2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 2
I have come to realize that I have created an error in all the years I have been blogging. Simply put I have not blogged about the Christian joy I have mentioned joy many times but never really dedicated a blog about the Christian joy something that I will correct here today. Below is the Merriam Webster online dictionary definition of joy.
joy
2 of 2
verb
joyed; joying; joys
Intransitive verb
: to experience great pleasure or delight : REJOICE
Transitive verb
1
archaic: GLADDEN
2
archaic: ENJOY
I picked the above definition for two reasons. One I wanted the verb definition and secondly because one of its explanation of the word joy which is to “Rejoice.” As Christians we see this word throughout the bible. I did a little research and found that the word “rejoice” appears 282 times in the bible in 12 different translations meaning King James, Revised Standard, New International just to mention a few.
Then I asked Bing the same question about joy. Apparently some Biblical scholars feel that the word “joy” appears 430 times as others say that it appears 224 times. Regardless the word joy appears a lot in the bible.
In my opinion the Christian joy comes from the Holy Spirit especially when we have a closer walk with Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, when we read the bible, when we pray or what I like to do at times just plain talk to Him. Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior is with all the time so sometimes I just talk to Him about all things.
There are some people that say that Christian joy should come from those times of trials and suffering. That we should know that it is God’s way to cultivate patience and the endurance in us. Endurance would be how we hold up in the trial or suffering..
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, James 1:2
I don’t know about my Christian brothers and sisters but I am horrible at these trials all I do is keep praying for help and guidance. I find frustration and not joy I guess I got some more trials and sufferings to go through…heavy sigh.
I am reminded of a phrase in the Christian religion that says “The Christian is always in the Lord and the Lord is always in the Christian.” Simply put Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior is always with us He will never forsake us or leave us. So even through the worst of times Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior is always with us a reason to have joy.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Philippians 4:4
Remember:
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NIV
God bless all that read this with His love, light, grace, mercy, and wisdom in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Revelation 22:21