Tag Archives: oil of gladness

Complete Joy, Connecting Love and Joy, The Joy of the Lord

Rhythms: UP (The Source of Jesus’ Joy)

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But of the Son He says,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.
“You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness above Your companions” (Hebrew 1:8-9 NASB).

Jesus has been anointed with the oil of gladness (exultation and extreme joy). 

As we  grow in our knowledge of God being our Highest Joy, we will look at how Jesus’ glad heart strengthened Him and gave Him courage. And we will look at how we’re fueled by the nearness of Jesus and His joy.

In spite of what He faced, even on the cross, Jesus’ life was marked by joy and gladness. And we’ve been called to follow Him and learn from His life, as we depend upon His Spirit within.

What can we learn about His Joy, which He says completes our joy.

The Joy of Relationships

Relating – a connection between.

Out of the depth of love within the Trinity, man was created and given the breath of life. We were created for fellowship and relationship with God. And, as amazing as it seems, God delights in our connection with Him.

In fact, Zephaniah writes that our connection with Him causes the Lord to rejoice with shouts of joy. [1] We actually bring joy to God.

This helps bring clarity to the following verses in Hebrews: Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2 NASB)

Reconciling our connection with Him was the joy set before Jesus.

Knowing His death on our behalf would re-establish our broken relationships with God because of our sin, gave Jesus joy, a joy which fueled His endurance on the cross. 

Consider Jesus’ words to His disciples the night before He went to the cross: “If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you (John15:10-12 NASB)

His command – Love others as He’s loved us.

His reason – That His Joy might be in us and that our joy might be complete.

It may seem strange from an earthly perspective, but realizing the complete joy of Jesus seems to have everything to do with loving.

Love and Joy are tightly coupled. They appear together at the beginning of Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit. [2]

True, lasting joy doesn’t spring from earthly happenings, but rather from the depth of love in our relationships.

Paul wrote about it:

But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.  You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me (Philippians 2:17-18 NASB). 

For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? For you are our glory and joy (I Thessalonians 2:19-20 NASB).

In fact, he tells us to always rejoice in our love of God.

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you (Philippians 3:1 NASB).

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! (Philippians 4:4 NASB).

Story: I remember a tough day in the early nineties when our kids were small. My wife had just found a nest of mice in her clothes drawer.  Our dryer was broken.  I had some high priority work issues, along with the normal challenges of parenting four children.

After disbursing of the mice, I was hanging up our wet towels and blue jeans on the clothes line, trying to formulate a plan for fixing what else was broken.

Then it hit me. Like an apple bouncing off the head of Isaac Newton, I was awakened. 

What happened with the mice and the dyer and how my work issues were resolved was very temporal, what really mattered was how my wife and my relationship survived the strain. She was in distress over finding rodents in our room.

Our relationship, and how I loved her through the difficulties was much more important than solving the problems. 

When I finished hanging up the clothes, I sat down to unpack what seemed to be a huge paradigm shift. Could relationships and loving be the key to life?

Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees, from Matthew 22:36-40, came to mind. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”  

Then I thought of the ten commandments and how they are all about loving God and loving others.

Since then, though I’ve forgotten the focus for great chunks of time, I’ve been intentional about having a love first mindset. I will testify that when this focus is operating as it should, I have unexplainable joy.

Conclusion

 Jesus’ life was marked by joy. And, as we look deeper, we see a definite connection between love and joy. It was His love for us, and our reconciliation with Him which gave Him joy on the cross. In fact, it fueled His endurance.

On the night before Jesus was crucified on our behalf, He gave His disciples a formula for experiencing His joy. The secret – loving others as He’s loved us. If we do this, we will remain in His love and our joy will be made complete.

Paul also experienced the joy of sacrificial love. He equated joy with being poured out like a drink offering and he called the Thessalonians his glory and joy. Paul also commands us to be full of joy in our love for the Lord.

Joy, which satisfies our longing hearts doesn’t come from fighting for ourselves. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Our experience of joy is directly related to how we love.

Prayer

Lord, You’ve awakened me to the tight connection between love and joy. Thank you. Please stop me quickly when I forget and try once again to derive my feelings of being okay from my circumstances. Please keep my heart in a love first mode, realizing all along that any loving I do must come from You. I pray the people I love would recognize You in  every word and deed.

Amen.

Personal Study

Highlight Hebrews 12:1-3

Explain it in your own words

Apply it to your life

Respond to God in prayer 

[1] Zephaniah 3:17

[2] Galatians 5:22-23

Previous posts in the UP series:

God’s Amazing Love

God’s Essential Love

What Hides God’s Love

Christ Lives in Me

Raised up with Christ

Who’s your Treasure

.Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.

Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading. 

