“eat your bread with joy” (Eccl 9:7, NKJ)
There are only three signs which authenticate that you function within the Kingdom of God: your life is characterised by “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17). Part of the meaning of the showbread in the Holy Place is that “in [His] presence there is fullness of joy” (Ps 16:11); in the eating of this bread of Presence you will be filled “with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Pet 1:8).
This joy is not artificial, external or superficial happiness; it is joy that is generated “in the Holy Spirit”. Besides that we know that joy is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22), 1 Thess 1:6 speaks of the “joy of the Holy Spirit”, in other words it is an essential characteristic of the Holy Spirit. We often forget that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9; 1 Pet 1:11), and if you understand this in a broader context, then you understand that Christ was, in fact, “a man of joy”! In Prov 8:23 it is told how Christ, while God created everything, was full of enjoyment: “I was a delight day by day, always rejoicing before Him.” (HNV). It is thus not strange that the first announcement of Jesus’ coming in Luke 2:10 was: “Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people’.” And just before the crucifixion he prayed in John 17:13: “But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.” Heb 1:9 states that the fact that God anointed Jesus with the oil of gladness differentiated Him from other people. Joy was His distinguishing characteristic!
Even though He had every reason to be called a man of sorrows (Is 53:3), He always, despite being “oppressed”, hid (1 Chron 16:27) in the “joy of the Holy Spirit (1 Thess 1:6). In following Christ we, “filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13:52), should be “exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation” (1 Cor 7:4).
Deut 28:47-48 shows how very important joy is to God in your walk of faith: “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart … therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.” (Deut 28:47-48). Shocking. It is essential to serve the Lord with joy; to come before His presence with singing (Ps 100:2).
- Sela: Pray about the Scripture in Deut 28:47-48 – it’s a key to personal deliverance in terms of many aspects in your life that aren’t going well.
- Read: Ex 34; Ps 84; Mark 10
- Memorise: Mark 10:27
