Joy

Psalm 33
1 Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him

Psalm 86:4
4 Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

Psalm 100:2

2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.



I am starting off with 3 Psalm quotes to make a very clear point. There is only one emotion that really gets our feeling of our relationship with the Lord across. JOY. When we offer thanks, and praise it is with Joy, when we pray we ask for the Joy that we feel from knowing God better. Joy is the summation of our feeling in the Lord, and it is a good word to express the feeling the Lord feels when we joyfully offer him praise. Nehemiah 8:10 reads : …… Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

I bring joy to the forefront because that is what we are here for. We always hear how people just want to be happy. If they just had, or if they only could….yet that joy is never attained. People are always left wanting. The reason for that is we are looking for Joy in the wrong places. Our Joy starts with the Lord, and flows from there.

The Lord does not ask much from us, he really doesn’t. However through out the bible he is pretty clear that he wants us to worship him and only him, it is the one thing that brings him joy. Here again, that is why we are here Not some other God, not fat bank account, not a new house. We should be seeking joy form the Lord it is a mutually joyful experience! The closer we draw to him, the more he will find joy in us, and pour out his grace and love on to us.

Think about that just for a second. What if life could be that easy? I will tell you it can be just that simple! What if we were to start seeking joy, by drawing closer to God, by reading his word, by modeling our life after Christ’s. What if we spent more time looking for the Lord and less time looking for the next get rich quick scam? The Lord wants us to be happy, he wants to see us full of Joy. He delights in it! The gift is right there, well within our reach. The lord did not set the bar high, He made the ultimate sacrifice so this joy could be available for everyone that wants it. Joy is yours for the taking, but you have to start looking for it at it’s true beginning, and that is in the Lord.

Peace,
Rev. Thetford