 Novels by the Author:

Beyond Time

Hope Remains

Cheer Your Heart, Choose Joy

Keep Up Your Courage

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“Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9b

A Call to Courage

Paul is being transported to Rome to appeal to Caesar. Though his life is in danger, his focus is on testifying about Jesus. All his energy is poured into making disciples, not on his own welfare; a trend of his life and a reason for his joy.

In Acts 27, he warns his centurion guard that sailing from Fair Havens would be at risk of damage and great loss. But he’s ignored. Before long, a fierce northeastern wind batters the ship and forces cargo and tackle to be tossed overboard.

Sun and stars are hidden for many days. Hope of being saved is abandoned.

But Paul, by way of a messenger from the Lord, has a Godly perspective.  He calls them to “keep up your courage“[1] –  euthymein (put in good spirits, gladden, make cheerful, to be joyful)

There’s reason to hope beyond the present troubles.

Our Storms

What storms are you facing in these uncertain days? in what area(s) has there been no sun or stars for many days?

  • Death
  • Health
  • Money deficits
  • Time deficits
  • Broken relationships
  • Broken stuff
  • Employment problems
  • Addictions

What has you dis-couraged?

Our Courage

What can put us in good spirits? What gladdens our hearts and causes us to be cheerful and joyful in spite of dark, lingering storms? Like Paul, don’t we have insight into something beyond what we see? We know how our story ends. Light beckons to to us out of the darkness, assuring us that our storm is not a surprise to God.

God is at work in us to conform us into the image of Jesus Christ. [2] He wants us free from the bondages of the world and filled with the joy of His nearness. When storms press in, we’re invited to pursue our Pearl of Great Price with ever more vigor, putting off cheep counterfeits which only deepen the pain.

“You have put gladness in my heart, more than when their grain and new wine abound.” Psalm 4:7

Prayer

Lord, we cry out to You in the midst.

Cheer our hearts with Your Nearness. Gladden our souls in the hope of Your loving, purposeful ways. 

Infuse us with courage.

We surrender everything and everyone to You.

We surrender ourselves to You.

Though the skies may be dark, gladden our spirits.

Thank you Lord.

Amen.

[1] Acts 27:22

[2] Romans 8:29

Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.

Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading. 

 Novels by the Author:

Beyond Time

Hope Remains

God's Comfort, God's Love

God’s Love in a Broken World

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He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; (Isaiah 53:3a NASB)

It’s a cold rainy day and we don’t have to go anywhere until later. I’m soaking in the comfort of being with my bride and our dog before a warm fire. Sipping my coffee, I’m reveling in the reality of God’s presence. I don’t always feel His nearness, but I know He indwells me and is always closer than breath. I’m learning to find my completeness in His love no matter how unloving the world around me might be. For me, the path to experiencing His love more fully has been through sadness.

Until recently, I believed sadness was to be avoided at all costs. How could it be good? How can I function during it?

But I’ve noticed when I avoid dealing with my sorrow, I’m not being true to myself. I feel detached. I’m learning pain is there for a reason and I can’t afford to deny it. My heart must be tended to.

What’s helped me more that anything is knowing Jesus was known as a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. My Savior understands. When I bring my pain to Him, His comfort is real.

He said, “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33b NASB)

We live in a broken world. What goes on now is not what will be. But Jesus invites me to draw near to Him in my sadness. When I do, the joy of His nearness overshadows my pain.

 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (II Corinthians 1:3-4 NASB)

 When I tend to my heart and call Jesus near in my pain, the Man of Sorrows meets me. His nearness is the oil of gladness which soothes the crevices of my crusty heart. It’s strange how dealing with grief, and not avoiding it, can be the path to experiencing a deeper measure of God’s love.

Hannah Hurnard, in her book Hind’s Feet on High Places, writes of Much-Afraid’s travels with Sorrow and Suffering. They were unwelcome, but very necessary companions on her journey to the top of the mountain. When she arrived, her Shepherd, the King gave her new names of Grace and Glory. Her companions Sorrow and Suffering were renamed Joy and Peace.

I’m understanding the value of not running from Sorrow and Suffering in my own journey. Though these companions aren’t comfortable, they usher me to the Comforter who give me a Joy and Peace which can not be shaken by any circumstance.

There are so many broken hearts in this broken world. Creation groans for the redemption of the bodies of God’s adopted sons and daughters at Christ’s return.[1]

In the midst of Sorrow and Suffering, Christ offers a deeper measure of His Love in the Joy and Peace of his nearness. He is our Comforter, waiting to be called near.

For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:5 NASB)

 Lord, I’m sorry for running from sadness. What a relief to know that sorrow and suffering are a part of your path to Joy and Peace. I’ve spent so much effort trying to carve out a happy heart when all along it was okay to be sad. Please teach me to tend to my heart in times of sorrow and not seek only a carefree life. I’m amazed how much more I understand your love for me because of my journey with Sorrow and Suffering. Thank you.

