October 17, 2009

• Letter 4 on joy (true joy is based on our relationship with God through Jesus Christ)

  I'm continuing to write about assurance and fighting for joy...If you have not already done so, I would recommend you read the previous three letters in this series here, here and here...

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  Dear friend in Christ,

  God has been continuing to remind me that I must continue to rejoice in Him regardless of the circumstances. Let us remember that our rejoicing is in Him! True joy is based on our relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ. That's how we can rejoice in Him always.

  Though I touched on this a little in my last letter, I would like to expand on it some more now...how can I not speak of what He has done for us and exult in Him and exalt Him?

  I so desire that your joy be full, yet how much more does our Lord desire it for you? You know I desire my joy be full as well. I have begun to see how much more He has for us. No, not just for us. For all of His children. (I want to write on that more as well, but I will leave that for another time.)

  I know that God's desire is for us to be filled with all His fullness, so His joy might be in us and our joy might be full. We live far below the abundant life He died to give us. And you know I don't mean this as a superficial joy or merely an emotional experience. I spoke of that a bit in my last letter. Let us continue to trust His Spirit will speak to our hearts of His joy when He so chooses, but in the meantime let us continue to abide in Him and in His Word.

  You know, I was just e-mailing a friend and looked down at my signature line:

  "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life..."

  That's what we need to do constantly, is it not? When we don't go to Him, we get into trouble, we go all wrong. I must mention the Doctor again (Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones). He so often spoke about our needing to gird up the loins of our minds, for that is where the battle is, is it not? In our minds. I wrote about that a bit here (see the section "How we must talk to ourselves"). We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds and so forth.

  Let us never forget that eternal life includes fullness of joy.

  So, my friend, let us now gird up the loins of our minds together now, let us go to Him, to those words of eternal life, so our joy might be full in Him as He desires?

  We know that the apostle Paul tells us to Rejoice in the Lord always. When we're not feeling joyful, when our circumstances are anything but joy-eliciting, that's often the last thing we want to hear, is it not? "Don't worry. Be happy." Yeah, right! Bah! Humbug! When we read or hear those words Rejoice in the Lord always we often feel worse. We've already not been feeling very much like rejoicing and yet here Paul is telling us: Rejoice in the Lord always. His words are to our spirits like salt rubbed into a wound. We've been wounded and here comes a big sprinkle of salt onto the wound: Rejoice in the Lord always. Please! You have got to be kidding me!

  And then, to add insult to injury, Paul repeats the command, just to rub it in some more: again I will say, Rejoice. More salt! Ouch!

  How can we rejoice in the Lord? What does rejoicing in the Lord really mean?

  I've not heard from you for a while, so you may be in a state today where all you can say is, "You don't know what I've been through today, what's happening in my life. I can't rejoice. I've tried."

  Oh, you know that I've been there. I was there recently again. And I suspect I'll be there again. I know I've not lived your life. I know I don't have the same pressures or temptations as you do. Yet let us remember no temptation is such as is common to man...but with the temptation God will provide a way of escape. Are we not all constantly tempted not to rejoice? Life is not that proverbial bowl of cherries, is it? We are all overcome with fatigue and weariness, depression and grief, apathy and lukewarmness.

  But look carefully at Paul's words. What are we to rejoice in? Our circumstances? Our health? Our family? Our friendships? Our possessions? Our career? Our performance? Our prestige? Our ministry?

  No. We are to Rejoice in the Lord.

  The Bible commands us to Rejoice in the Lord. Commands us. Rejoicing in the Lord is not optional for the believer. Rejoicing in the Lord goes beyond our feelings. Even when we're not feeling very much like rejoicing, how can we rejoice in the Lord? And why should we rejoice in the Lord?

  Well, let's consider what happens when we rejoice in anything or anyone but the Lord...

  If we try to rejoice in anything but our Lord, our joy will eventually fade or dissipate. When we rejoice in earthly treasure: earthly relationships, position or possessions, we will always be disappointed. The blessings of God come to us only so we might rejoice in Him. Praise God from whom all blessings flow...

  Therefore, rather than rejoice in earthly blessings, let us rejoice in Him. Let us rejoice in our heavenly blessings: that our names are written in the Lamb's book of Life! Let us rejoice in the sweet fellowship we have with God the Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His indwelling Spirit. Let us rejoice in our sonship, our adoption as children of God. Let us rejoice in the imperishable, undefiled and unfading inheritance He has given us. And remember all of these heavenly treasures come to us not because of anything we have done but as Peter tells us in his first epistle because we are God's elect ... according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood! How can we not rejoice in Him! What kind of God is this who wanted to have fellowship with sinners like us!

