Are you Happy or Joyful today? Did you know that there is a difference between happiness and joyfulness? It is most important to understand the differences between the two as one gives laughter, but the other, an expectation of what is to come. And when we have Hope or expectations that are rooted in truth and not emotion, we will always come out winning the race.
We must consider our sufferings as blessings Saints of God! When things don’t go our way, it gives us an opportunity to grow in the Lord! To build perseverance, or as it means in Hebrew; a patience, a steadfastness or an endurance for things to come. These tribulations build in us an endurance for the race on earth and help us build our relationship that is seeded in Faith with God. In Romans, chapter 5, it is well worded to describe the results of troubled times in our life.
Below I have rendered the terms in italics to show you the Hebrew meaning by Strong’s Concordance of the words I am referring to in the above statement.
Romans 5: 3-5 NASV
3. And not only this, but we also EXULT (meaning to give Glory to, or rejoice in) in our TRIBULATIONS (a pressing on, a burden or an affliction), knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance (patience to endure); 4. and perseverance, proven character; and proven character (tried and approved worth, a trustiness, an experience), hope (faith confidence); 5. and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Tribulations are the best things that could come about in our lives. Does a muscle strained and worked not become stronger? And as we continue to deal with hardships, we can reflect on the ones we have already endured to give us testimony or a story of success to get through the next trial. We must understand that when we go through our troubles the way God intended us to live them, we become stronger in the Virtues of God! Faith, Hope and Perseverance! This is something we can have Joy about!
Happiness is a fleeting thought or an emotion. As described by the dictionary, it is defined as; the state of being happy, being with laughter over a success or gift. But when we look at the Hebrew definition of Joy, we see it means; a rejoicing, a blissfulness, a state of awareness of something deeper than your condition or state of mind.
Job expressed Joy during his tribulations. He was aware that God was still in control of his life and that He need not be afflicted emotionally over His sufferings for He would be saved from them.
Job 6: 10 NASV
10. But it is still my consolation, And I rejoice in unsparing pain, That I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
Be aware that what the Lord is doing in your life may not feel good right now, but His ways are not our ways! Therefore we must not judge our conditions by the emotions we feel. But instead, practice the Faith we have been given that our Poppa God manifests good out of all things for His Believers! Therefore, troubles should not change our condition of Joy!
Romans 8: 28 NASV
28. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Pastor Rick Warren is quoted as saying “Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.”
This is why we must choose Joy over the situations in our life. We pray for our situations to align with God’s will, so as to bring forth His ways and not our ways. We must know after so many tribulations as Believers we always land in a good result, or in other words, we are always blessed. So why would we worry by the beginnings of a new tribulation when all of them come with great happiness in the end?
In Psalms, we see a real reckoning of the new creation and the flesh where man struggles to see the goodness in his sufferings. Many of the Psalms of David were written in this fashion. But Psalms 42: 11, written by the Son’s of Korah, Moses’s cousin, share this deep dwelling anguish that all of us have felt from time to time when we feel like God has forsaken or forgotten us in our times of need.
Psalms 42:11 NASV
42. Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance (a favor that has gone before us) and my God.
We see in this verse that they are speaking to their souls. Why to the soul of man? What is it in our soul that is causing us this anguish and what many of us refer to as “heartache”?
Our souls will always be in argument with our New Creation. Our soul is the embodiment of our flesh. Here on Earth, we say that our soul is what we are made of, but as a New Creation in God, as a Born Again Believer, with a New Life, I will tell you that we have been separated from this vessel called the soul. It is the part that Christ came to save for it is by our souls that we are destined to death by sin. While walking with Jesus the Mind is renewed and Soul is put to death, giving life to the Spirit that now dwells within us. In the biblical sense, when we refer to the soul, it is referring to the Flesh of Man. The epitome of ourselves. The worldly ways of mankind. Our soul in Hebrew is described as; being with blood in it, the seat of emotions and appetites. So, you can see that it our flesh and our soul that cry out in anguish when things don’t go our way.
But there is Hope! For the Holy Spirit within us prays for us constantly! So that we might see the ways of God are much more assured than the ways of man.
Romans 8: 24-26 NASV
24. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25. But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. 26. In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words
So Believers, Saints of God! Let us challenge one another in our mournings of the day. In the quiet we whisper into one another and into the souls wretching for relief. Let us whisper Hope, Reverence for God and His ways and most of all, Joy! For we as the Body of Christ Hope in things unseen, by Faith in our Poppa God. That all things will be manifested in His will and not ours. That we might be saved and live eternally in His Grace and everlasting Love. This is what our Joy consists of! And that is why, we can experience Joy every single day of our lives! It is why we do not have to feel the emotional state of happiness to respond to each day with Praise and Thanksgiving for what the Lord is doing in our lives! It is a wonderous and inexplicable peace we possess as God’s people! Peace without Understanding is the life we lead. And we will all go out with joy!
The book of Isaiah was written by the Prophet of Isaiah who was said to tell the most prophecies of anyone about Christ’s upcoming arrival to the world. In Chapter 55 we learn about Salvation and its benefits to man in the first part, but then we see the author switch back into the time of his speaking, wherein He explains how you can find the Salvation of Christ. To Drink from His Blood and Eat of His Flesh so that you never go hungry again. The word is in literal form, but the determination is that the blood or water is the Word and the Flesh is Jesus himself! While we feast on every word that fell from Jesus’ mouth, we are filled wholly in our Spirit, but also in our SOULS! Meaning to quench the appetites and emotions of our souls! To put aside the emotions and see God clearly what He is doing in our lives! Meaning we do not need to count on happiness being the life-givers, but rather our Joy that continues our life in the Spirit.
When we can truly see that God is for us and that He truly Loves us and is not convicting us, we can honestly Rejoice in the pleasures of Christ and all that He has in store for us, even here on Earth.
At the end of Isaiah, we hear of how this New Life and these New Ways will send us out with Joy, meaning we will clap our hands in rejoicing for what God has done in our lives and what He has done for us through our tribulations. Praise God we have a Saviour who has Everlasting Love for His people.
Isaiah 55: 12 NASV
12. For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
There is so much encouragement in the Word of Christ, in His Living Water. Receive the Crucification of Christ as our Flesh being put to death for us so that we might have the chance to live with God debt-free of our sin. It is the best gift we as a people have ever been given. This is where we can begin our journey with great Joy my friends. It is the Alpha of God in our lives. And it is also, where we will end it because He is our Omega.
So have a Joyful Day! A day of Thanksgiving and with a Grateful Heart sing unto the Lord all His Riches and Praise that ensure our souls with Perseverance and Patience to endure another day. Praise God, it is not by our flesh, but by the Spirit that is greater than the spirit in the world, that lives within us that we can Rejoice for the Lord is here.
There is a great rendition of this song on YouTube that shares Isaiah 55 very well. I pray it lightens your soul today and brings Joy and perseverance to you. Sing Along! God Bless!
Sources
- Strong’s Concordance
- My sword Application : https://www.mysword.info/download-mysword
- New American Standard Version of the Bible
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