Joy

Last night, at my women’s small group, a friend brought a problem to the group so she could ask for some wisdom and help in figuring it out. The result was so eye-opening and insightful, I want to share it with you and give credit to these amazing women of God too.

This was the problem: James 1:1-5 says that we should consider it pure joy when we go through various trials because we know that the result of these trials is patience. James then encourages us to allow patience to produce in us everything we need so we lack nothing and then he gives some advice about what to do when you don’t know how to do this – ask for wisdom. So this is the point my friend was at – asking for wisdom.

How on earth, she said, do I count what I am going through as Joy? Instead, I am ready to give up on my situation and I need some understanding of this scripture. At first we had no clue what to say or how to answer, and I knew that I too have struggled to find Joy in the middle of trials but as the sun set outside, the light began to dawn on us inside.

What is Joy? Is it more than just an emotional response to a pleasant occurrence? Is it something more like contentment? When are some of the times when I have experienced pure joy?

My moments of highest Joy have been after I have achieved something amazing – like baptising a friend. For others it was after birthing their first baby. Jesus experienced times of exhilarating Joy like when the seventy disciples arrived back from the mission field with stories of success and overcoming demons. The disciples were elated and so was Jesus (Luke 10:21-22) – not at the fact that demons submitted to them but at the fact that his disciples were discovering profound truths that had previously been hidden and were using this revelation to win souls, to fish for men like He had promised, like He had trained them to do. Yes! The plan was working!

This got me looking into the Bible (when I got home) at Joy – there are different words for Joy in the Bible but the rarest one (agalliao) is saved for the times of most exquisite joy and is often used to describe the joy connected to eternity with God: the Joy of salvation (Acts 16:34, Acts 2:26), the Joy of our eternal inheritance (1 Peter1:6, Matthew 5:12), the joy of believing by faith in Jesus (1 Peter 1:8), the joy of the Saviour’s arrival on earth (Luke 1:47, John 8:56), and finally, the Joy on that day when the marriage of the Lamb has come and the Bride is ready! (Rev 19:7)

But most of all, this type of joy is not just a physical emotion. It is a spiritual one. When Jesus rejoiced over the seventy disciples, He rejoiced ‘In the Spirit’. When a person accepts Jesus and is saved the party is in heaven (Luke 15:7).

But James asks us to consider it Joy when we are in the middle of a trial – in the exact opposite circumstance that would normally, naturally bring us Joy. How can we do such a thing?

When I was in my final year of University, I was having a hard time getting back into study after a year of working with Youth With A Mission. I had experienced life after University and it was so difficult to go back and finish my degree. A friend helped me when she told me to picture myself graduating in a cap and gown, holding my certificate and let that image do its work in me – that image gave me the patience and endurance to continue and complete my studies with the joy that when it was over I would have achieved something amazing.

Again, last year, while Johnny and I were waiting to for God to reveal the next place he was preparing for us and we were struggling to keep the faith through such a long wait, I asked God to give me a glimpse of the future, something to focus my mind on, to hold on to when I couldn’t see hope. And He did. I used the image that came into my mind to focus my thoughts on when the going got tough. I allowed that vision of the end goal to bring me Joy in the toughest times.

How do you think Jesus endured the cross? The Bible tells us that he too kept his mind focussed on the Joy that was before him (Hebrews 12:2). He walked the road to Calvary and endured the cross without giving up or losing heart because He knew that he was accomplishing something that would bring so much Joy to him, his Father, you and me. The thought and knowledge of the Joy to come, brought Joy in the middle of the darkest valley. It worked its power in Jesus and brought endurance and patience so he could finish the great and mighty work he was accomplishing.

So Joy is more than just an emotion after all. In fact it is something quite amazing - it is a spiritual glimpse of something eternal that we get to experience in our here and now.
 

You see, there is Joy coming. If you have your name written in the Book of Life, there is great Joy over you and great Joy coming for you. There is a wedding coming at which you will be standing next to Jesus in perfectly clean, spotless white linen as His Bride (Rev 19:8). There is an eternity prepared for you with no pain or suffering and you are currently being prepared for your place there. In the meantime, you can do two things to help you experience a glimpse of this joy now.

One is to ask God for a vision or a revelation of the Joy that is to come at the end of your trial and fix your mind on it. James sums it up in these words: perfection of your character, completeness, lacking nothing. Three very happy thoughts indeed! The change of perspective will help you see your trial as God sees it – the trial is not the end, He will not leave you there. There is Joy coming in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)

The second is to ask for His Holy Spirit – ask for His Joy to fill you, supernaturally, spiritually, abundantly. Go back to paragraph six, click on the links and read each one of those scriptures and ask God to fill you with Joy as you do. Go on.

The trial will not disappear, but His Joy will give you the patience to endure to the end where salvation is waiting! Yes!