JOY
Christmas time is here and as they say, it is the time of GOOD CHEER!
Christmas songs sing ‘it’s the most wonderful time of the year!’ ‘May your days be merry and bright and may all your Christmas’s be white.’ Everything sounds perfect and the expectation of Christmas is that everything is RIGHT and everyone is HAPPY.
But…until Christmas Day, we are all busy busy busy to be sure everything is just right. Some may even work extra hours to be able to provide Christmas gifts for their family and friends. It’s the late nights wrapping many presents, or making that list and checking it twice. We also try not to forget to pay our shopping bills or at least keep track of the “Christmas Budget”. There are meals to plan, and homes to decorate and make cozy for guests.
It’s the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. Let me ask you a question, in all of the hustle and bustle, are you hosting the most important thing, JOY?
Joy is the essential ingredient to what makes Christmas and this season so meaningful. Joy is what truly makes everything JUST RIGHT.
Have you ever been in store while shopping this year where a person was so joyful that it was like a spark of joy in the room?
Have you ever felt joy because someone was full of cheer, and when you were around them it was contagious?
Have you ever been in a conversation where the joy was just sucked right out of you?
These things I know about JOY
Joy comes from Jesus
Joy can change the atmosphere
Joy can be contagious
Joy can be lost
The Joy that we have access to comes from Jesus.
We have Joy because Jesus is JOY
It says in Luke 2:10-11 “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great Joy to all people. The Savior- yes, the Messiah, the Lord has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David.”
The Bible also states… Joy to the World the Lord has come!
Jesus is the JOY of the world and Jesus is the JOY for the world.
He is our gift of JOY and He is our source of JOY.
Jesus desires our life to be lived from a place of Joy that only He can provide. It starts in our minds and hearts, which He transforms and renews.
Dr. Caroline Leaf wrote in her book The Perfect You
“We need to develop the same mindset as Christ so that we create realities that are in alignment with God’s plan to bring heaven to earth.”
Joy starts in our mind then flows through us and flow out of us.
May we be filled with JOY from the inside-out this Christmas.
May we be filled with JOY for each day.
May we be filled with JOY for this season and cultivate Joy in every season.
Joy is powerful!
Joy can fill the room
Joy can fill a heart
Joy can fill a life
We can operate in Joy because of WHO is our source of Joy.
We can choose Joy every day when we decide in our mind to align with Christ and submit to His truth.
It says in John 15:11:
“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”
Also, John 17:13 says:
“But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.”
Joy is also a SOUND
Let’s talk about the song JOY TO THE WORLD. Have you ever really looked at the words of this song?
Let’s read the song Joy to the World together…
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing
Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy
No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found
Far as the curse is found
Far as, far as the curse is found
He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love
And wonders of His love
And wonders, wonders, of His love”
What an INCREDIBLE song! Jesus rules the world with truth, grace, righteousness, and love and the world sings, “Joy to the world”!
So, we can sing “Joy to the world"! Let that be our song of Joy this season.
It says in Psalm 68:3 “But let the godly rejoice. Let them be glad in God’s presence. Let them be filled with JOY.”
Let us also not forget that we have JOY in the presence of Jesus.
I encourage you to take time this Christmas to be in the presence of Jesus and be filled with JOY.
My hope is that you would be so FULL OF JOY that no one would be able to withdrawal it out of you!
My hope is that you would be so FULL of JOY in your homes that it runs over into your families.
My hope is that you would be so FULL OF JOY in your relationships that each encounter is like a refill of JOY.
I want to encourage you in this:
What has God given you to steward in this life? A business, a dream, a resource, a family, an opportunity to go to school or to go back to school, to lead, etc.
God has given us things to steward in this life, but to also steward with it with JOY.
Whatever God is calling you to do in this season or in the season to come let us not forget to steward it all with JOY.
Each person has a gift to offer this world, the choice is will it be delivered with JOY.
Let’s remember there wouldn’t be JOY without JESUS.
The wise men in Matthew 2:10 experienced joy when they saw the star confirming the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, it says “when they saw the star, they were filled with JOY!”
They probably sang, “Joy to the world the Lord has come!!! Let earth receive her King!”
We can have JOY in this Christmas season, but we can have ACCESS to JOY in every season.
Be blessed with unending Joy this Christmas.
Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Bethany Marshall
