JOY AND HAPPINESS

JOY AND HAPPINESS

There is a distinct difference between JOY and HAPPINESS.

HAPPINESS is situational.  Typically, you feel happy because of something that has occurred.  For example, you might have received a compliment, a gift, a promotion, or an introduction to someone special – which causes you to break out into your HAPPY DANCE!

JOY is a profoundly different phenomenon.  The Word decrees that “the joy of the Lord is my strength” and “with joy (we) draw water from the wells of salvation.”  Furthermore, it advises us to “count it all joy” when encountering challenges or opposition.  This is not some superficial suggestion that we maintain a vague happy feeling or smiley face in the midst of problematic situations.  (Nehemiah 8:10 – Isaiah12:3 – James 1:2-3)

Here’s what the Holy Spirit has revealed concerning joy.  “JOY is the ASSURANCE that CHRIST is at the CENTER of my CIRCUMSTANCES.”  It bears repetition: “JOY is the ASSURANCE that CHRIST is at the CENTER of my CIRCUMSTANCES.”  In that sense, JOY and PEACE are first-cousins.  Based on CONFIDENCE in the COVENANT PROMISES OF GOD, we maintain FULL FAITH that HE will come through for us – no matter what we are presently experiencing. (Hebrews 10:35)  To wit, JOY and PEACE are derivatives of DIVINE ASSURANCE.

Allow me to be transparent.  I cannot honestly say that I am HAPPY all the time.  But deep in my heart, I always maintain a RESERVOIR OF JOY because I know that HE KNOWS, and I know that HE CARES.  The famed blind hymn composer, Fanny J. Crosby, stated it far more eloquently than I.  In her words, JOY is “BLESSED ASSURANCE [that] JESUS IS MINE – oh, what a foretaste of glory divine.”  So even in the midst of pain or sorrow, SPIRIT BREATHED JOY enables me to SING: “This is my story, this is my song – praising my Savior all the day long!” [Blessed Assurance – Fanny J. Crosby]

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!