What is joy? Is it a new toy for a six-year old or a much desired marriage proposal for a 20 year old maiden, or is it a new baby for a young couple who have waited for years to have a baby? Perhaps it is all these things but is it much more than all of these? Joy is much more than a feeling. Yes, it certainly includes emotions and feelings but it is deeper, it is more pervasive of the total person, it is something that wells up inside of us as a result of the presence of the Holy Spirit within us and His freedom to operate as He desires in our lives. Joy is one of the nine fruits of God, The Holy Spirit brought forth by Him in our lives. (Galations 5:22-23) It is not brought about or influenced by external circumstances, it comes from within!
Joy is a quality that is “God Produced” and not something that is a consequence of our surroundings, our circumstances, or the situation that we find ourselves in at the moment. It is not a momentary and fleeting feeling, nor is it a product of our emotions. Instead it is a “God Produced” quality that is all-pervasive of our person. It is present even when the outward circumstances would dictate feelings of anxiety, worry, and even fear. It overrides all other emotions and brings its very own sense of “well-being” even in the midst of storms swirling around us.
Earlier I spoke of God, The Holy Spirit having the freedom to operate in our lives as He chooses. This is an absolute requirement for the “Fruit of Joy” to be produced in our lives by The Holy Spirit. For the “Fruit of Joy” to be a reality in our lives The Holy Spirit must be resident within us and must have the freedom to do God’s Work within us and through us.
So, let’s deal with two questions, how does the Holy Spirit come to dwell permanently within us and how hoes He have the freedom to Work The Works of God within us and through us?
Let’s deal with first question, “how does the Holy Spirit come to dwell permanently within us?” The Bible makes it very clear that The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of The Trinity, in other words, He is God! My purpose here is not to deal in an in-depth manner with the concept of The Trinity. Suffice it ti say that The Trinity is real and probably cannot be fully understood by and our human mind. However, God expects us to live by faith not by our understanding. So, I accept the reality of The Trinity by Faith and the reality of The Holy Spirit as God and the Second Person of The Holy Trinity!
When The Holy Spirit lives within us, God lives inside us. The Holy Spirit is God just as Our Heavenly Father is God and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ is God. So, how does The Holy Spirit come to live within us? The Bible tells us that when we truly “Believe in and on” Jesus Christ and receive Him as Our Lord and Savior, then God Our Father sends The Holy Spirit to indwell us and live in us as our Helper, Our Comforter, Our Guide, and Our Teacher. Jesus speaks of this in John 14:16-17 where He states, “16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— (17) the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” And, in John 14:26 Jesus states, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” God, Our Father gives us The Holy Spirit at the moment we believe in Jesus Christ and become “Born Again” into The Family of God. He comes into our lives to live in us forever.
At the moment we become “A Believer” In The Lord Jesus Christ and receive Him into our heart and life, God “SEALS” us FOREVER with His Holy Spirit declaring that we are His – We are His Child! In 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 we read, “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, (22) set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” And, in Ephesians 1:13-14 we read, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, (14) who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession — to the praise of his glory.” Dear reader, realize and rejoice that you are “SEALED” forever by God and that no one – nothing, can break this “SEAL.” (I encourage you to read and study John, chapters 14, 15, and 16 for a deeper understanding of The Work of The Holy Spirit.)
This brings us to the second question, How does The Holy Spirit acquire the “Freedom” to operate as He Wills in our lives? The answer is actually pretty simple, we must grant Him that freedom! However, this is not really as simple and as easy as it may first appear. This act must be done by us to consciously and deliberately “GIVE UP” CONTROL OF OUR LIVES TO GOD, THE HOLY SPIRIT. This is very difficult for us because we have within us the natural and very strong desire to “be in control of our own lives.” Our PRIDE dictates that we maintain control of our own lives at all costs. We want to sing with Frank Sinatra, “I DID IT MY WAY!” It is MOST UN-NATURAL FOR US TO VOLUNTARILY HAND OVER CONTROL OF OUR LIVES TO SOMEONE ELSE – EVEN GOD! However, before God (The Holy Spirit) can perform His job within us – before He can do God’s Will in us and through us, we MUST HAND OVER TO HIM THE CONTROL OF OUR LIVES! In order to do this, we must come to the point of TRUSTING GOD ENOUGH TO GIVE CONTROL OVER TO HIM. We must come to the place where we truly believe that God Knows Best, wants the Very Best for us, and will DO THE VERY BEST FOR US! When we come to the point of “YIELDING CONTROL OF OUR LIVES TO GOD, then The Holy Spirit truly has the freedom to do God’s Will and Work in us and through us for God’s Glory and for our good!
When we Profess our “BELIEF” in Jesus Christ and accept Him as our Lord and Savior we instantly face another choice! It is a choice that will face us every minute of every day for the rest of our existence upon this earth! Every minute, in every situation, we will face the decision to follow the “Leading of “The Holy Spirit” or to follow our own self with its selfish desires. The Bible speaks of this as the “Flesh”! We cannot escape this decision, nor can we make it only once.
