- Baptist Press - https://www.baptistpress.com -

FIRST-PERSON Have you lost your joy?

[1]

ATLANTA (BP)–David, in his great act of repentance, cried out unto God: “… restore to me the JOY [my emphasis] of YOUR salvation …” (Psalm 51:12).

You see, David had sinned and the joy God had given him was gone. He knew his relationship with God had changed and the evidence was a distinct lack of joy. In the past God’s joy had come to David when God was free to express Himself to David. Suddenly, unconfessed sin had caused God to no longer do in David what He had purposed for him. But God did hear David’s cry, and He restored His salvation in David!

Have you lost your joy? More importantly, have you lost the joy of GOD’S SALVATION? Do you no longer experience God’s hand of blessing on your life? It is this that Jesus is referring to when He says “… these things I have spoken to you, that MY JOY [again, my emphasis] may remain in you, and that your joy may be full …” (John 15:11). Jesus had been speaking about God’s great salvation, which was found in Him as a Vine and the branch that would bear fruit.

Jesus knew that there was great joy in the salvation that He and the Father would provide for His disciples. At the last supper He explained to them that the peace and joy that He and the Father gave them far surpassed anything the world had to offer: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). And later that night He added: “I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and your joy no one will take from you” (John 16:22). What a promise! No circumstance can affect the joy He gives. People, events, and the environment in which we find ourselves can never take that away. They cannot change His joy!

Thus, the salvation God grants is the only source of true joy. It is based in Him and not in circumstances. For us as Christians, the “joy of God’s salvation” ought to be very real in us and visible to others. The world around us cannot give us God’s joy; it only comes from a daily intimate relationship with Him. If our lives, marriages, and families have an absence of His joy, then we have lost that kind of relationship. But when we love Him with all our heart, and fellowship with Him daily, we experience Him and His joy as He has purposed it for our lives.
–30–
For more information about Henry Blackaby’s ministry and travel schedule, visit his website at www.blackaby.org, or contact Blackaby Ministries International, P.O. Box 16338, Atlanta, Ga. 30321; (404) 362-9500.

[2]