Bond
Date: November 25, 2008
The Bible tells us in Nehemiah 8:10 that “the joy of the Lord Yahweh is your
strength”. So then when you are anxious, worrying about things, that is your
weakness. The main reason we should be joyful is because the devil can’t
understand what to do with you; he can’t understand why you don’t get upset at
the situation, and turn away from God. Remember just like he tricked Adam and
Eve into thinking that God was not looking after their best interest. He does the
same things today, trying to get people to think that it is God that is bringing the
hardship on them. But as you rejoice, your faith grows stronger. Remember
James 4:7 says “submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will
flee from you”.
Joy is a positive attitude or pleasant emotion, delight. Many levels of joy are
described, including gladness, contentment and cheerfulness. Joy rises above
circumstances when focused on the very character of God. Paul and Silas were
beaten after Paul had cast the devil out of the girl which was possessed with a
spirit of divination, which brought her masters much money by fortune telling.
Acts 16:22-31 tells how they were beaten with many stripes and cast into the
inner prison, having their feet fastened in the stocks. This situation didn’t look
very joyful, but verse 25 and 26 says “and at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and
sang praises to God; and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a
great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and
immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed”.
When you stand trusting God, He can take what is trying to destroy you, and turn
it around. That’s how Paul and Silas was able to praise God in their darkest hour
and see the out come. Not only were Paul and Silas loosed, but all the prisoners
as well and the jailer who was saved and his family that night.
The psalmist rejoices over God’s salvation (Psalms 21:1, 71:23) “the king shall
joy in Your strength, O Lord Yahweh; and in Your salvation how greatly shall he
rejoice; my lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You; and my soul, which You
have redeemed”. And over God’s righteousness (Ps 71:14-16) “but I will hope
continually, and will yet praise You more and more. My mouth shall show forth
Your righteousness and Your salvation all the day, for I know not the numbers
thereof. I will go in the strength of the Lord God, I will make mention of Your
righteousness, even of You only”. And of God’s faithfulness (Psalms 33:1-6)
“rejoice in the Lord Yahweh, O you righteous, for praise is comely for the upright.
Praise the Lord Yahweh with harp, sing to Him with the psaltery and an instrument
of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise. For the
word of the Lord Yahweh is right; and all His works are done in truth. He loves
righteousness and judgment; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord
Yahweh. By the word of the Lord Yahweh were the heavens made; and all the
host of them by the breath of His mouth”.
God’s character as well as His acts are a cause of rejoicing; knowing that God is
good all the time. The joy required of the righteous person is produced by the
Spirit of God (Galatians 5:22-23) “but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. Meekness, temperance, against such
there is no law”. This kind of joy is district and different from mere happiness.
The Spirit in you produces the joy. Romans 15:13 says “now the God of hope fill
you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the
power of the Holy Spirit”.
Jesus said “these things have I spoken to you that My joy might remain in you,
and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11) and again “these things I have
spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace. In the world you shall have
tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have over come the world” (John 16:33). Joy
like this is possible, even in the midst of sorrows, Paul writes (II Corinthians 6:10,
7:4) “as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having
nothing, and yet possessing all things. Great is my boldness of speech toward
you, great is my glorying of you; I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in
all our tribulation”.
There are many things to be joyful for (Proverbs 17:22) says “a merry heart does
good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones”; so it benefits us to be
joyful. We rejoice in the One who can change any circumstance.
We rejoice because Jesus paid the price for our redemption and we are brought
into the covenant of God (Galatians 3:7,29) says “know you therefore that they
which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. If you be Christ’s, then
are you Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise”. We being a child
of Abraham has the right to stand and demand the devil to loose us from
whatever bondage he tries to put on us. We have a covenant with God, that was
ratified by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
We rejoice because we have been redeemed from the curse of the law. We have
been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (II Corinthians 5:21). We
have been justified (made right with God, just as if we had never sinned). We
have been sanctified, set apart for God (I Corinthians 1:30) “but of Him are you in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption”.
We rejoice because we have been adopted by God, the Bible tells us in John 1:
12 “but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on His name” and in Romans 8:15 which says “for
you have not received, the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received
the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba Father”.
As we meditate on Psalms 23 and Psalms 91 we will get joy unspeakable; and we
must remember that the Bible says the New Testament is made up of new and
better promises.
We rejoice because we have read the end of the book and know that we win,
giving us strength to go through any thing, “looking to the author and finisher of
your faith” (Hebrews 2:2). The problem is that people are trying to accomplish
this in their flesh (Proverbs 3:5-8) says “trust in the Lord Yahweh with all your
heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes, fear (reverence)
the Lord Yahweh and depart from evil. It shall be health to your navel, and
marrow to your bones”. When you lean to your own understanding, you try to
figure it out on your own, and God is not in that.
James gives us two good clues (James 1:2-4) “my brethren, count it all joy when
you fall into divers temptations. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works
patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and
entire, lacking nothing”. The reason he can do this is because he has
confidence that God is able to do all things. Then is verse 5-8 says “if any of you
lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not,
and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that
wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that
man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is
unstable in all his ways”.
In I John 5:14-15 says “and this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we
ask any thing according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him”.
Our job is to find the word on what ever situation is coming your way and meditate
on it, speaking what God says about it and then telling the problem that you have
been redeemed from it, by saying “it is written”, and in the name of Jesus, cast it
out of you life.
Don’t panic, we see in Philippians 4:6-7 says “be anxious for nothing, but in every
thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made know
to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”. We have been adopted into the family
of God, and can ask our Father when we need help. Remember Isaiah 41:10
says “fear you not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God, I will
strengthen you, yea, I will help you, yea, I will uphold you with the right hand of My
righteousness”.
You can live a joyful life when you believe that all things are possible to them that
believe, and focus on what Jesus can do to change any circumstance, and even
if you miss it and take your eyes off of Him and begin to sink, you can cry out and
He will save you, just like He did for Peter (Matthew 14:25-31).
David rehearsed what God had done in his life, he proclaimed that God had
helped him defeat the lion and the bear, and that God would help him defeat
Goliath that uncircumcised Philistine (I Samuel 17:34-37). Paul tells Timothy to
stir up the faith that is within him. We have to stop looking at the problems and
start testifying what God has done in our lives. In Revelation 12:11 it says “and
they overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their
testimony, and loved not their lives to the death”.
Paul tells us “rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice” (Philippians 4:
4). Remember that the joy of the Lord is your strength; and that the devil is
roaming around seeking whom he may devour. Psalms 52 tells us that God shall
destroy the devil and we shall see it; verse 5-7 says “God shall likewise destroy
you for ever, He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place,
and root you out of the land of the living. Selah. The righteous also shall see,
and fear, and shall laugh at him. lo, this is the man that made not God his
strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in
his wickedness”.
Study by: Harriet Bond
Date: November 25, 2008