Every new circumstance, every new situation brings to us face to face with the “temptation” to follow the “flesh.” The demons of hell, the ways of the world, and other human beings will attempt to sway us to “follow our own desires” and to “satisfy our desires – now.” All of these say to us, “you need this,” “take it,” “enjoy it,” “you deserve it,” it’s good,” “it brings pleasure,” “it satisfies,” “it will make you better,” “it will make you stronger,” “it will make you younger-looking,” or “it will make you more beautiful or more handsome.” The emphasis will always be on “why wait,” “take it now,” “you deserve it – now!” The emphasis is always on “Me,” “My,” and “Mine,”
It is God’s Will for His Children to follow the Leading of The Holy Spirit. Clearly, it is much to our benefit to “surrender” – to “yield” to the on-going leadership of The Holy Spirit in our lives. Our failure to heed the Holy Spirit makes the consequences certain. To follow the selfish desires of “the flesh” leads to sin and sin leads to loss of fellowship with GOD and alienation from God. Sin always “erects a wall” between us and God – a “wall of separation.” This is a “wall” that we can erect but we cannot take it down. However, when we confess our sin, God will take it down and restore us to “Fellowship” with Him! In 1 John 1:9 we have this promise, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Note that when we “confess” our sin, God is “Faithful and Just” to forgive us and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness (sin).
I am so very grateful that this promise of forgiveness and cleansing is sure. If we will confess our sin God is Faithful and Justified to Forgive our sin – all of it, and to Cleanse us fully and completely. Although the devil and his demons will always try to “remind” us of our past, we need to live by faith and realize that once we have confessed our sin, God Forgives fully and cleanses completely AND OUR SIN IS GONE – FOREVER!
In the din of all of this “worldly attraction,” there is the “still, small voice” of THE HOLY SIRIT saying, “follow me.” To follow the Leading of THE HOLY SPIRIT brings about THE FRUITS of THE HOLY SPIRIT in our lives. We must learn to obey -- to turn to GOD – to surrender to HIM – to yield to HIM – to follow HIM in humble submission. We must WALK WITH GOD IN OBEDIENCE! JESUS stated in John 15:1-9, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. (2) He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. (3) You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. (4) Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. (5) "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (6) If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. (7) If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. (8) This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. (9) "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” Jesus emphasis, “Abide in ME and you will bear fruit.” JESUS goes on to stress that as we abide in HIM, we will bear fruit, more fruit, much fruit, and that our fruit will remain. (In other words, our fruit will not fall off prematurely but will remain to mature into useful and productive fruit.)
When The Holy Spirit is truly in control of our lives He is then free to produce His Fruit within us! Galatians 5:22-23 states, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Notice that in this list of the nine fruits of The Holy Spirit that Joy is listed as number two. Here are a few of the desires of God concerning His JOY within us.
God desires that His children have His “JOY” and live every day with Joy in our lives. In John 15:11-12 Jesus stated, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (12) My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
God desires that His JOY be protected within us so that no one can take it away from us! In John 16:22 Jesus stated, “So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.”
God also desires that His JOY be “Complete” in us. In John 16:24 Jesus states, “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”
And, God desires that we have His “Full Measure” of His JOY. In John 17:13 Jesus states in His prayer to His Father, “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.”
It is important to note that we are free to “retake” control of our own life from The Holy Spirit at any time. God created us as beings who have the right to freely choose for ourselves. God never interferes with The God-Given Ability that He gave us to freely and voluntarily make our own choices. When we do take back control of our own lives, we “Quench” or “Cut Off” the working of The Holy Spirit within us. We are admonished in 1 Thessalonians 5:19 “Do not quench the Spirit.” The NIV has an interesting way of stating this point. It states, “Do not put out the Spirit's fire.” In Ephesians 4:30 we read this instruction, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Clearly we are not to interfere, block, or otherwise hinder in any way the Work of The Holy Spirit in our lives. Although we are “free’ to retake control of our lives from The Holy Spirit, it not a wise move on our part to do so. For our own good, it is very wise to continue in a “Yielded State” to the leading and working of The Holy Spirit in our lives.
The key to “JOY” in our lives is found in “Surrendering” – “Yielding” control of our lives to The Lordship of Jesus Christ and The Leading of The Holy Spirit. In Romans 12:1-2 we read, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. (2) Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Jesus, as Lord of our lives will always perform God’s Will in us and through us. The Holy Spirit, as The Power of God will “activate” or “bring to pass” God’s Will in us and through us. Both Jesus and The Holy Spirit are free to “act” in our lives ONLY as we give them free access and control of our lives. God’s Will is always “BEST” for us. He always wants the very best for His Children. For “His Joy” to “Be Complete” in us, we must live a life of “Surrender” to Him.
Amen! Amen! Amen!
Pastor J. Gilbert Hammond