  Please turn with me to Isaiah 61 and read there:

  I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
  my soul shall exult in my God,
  for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
  he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
  as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
  and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
  Isaiah 61:10.

  Look at what's going on there. Rejoicing in the Lord. Exulting in His God.

  O, my friend, when we are downcast and discouraged, when we have lost our sense of bearing, when we are unable to rejoice, very often it is because we have forgotten the gloriousness of our salvation in Jesus Christ. That's why there are so many commands for us to remember throughout Scripture. Forget His benefits! On just about any page of Scripture you will see the mercy and grace of God to His people, even amidst those proclamations of woe in the Old Testament prophets. You'll find those glimmers of grace shining there. Look and live! Go to Him. He has the words of eternal life...eternal life includes knowing Him and the joy He has come to give us. See what God has done for us! How can we not rejoice? God did it not because we deserved it, nor because we earned it. He did it only because He chose us, He chose to set His love on us. He did it because He wanted to show mercy and grace to you and have fellowship with you to the praise of His glorious grace! Wanted to! And it brings Him glory! Does that not blow your mind wide open? The God who is holy, holy, holy made a way for us to have fellowship with Him, for us to call Him "Daddy."

  Look at the garments of salvation!
  Look at the robe of righteousness!
  Look at the headdress!
  Look at the jewels!

  Look at the righteousness of Christ with which God has clothed you and rejoice!

  Does it make any sense for us not to rejoice in Him if we truly know Him? How can we say we truly know Him if we aren't rejoicing in Him? Has He not put a song of praise to Him in our mouths the day He birthed us into His family?

  As children of God, clothed with Christ, no longer under condemnation, given such a full and free salvation and sweet fellowship with Him, how can we not rejoice in such a great God?

  God's joy is not based on our feelings or on any earthly relationship or on anything we have attained in this life. When we are unable to be joyful it is because we have stopped considering how great a salvation God has lavished on us in and through His Son Jesus Christ. Remember Satan is prowling and wanting to steal that joy from us as I wrote about in my previous letter. O, let us not lose sight of God and His great love, mercy and grace for us in Jesus Christ. We stop rejoicing when we forget the love relationship our Father has established with us through His Son – how we love Him because He first loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice to die for us.

  When we turn our minds to these things, how can we not rejoice?

  Then turn forward one more chapter in your Bible to Isaiah 62 and read once more of God's great love for you in Jesus Christ:

  4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
  and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,
  but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
  and your land Married;
  for the LORD delights in you,
  and your land shall be married.
  5 For as a young man marries a young woman,
  so shall your sons marry you,
  and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
  so shall your God rejoice over you.

  Have you forgotten what He has done for you? May we not ever do so! Read the words, observe the language there: the passion, the intimacy, the love, the joy there! O, that we might come to know Him in the way He already knows us! Also, read the Song of Solomon if you've not done so lately. Read of the Lover of our souls!

  When we think of joy, we often think of Jesus' words to us that our joy might be full (John 15:11), but let's look further into that. Look at all of John 15:11: Jesus' desire is that His joy might remain in us, and our joy might be full. In John 17:13 He also speaks of His joy being fulfilled in us (John 15:11, 17:13). His joy. If we don't have His joy our joy won't be full because we have no true joy apart from knowing Him. He alone is the only true and lasting source of joy.

  Let's never forget this (and I can't say it enough because I need to hear it myself!): true joy isn't based on our feelings. Our feelings will vary from day to day, even from moment to moment. The weather will change – our feelings will change. An e-mail or phone call comes – our feelings will change. An event happens at home or in the workplace – our feelings will change. True and lasting joy is based on our eternal relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ. Great is His faithfulness. There is no shadow of turning with Him! All else that we look to in this life apart from Him will fail; it is like the morning dew but His faithfulness is like the rock for He is the Rock. We can have fullness of joy because we are filled with His Spirit. Yes, these things are a mystery and are difficult to write about, but let us continue to read His words to us and ponder them as much as we can and then only sit in awe at His feet and render praise to our Redeemer. Like Whitefield, we cannot understand it but only adore! Adore Him! Rejoice in Him!

