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Home Search Topics Contact About | Enjoying God 2When you love someone do you want to see them joyful or joyless? If the Bible is telling the truth when it says that God loves us it is totally logical that He would want us to have joy. Unbelievers think of the Lord as a cosmic killjoy. They don*t know Him. They miss the most wonderful enjoyment there is. God is the greatest giver of enjoyment and He gives the greatest enjoyment. The Westminster Confession: Man*s chief end is to glorify God, and (by so doing, and in so doing,) to enjoy him for ever. That confession is NOT just silly wishful thinking. It is God*s will and it is what the Bible teaches. Joy and enjoyment are and should be the dominant characteristics of a secure Christian. John 15:11: These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. John 16:22: And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. John 16:24: Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. John 17:13: And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 1 Timothy 6:17: Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; Job 36:11: If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. Psalms 16:11: Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalms 36:8: They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. James 1:2: My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Isaiah 51:11: Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. Isaiah 65:14: Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit. Psalms 16:11: Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Galatians 5:22: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, . . . A joyless Christian is quenching the Holy Spirit. Nehemiah 8:10: 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. A joyless Christian is a weak Christian. Philippians 4:4: Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Bonhoeffer: Jesus was *the man for others.* He kept himself free . . . free for the other person. He would accept almost anybody*s invitation to dinner, and as a result no public figure had a more diverse list of friends, ranging from rich people, Roman centurions, and Pharisees to tax collectors, prostitutes, and leprosy victims. People LIKED being with Jesus; where he was, joy was. Redpath: Keep the chin up and the knees down because we*re on the winning side. Spurgeon: Let us show to the people of the world, who think our religion to be slavery, that it is to us a delight and a joy! Let our gladness proclaim that we serve a good Master. George Mueller: I consider it my greatest need before God and man to get my soul happy before the Lord each day before I see anybody. Peter Marshall: God is a God of laughter, as well as of prayer . . . a God of singing, as well as tears. God is at home in the play of His children. He loves to hear us laugh. We do not honor God by our long faces. Our Daily Bread: A song in your heart puts a smile on your face. Interruptions to his joy and enjoyment should be temporary for a Christian. Furthermore, those interruptions ought to heighten his joy and enjoyment. Normal circumstances that will sometimes interrupt his joy and enjoyment are a Christian*s concern for the lost, concern for the trials our Christians friends are going through and the chastisement of the Lord for sin. Romans 9:2-4a: That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites; . . . Romans 12:15: Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Hebrews 12:11: Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. |
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