The word joy is found throughout the Old Testament. There are several Hebrew words for joy. Meanings range from gladness, happiness and joy to mirth, rejoicing, singing, shouting and dancing. In the Greek of the New Testament the words for joy encompass the sense of cheerfulness, gladness and of having greet joyfulness.

God wants our joy to be full: “Hitherto have ye asked me nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24; KJV). Nehemiah tells us that: “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh 8:10).

Things in our daily life may cause us joy but our true joy comes from God (Ps 16:11); in fact, as Christians, we can enter into God’s joy (Ps 51:12; 1 Peter 1:8; Matt 25:21).

This joy is founded in knowing who we are in Christ (2 Cor 5:21), our security in him (Heb 13:5), what we have in him (2 Cor 5:17), his love (Eph 3:19). “In thy presence is fullness of joy” (Ps 16:11).

Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22). As we spend time with God, in his word and in prayer, drawing close to him and surrendering to him, the Holy Spirit works in us to bring this joy. No one can take our joy from us (John 16:22), unless we allow them to. This joy will under gird us in trials (James 1:2). Jesus went to the cross for the joy of knowing what his sacrifice would achieve (Heb  12:2).

Spend time with God today and let his joy rise up and overwhelm you.

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“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Cor 10:13; KJV).

The word “temptation “in this verse does involve being tempted to sin but it also includes the broader sense of the tests and trials (pressures, circumstances around us) that come against us every day. So often the devil tries to make people feel that it is only them as individuals that have a particular problem. What’s the matter with me? How come everyone else has no problem with this? But praise God this passage from the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, goes on to show us that all our tests and trials are common to man, in other words we all experience the same tests and trials.

Even more exciting is the last part of the verse where God says he won’t allow the pressure to get beyond what we can bear and he will provide the way of escape. Not any way but the right way, his way. So often we try to dig our way out of situations with our own efforts, or is that only me that does that? In 2 Cor 12:9, God tells us his grace is sufficient for us and when we are weak, he can be strong in our lives. In other words, when we back off and say God, I can’t deal with this, you are going to have to take care of it, he can come in and show us the way.

Be at peace today and be sensitive to his voice: “casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7). He will show you the way and lift you up. Hallelujah, I think I just preached myself happy.

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Have you read Psalm 139 recently? You should, it is so encouraging and brims with God’s love for us. Let’s look at some of what King David wrote for us in this Psalm. God knows us, our thoughts, and our words before we say them; he understands us and all we go through. He knows where we are, we cannot hide from him and he will never leave us or forsake us (Heb 13:5).

He formed us before we were born; we were: “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps 139:14; KJV). God designed a plan for each of our lives. We are his workmanship (Eph 2:10). Workmanship in that verse can be expanded to mean work of art or his poem. Our Father thinks only good for us: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jer 29:11). God desires to hem us in and guide and direct us into all he has for us: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Prov 3:5-6).

We need to still ourselves before God and hear his voice (Ps 46:10) so we can walk in his ways. His ways are perfect and only living the life he has for us will satisfy. We need to stop our strivings in the flesh, cast our cares on him (Peter 5:6-7), draw near to him (James 4:8) and allow his fullness (Eph 3:19) to flow through us. Now that’s abundant life (John 10:10).

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"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life" (Ps 23:6; KJV). These are familiar words to most of us. Goodness in the Hebrew, in this verse, means something good, prosperity or happiness. Mercy refers to God’s great love and grace extended to us.

So, what would goodness and mercy include? I believe it would be all of God's blessings, such as love, forgiveness, guidance, provision, healing, protection and deliverance, to name just a few. The word follow is very interesting, it means to hunt or chase after; so, you could say that God will hunt us down to give us goodness and mercy.

“And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God” (Deut. 28:2).  Yes, you read that correctly, the blessings from God will overtake us.  In the book of Proverbs chapter 10 and verse 6, we read that: "blessings are upon the head of the just" and similarly in the apostle Paul’s letter to the  Ephesians he wrote: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph 1:3).

God obviously wants to bless us so get ready for God's blessings to chase after you today. However, for every promise of God there are always some requirements placed on us, he did say above that we should listen to him and presumably obey (Deut 28:2). We should also walk justly or in a God like manner (Prov 10:6).

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So many who claim to be Christians these days live non-transformed, powerless lives that do not differ much from those of non-Christians (2 Tim 3:5). Why is this? In Acts 1:8 we read that we will receive power when we are baptized in the Holy Spirit. The apostle Peter wrote that in Christ, his power has given us: “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (KJV), access to all his promises and the power to change to be more like Christ (2 Peter 1:3-4).

It is God who works in us to do his will (Phil 2:13). We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Phil 4:13) and God will complete the work of transformation that he began in us (Phil 1:6) at salvation.

The answers to our question as to why so many Christians do not change and grow in their Christian walk is given in our passage above from the apostle Peter’s second epistle. The power to change, grow and receive comes from truly knowing Christ (the word) and his promises and receiving the Holy Spirit to saturate our lives (John 8:32; Acts 1:8).

We know Jesus by pressing into his word and allowing the Holy Spirit to bring us revelation (John 14:26). As we receive revelation of and faith in his word, then the power of God is released to bring change and to allow the word to work in our lives. However, we have to do our part and that is to give God and his word first place (time) in our lives and our days.  I can guarantee you that the results are wonderful. Cozy up to God in his word today and let him envelope you.

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Check out our web site ( www.onthewayinlove.com ) for information on our book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”, including how to purchase it and also to see more encouraging Bible based blogs. Please recommend our book to others.