  Do not forget the simple but sublime truth of John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." We have eternal life. We have a relationship with the living God. When we consider who we are in Christ, when we consider we are adopted sons and daughters of the living God, do we not have every reason to rejoice? Even when all our earthly pleasures and prizes are stripped away, even when moth and rust have done a number on possessions, position and friendships––for those of us who are in Christ, our relationship with our Father in heaven remains and it will endure forever and ever because Christ is the anchor for our souls (see Hebrews 6-10). We have the pearl of great price and an everlasting inheritance; no one can take those away from us. We have the Friend who sticks closer than a brother; we have the Friend who receives us when even mother and father forsake us (Proverbs 18:24; Psalm 27:10). More accurately, our Father has chosen us and the Friend has taken hold of us and we have been sealed with the Spirit. God is keeping us and guarding us until the Day of Redemption! Glory!

  Years ago when I was in a very dark place, someone in our small group simply said something like, "Jesus loves you." I wrote about that here. It was after hearing those words that I began to sense God restoring the joy of my salvation. "Jesus loves you." Our joy comes from knowing that cardinal truth: Jesus loves us, Jesus loved us so much that He has died for our sins. If we can say "Jesus loves me," are we not rejoicing in Him? We so need to remind one another of these things! We need to lift up drooping hands and strengthen weak knees, and make straight paths for our feet. We need one another, do we not, so we can run the race together with joy? Our hands will droop, our knees will weaken, we will meet with crooked paths. Isn't that an encouragement right there? God knows we will be discouraged. But He has given us His Spirit and His Word as well as one another to be an encouragement to us so we might be filled with His joy.

  Jesus tells us the joy He gives can never be taken away from us (John 16:22b). When we know God's love for us in Jesus Christ, that is true joy: a joy that comes from knowing God's love for us endures forever. It's not a counterfeit joy. There are plenty of joys out there masquerading as the path to true joy, but they only end in heartache. Joy in Christ is a joy that knows that we have been accepted in the Beloved and we stand in the presence of God along with Jesus and He is not ashamed of us. We can rejoice that we have a God in heaven who loves us for Christ's sake even though we deserve condemnation, a God who passes over our sins because Jesus became sin for us and bore them for us on the cross.

  On those days when we don't feel like rejoicing (perhaps this is one of those days, dear friend?), will you ask His Holy Spirit to reveal how great His love for you is in Jesus Christ? He has given us the Spirit to lead us into all truth. Part of that truth is our being firmly assured of our position as children of God. If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall bring any charge against us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Please read that final section of Romans 8, no, no I must include it here because it is so wonderful – because He is so wonderful! Read it, read His love letter to us and rejoice in such a great salvation He has provided for us!

  If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

  33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
  
  34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

  35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
  36 As it is written,
  For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
  we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
  
  37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
  38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
  39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

  How can we not rejoice knowing that He has given us His Son to die for us? How can we not rejoice since we have full confidence and assurance nothing whatsoever can ever separate us from His love for us in Christ Jesus? How can we not rejoice in God who died for us while we were weak and yet sinners? How can we not rejoice that He has promised we will be saved from wrath through His life? How can we not rejoice that He is preparing a place for us?

  Is your heart not stirred at reading these things, is it not beating out of your chest, are you not exhilarated? If not, then I do pray you would reread them again and again and the Spirit would inflame a passionate love for Him once again, a love that goes beyond feelings and beyond words. As we know His love and rest in it, we can have that fullness of joy Jesus desires for us, that joy unspeakable and full of glory! Those living waters overflowing in the midst of the driest drought. That's the joy He has for us.

  I have rejoiced in Him as I have written these things to you. He has filled me to overflowing. I know I got carried away as I wrote, but how could I not do so? Is not His love for us in Jesus Christ! Is He not truly beautiful beyond description, too marvelous for words, too wonderful for comprehension?

  Perhaps you might consider writing a similar letter to another friend of yours. As you do so, I know our God will bless you abundantly.

  Glory to His Name! Nothing more needs to be said but this: He loves us!

  May we know His love that surpasses knowledge and be filled with all the fullness of God!

  Rejoice, my friend, rejoice in Him today and every day, for know this: He is rejoicing over you!

  Karen

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  Related posts:
  

  • God's Valentine to sinful men: "Nadie te amo como Yo"
  • the Father's Valentine
  • A belated Valentine from God
  • My new song: "My soul is clean"
  • the sparrow reminds us
  • My posts on Assurance
  • Encouragements to press on: Seeing God is in our midst after all
  • Mary's Emotions, part 2: What Does the Church Do with Marys in Our Midst?

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