[1] Romans 8:22-24

Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures. Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post once a week. Thank you for reading. 

Novels by the Author:

Beyond Time

Hope Remains

Photo by Ben Chappell

What’s so Important about Joy?

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Lately, I’ve heard a lot about joy.  Scripture is full of verses on it and its many derivatives. And what’s not to like about feeling joyous?  It seems to touch a deep longing, leaving us craving more.  Were we designed to need it and seek it? Will we keep searching for it until we find it, or die trying?

King Solomon recognized his own deep emptiness, though he was the wisest man alive and abundantly wealthy. He tried all manner of worldly delights to feel satisfied: wine, work, gardening, building, servants, possessions, wealth and women.[1]  He denied himself nothing , yet concluded his search was “vanity and striving after the wind.”  Ecclesiastes 2:11b

Trying everything, but failing to find joy, Solomon was left hopeless and despondent. “I hated life, for the work which has been done under the sun was grievous to me, because everything is futility and striving after wind.”  Ecclesiastes 2:17

He would later conclude, that God has set eternity in the hearts of men.[2]  He realized the impossibility of trying to fill an endless heart with temporal delights.

Do you recognize the same deep longings in your soul? Have past moments of delight given you hints of what might be? Think back on your days of innocence, before your hearts was hardened by life’s pains. Do you remember times when your heart tingled with gladness:  fire flies illuminating a summer night, the rhythmic sound of waves at the beach, the cool breezes of early fall, colorful Christmas lights, the smell of baking cookies, a visit from your grandparent?

Magical moments may still delight us, but life has a way of desensitizing us. We lose the scent of these whiffs of joy and travel down many paths in search of their sweet aroma.

But alas:

  • The path of pleasant circumstances is overgrown with thorns.
  • The path of feeling good has unexpected pits of addiction and rosy alleyways of denial
  • The path of success rises up into exhaustion
  • The path of popularity robs us of our identity
  • The path of wealth trudges into ever increasing longings

These and all false paths leave us empty and utterly joyless, often hurting those we love along the way.

The only path to the deep joy we long for is the path to Eternal God, who designed us to be satisfied only in Him.

In God’s presence is fullness of joy.[3] He fills our hearts with more gladness than when harvest and new wine abound.[4]  When we delight in the Lord, He gives us the desires of our hearts.[5]

Lord, help us not to fall into Solomon’s trap. The glitter of riches, success and pleasure can keep us in a boundless pursuit of fool’s gold. If we could carry this quests to the ends Solomon did, we too would find them vain pursuits, a chasing after the wind. Lord, may we seek You, the Pearl of Great Value, worthy of our all.[6]

You’ve made a path to you, by the death of Your Son. When we commit ourselves to you, trusting what Christ has done for our righteousness, You rescue us and make us your children. You travel life with us, promising to never leave us, though we pass through the valley of death .[7] When our days are done, you’ll lead us into glory,[8] where our hearts will rejoice forever in joy inexpressible and full of glory.

Please keep us focused only on you, our Unfailing Joy.

 

Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I will say Rejoice. Philippians 4:4

 

[1] Ecclesiastes 2:1-10

[2] Ecclesiastes 3:11

[3] Psalm 16:11

[4] Psalm 4:7

[5] Psalm 37:4

[6] Matthew 13:46

[7] Psalm 23:4

[8] Psalm 73:24

 

Joy in the Holy Spirit, The Joy of the Lord

Life’s a Grind Without the Oil of Gladness

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To grant those who mourn in Zion,
Giving them a garland instead of ashes,
The oil of gladness instead of mourning,
The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.
So they will be called oaks of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. Isaiah 61:3 

Trying to live the Christian life without relying on the Indwelling Spirit of Christ is like running an engine without oil.

On a couple of occasions I’ve neglected the vital upkeep of adding motor oil to various vehicles. One resulted in the demise of the Wheel Horse tractor I inherited from my grandfather. And if it wasn’t for the durability of Toyota truck engines, the other would have left my brother and I stranded on the side of the highway between Columbia, SC and Athens, GA. Good thing he noticed the red light on the dash board. It was almost three quarts low.

Sometimes I’m a slow learner, but I got it now; Engine oil is critical for lubrication, minimizing friction and cooling the pistons. It’s the very lifeblood of an engine.

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Only with Jesus can we Live the Christian Life

I’m learning the same thing about the Holy Spirit in my spiritual life.[1] For years I thought my job as a Christian was to model my life after the Jesus I read about in the Bible; trying really hard to have peace, patience, kindness, self-control and joy. If you’ve tried this yourself, you know the futility of this kind of effort. Sooner or later we all discover that there’s only one person who can live the Christian life and it’s not us; it’s Jesus in us.

