JOY : A KEY TO TRIUMPHING

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     JOY is one of the keys to triumphing over every trial, suffering, or tribulation. Paul in his letter to the Colossians (in Colossians 1:10-11) prays that the church there “might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power,unto all patience and longsuffering WITH JOYFULNESS”.

     Nehemiah 8:10 tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. It is joy that will cause us to have strength in the hard times! Habakkuk (in Habakkuk 3:16-18) also tells of this wonderful key to overcoming hardship :
When I heard, my body trembled; My lips quivered at the voice; Rottenness entered my bones; And I trembled in myself, That I might rest in the day of trouble. When he comes up to the people, He will invade them with his troops. Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls—Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 

     Here, the prophet was seeing the Babylonian invasion, and probably something beyond that too. In the same way that the prophet is desiring to “rest in the day of trouble”, we want to cry out to God so that we would be found worthy to escape the things that are coming upon the earth! Then Habakkuk sees tremendous famine in verse 17. But his response to it is : “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation”.

      Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, and hence it is not something that we can produce ourselves. It is absolutely divine. We cannot stimulate and stir up our spirits to have joy. Dr. Brian Bailey, in his book, “The Comforter”, accurately defines joy as a state of bliss derived through union and communion with the Lord. One just cannot have it without the Lord, even as Psalms 16:11 tells us that in the presence of God is “fullness of joy”.

      A lot of people confuse JOY with REJOICING, which are two different things. REJOICING is an attitude. God commands us in Philippians 4:4 to “rejoice in the Lord always”. It is a state of mind, of being full of cheer and being calmly happy. We can choose to rejoice amidst the trials we are facing. And doing this often leads to joy... joy is a state of being and only God can lead us there.

      Like when I was a medical student, when I was dealing with patients, my mindset was that of a doctor. I was thinking like a doctor. But it is only when I passed medical school and the board examination that I became a doctor. The state of being a doctor is quite different from having a mindset of becoming one, isn’t it? Joy is a state of being and only God can give it.

      Psalm 4:7 says, “Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.” Clearly, this says that it is God who puts joy in our hearts. He is the source of all joy!

      The joy of the Lord is very real! And it really is a source of strength. Have you ever had a weary and tiring day, yet toward the end, you received some happy news (like a promotion, a salary raise, or birth in the family... Etc)? You feel your strength being renewed and fresh vigor comes upon you, isn’t it? While this form of happiness is only temporary, the joy of the Lord is real and lasting, and it will cause us to endure hardship and trying times.

      Dr. Brian Bailey writes the story of the passing away of his wife, and how in deep sorrow he was in. Yet, as he communed with the Spirit of God, he received the joy of the Lord being clothed upon him like a garment, his sorrow disappeared and he was filled with joy in his heart that he began to dance! David had a similar encounter with the joy of the Lord, that he declared in Psalm 30:11 : “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness.”

      But to whom is joy given? How can we obtain this joy from the Lord? How is the joy of the Lord developed in our hearts? These are the things we will look in our next study of joy.

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This series is developed from Dr. Brian Bailey's preaching, Joy in Famine and his book on the Holy Spirit, The Comforter.

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