“Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: For this day is Holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10)

The walls were rebuilt; it was a day of restoration. It was a day of rejoicing and not sadness. Ezra said, “the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

What is the joy of the Lord? Is it finger snapping, hand clapping, foot stomping? I think not. Is it singing Jazzy choruses and yelling hallelujah? I think not. Is it guitar-picking and dancing the charismatic two-step? I think not. “Joy” is an inward emotion that may or may not have an outward manifestation. The joy of Jesus, or that Jesus had, was in keeping the Father’s commandments: “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” (John 15:10)

Then Jesus said, “These things (above) have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” (John 15:11) The joy of the Lord is His joy abiding in us! We may be full of His joy by keeping His commandments. The conditional preposition “if” is used in John 15:10 above to show this joy is not self-produced or self-generated. This soul-cleansing joy comes through the Word: “Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you.” (John 15:3)

The world is trying to find joy in the wrong way and in the wrong places. Sad to say, many professing Christians also conform to worldly ways and places looking for joy. It is the Holy Bible, God’s Word, that cleanseth the soul and produces His joy in us. Entertainment, TV, sports, are a substitute of carnal joy. The temple bodies of true believers are only cleansed and washed by the Holy Spirit, through the Word: “That he might sanctify and cleanse it (individual temple bodies) with the washing of water (type of the Holy Ghost) by the Word.” (Ephesians 5:26)

One may have fun at the ball game, golf course, or bowling, but not the joy of the Lord, which is our spiritual strength. Jesus is waiting to send the Comforter to fill us with His joy when we pray: “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name, ask (prayer), and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:24) To “ask in His name,” is to ask according to His will. Try praying for a new Cadillac. If it’s God’s will and it will bring you His joy, I believe you will get it. However, Jesus walked, and God is not in the car business so you may not get it!

SUMMARY

“And now I am coming to you. I say these things while I am still in the world, so that My joy may be made full and complete and perfect in them -- that they may experience my delight fulfilled in them, that My enjoyment may be perfected in their own souls, that they may have My gladness within them filling their hearts.” (John 17:13 Amplified) Here is the true meaning of the joy of the Lord: His gladness within, filling the heart.

(Reprinted from Number 369, August 1994 issue of “The Testimony of Truth” with permission from “People of the Living God”)

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