If I were to ask you to shout Hallelujah, despite your pain or sorrow, what would your first thought be? Yes, you would believe I was crazy. You want to experience joy, but you have not had any hint of joy for a while.. And yet, fullness of joy is a major aspect of the promises of God for believers.
Before we examine how to secure your joy, let us ask ourselves a basic question. Do you even know who wants to ensure you do not have joy, let alone the fullness of joy? That would be the devil, the accuser of the brethren. He knows, perhaps more than you and I, that the joy of the Lord is our strength. And when we are strong, satan cannot easily defeat us or make us fall, so he does everything to steal our joy.
On the other hand, God promises us fullness of joy. It is a promise to all believers, but there is a trigger. The trigger to this particular promise is that such an abundant joy is only available in God’s presence. Stay with me here because God tells us exactly how to enter into His presence. You see, God is His own interpreter, and He makes His mind and commands plain.
He gives us 2 strategies for entering and living in His presence. The first one we find in the verse from which we read the term “fullness of joy.” It is Psalm 16:11, where the Bible says: You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Do you know the path of life? Then you are in God’s presence.
The Path Of Life Leads to Fullness Of Joy
That last sentence makes you angry because you do not understand what the path of life means. You would like me to stop speaking in riddles. Not a problem: no riddles, especially since our God does not speak in riddles. Just what is the path of life? His name is Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. That is the path that brings you into God’s presence, where there is fullness of joy. This presents you with two immediate problems. It seems too easy to be all you need to do.
Secondly, you know several Jesus-followers who are not experiencing this fullness of joy. Regarding the first problem, entering into the presence of God is easy because Jesus already did all the hard work. He died a terrible death on the cross of Calvary and created a way for us into God’s presence. You may recall that as He breathed his last, the temple veil tore into two. That gave all who believe in Jesus full access to God.
As for the second problem, the answer to it is hiding in plain sight. I can tell you the number of years I was a Bible-thumping, church-going ‘Christian’ before I became a truly born-again child of God. From that, you can deduce the percentage of people who call themselves believers but are not related to Jesus Christ. It should therefore not surprise you that they do not experience fullness of joy.
The Second Way Into God’s Presence
And unless you are a brother or sister of Jesus, you cannot come to the Father. Jesus said so Himself, in John 14:6: “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” You now see strong evidence that the path of life that brings you into God’s presence and the fullness of Joy is Jesus.
The question we have to ask is, “How am I with Jesus? Is Christ in your heart or just in your Bible? Have you read the Bible to the point where the written word has become the Living Word in your life? If the answer is yes, then He has shown you the path of life.
But there is a second strategy. Naturally, it is closely related to the first method of experiencing God and His Presence. There is no way you can practice this second strategy unless you have experienced the first one. It is similar to the principle in 1 Corinthians 12:3, which says: “Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.”
Both Strategies Are Similar
In the same way, you cannot rejoice unless you are in the Lord. As with the first point, so it is with this conclusion. Anybody can fake anything. But to truly rejoice, you require an intimate relationship with the source of Joy, Jesus. We find this second strategy in Psalm 100. At verse 4, we read: Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.”
When was the last time you praised God? Do not let it surprise you that you are far from fullness of Joy. That is because you are far from the Presence of God. Did you thank God for waking you up this morning, even if your breakfast was scant or none? Sorry, but you cannot experience the fullness of joy that is in His presence. You have not entered his gates. May God give us a heart of thanksgiving so we can enter God’s courts.
Maranatha!