Coming to the End of Ourselves

Often it takes a crisis for us to realize we can’t live without Christ. We come face to face encounter with our failures and inabilities. Not fun, but necessary. More often than not these failures are revealed in our relationships with those we love. When this happens, we find ourselves at a crossroad in life.

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At the Crossroad

In the midst of emotional turmoil we often choose to numb our pain with our coping mechanism of choice, but this delays the inevitable. Pain is an alarm to be heeded. Pain screams, “Take your hand off the stove!” Denying the pain only deepens it’s affect until  it takes over our lives completely.

Another choice is to realize our desperate need for Jesus.  Humbly turning to Him, we admit  our inabilities to love without Him. There may be dark nights of the soul, huddled only with our Lord, but full surrender leads to life changes.  “Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5b

Summary of the Christian Life

Out of Paul’s sufferings He wrote:

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Spiritually, we have died.  Christ, by His Holy Spirit, has taken up residence in our lives. We no longer have to try harder, but must depend upon Him to be our patience, our goodness, our peace, our self control, our joy.

Ours is to rest in the fact that He is at work in us.

Ours is to yield to His Spirit, realizing that apart from our vital connection to Him, we can do nothing of true value.[2]

Trying to live without dependence upon the Holy Spirit is like an engine without oil, a ‘grinding it out’ in a swirl of activity; movement without lubrication, joyless friction.

Burnout or Joy

Recipe for a life of burnout: Live in the swirl of activities with no awareness or dependence upon the Holy Spiri; going through the motions in your own energy and strength. Just do it. It’s all up to you.

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Recipe for a life full of joy:  Realizing we were designed to run on the oil of gladness. [3]  choose a life of overflow as you yield to the Spirit of Jesus in you to love whoever God puts in your path.

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Challenge: Is there an area of your life in which you’re just going through the motions, an area in which you feel burned-out in? If so, come to Jesus.  Realize that you were not designed to operate without His Spirit, the Oil of Gladness. Recognize your inability to live even one moment without full dependence upon Christ,  allow His Spirit to refresh your life giving you His Joy.

“He must increase and I must decrease.” John 3:30

Prayer:  Dear Lord Jesus, thank you so much for dying for me and securing a place in our Father’s presence. Thank you for sealing us with the promised Holy Spirit, a pledge of our inheritance and the power and lifeblood of our lives. Keep me ever yielded to you that I might love others as you have loved me.

[1] The Holy Spirit is widely symbolized by anointing oil. See Luke 4:18

[2] John 15:5

[3] John 7:37-39

Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.

Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading. 

 Novels by the Author:

Rob Buck

What happens when a professor figures out how to send messages to his younger self to try and avoid the suicide of his best friend? Did he change more than he bargained for?  Beyond Time

By finding two undelivered letters in a old shack deep in the woods, Cassie and Daniel unknowing set off a series of events which uncover a plot to wipe out a whole family Hope Remains

Hearts

Near to the Broken Hearted

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The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.  Psalm 34:18

Whether we know it or not, we all suffer from a broken heart. Knowing this is the first step towards healing. But how we choose to mend it is the key to whether we are comforted and eventually healed or whether our hearts are broken further.

We were designed for God’s nearness. Our hearts were created to be filled with His presence. We had it once, in Eden before the fall. We were fully dependent upon Him and we lived in continually enjoyment of His closeness.  But, in Adam, we wanted to be our own god. We chose to disobey, causing the tabernacle of God to be ripped out of our hearts.

We enter life thirsty and empty, searching for what we once had; God Himself.

In Luke chapter 4, starting with verse 16, we read that Jesus entered the synagogue in His hometown. He picked up the book of Isaiah and reading about Himself, He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted.”

One of Jesus’ purposes is to heal the broken hearted, to bind up and comfort our crushed and bruised hearts; hearts longing for God; hearts broken by disappointments, betrayals and death.

Paul calls Jesus the God of all comfort, who comfort us in all of our afflictions so that we will be able to comfort others. [1]  But how does He comfort us? He comforts us by being with us. The word comfort literally means to come along side, to be near, to be with.

How does God heal our broken hearts? By being with us. Ours is to be aware of His nearness and to depend upon Him moment by moment. When this happens we receive the oil of gladness. [2] Our hearts begin to heal and we can literally be full of joy in the Lord, no matter what is whirling around us. Jesus heals our broken hearts by being the Lord of our hearts.

God Himself is our Exceeding Great Reward. His nearness is our joy, our strength, our peace, our hope, our courage, our healing.

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted

Lord, your nearness heals us. I open my heart fully to your presence. Teach me how to be aware of you in the moments of my life and teach me to love you with my whole heart.

[1] 2nd Corinthians 1:4

[2] Isaiah 61:3