The Joy of Being Friends with God
ICS Daily Devotions
John 15:9,11 (NKJV) As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love …“These
things I have spoken to you, that My Joy may remain in you, and that your Joy may be full.
There is a huge difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is a fleeting emotion which comes from a positive or pleasing situation. Many people are pursuing different things to make them happy—money, fame, success, and more—but they will still be unhappy despite getting everything they wanted. Joy, by contrast, is a deep-seated inner gladness. In the New Testament, it is virtually always used to signify a feeling of delight that is based on spiritual realities; a depth of assurance and confidence that ignites a cheerful heart and godly behaviour, independent of what happens. Joy is not an experience that arises from favourable circumstances but rather is God’s gift to believers. Joy is a part of God’s very essence, and His Spirit manifests this supernatural rejoicing in His children.
Jesus said that He is the vine and we are the branches; apart from Him nobody can bear much fruit. Joy is an outflow of God from the depths of our hearts because we are quietly confident that He is able. It is also a kind of contentment that can only be found in the Lord in all circumstances. A mature Christian can be contented with just having Jesus in their life because the rest is temporal. This comes when someone truly appreciates the value of being saved and spending eternity with the Lord.
Knowing God is essential to experiencing the joy of the Lord. It is knowing Him as God and knowing His character as someone close to Him. It develops faith, absolute trust and confidence in God when we respond to the different challenges that we face in life. When we are aware that God is interested in every aspect of our lives and is doing what is best for us, we will have godly joy and a quiet confidence that everything will be alright because God is with us and for us. It belongs to those who know that all is well between themselves and the Lord.
If our faith is anchored in God and we allow the joy of the Lord to be our strength, even in the most dire of situations, there will be an inexplicable joy and peace in our hearts. The Christian life is not necessarily smooth sailing even when we are living out the will of God for our lives because we live in this fallen and broken world. And yet, within our struggles, God is right there with us. He may not remove us from the hard situation, but He will undoubtedly sustain us by infusing His supernatural joy throughout.
Sermon Series： Friends of God
