Worship
“Joy to the World (Joyful, Joyful)” by Phil Wickham
Scripture
“And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” -Luke 2:10, emphasis added
God’s Silence and His Faithful Promise
For 400 years, God had been silent. Not a word was uttered into the atmosphere to create new life or birth hope. The prophets were literally speechless. And the God of the universe revealed nothing new to His people. The Israelites had the Torah, creation testified of His glory, and they had the testimony of ages past of what God had done. But for 400 years, not one new word.
Then one dark night, Heaven broke open, and angels joyfully carried the message: GOOD NEWS IS COMING! They didn’t announce it to prophets or priests but to humble, stinky outcasts. Silence was broken. Revelation was coming. Hope was on its way. And the people were about to receive a great, great joy! A long-awaited joy was coming to Earth embodied in the Son of God.
Over 244 years, America was born and has grown up. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like if God had not spoken to her about her destiny, her calling for the world, her liberty, and her light as a beacon to the nations. America has taken the gospel to the ends of the Earth, and the Lord has seen our righteous offering. He has seen and He knows our sacrifices for the sake of the gospel. Good news was revealed to our nation, and we took Him to the north, south, east, and west. In comparison, can you imagine the Israelites, who for thousands of years had heard from God about their Promised Land, their deliverance, their coming Messiah, and then they must wait? And then God goes silent. Does it feel like that right now? What if the angels are getting ready to announce another message of great joy for us today?
I know that this year has been a pressure cooker for joy for the entire globe. These last few months have been a very pressing season for my heart. I have had to ask the Lord recently where my joy has gone because it seems to have gone missing all of a sudden. It is not because I don’t trust Him, am afraid of what is ahead for our nation, nor because He is not speaking. But when so much vies for our time and attention and affection, in all honesty, my joy has been the very thing that has been squelched. It’s been a serious year of waiting on the Lord, praying in intercession, believing God was redeeming all the shaking. And we had the words of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and the words of prophets. And we wait in expectation for our Jesus to come. And He speaks.
“‘For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.’” -John 6:38-39
He came to us. We received His good news. It transformed our lives. He exchanged our sorrow for His joy. He exchanged our hopelessness for His hope. He’s not going to lose one of us; we are His forever. Good news came to us at the first Christmas, and it comes to us over and over and over again. He came for us, called us His own, and is coming back for us. Our joy will remain. Our joy, the very person of Jesus, will not be shaken!
I was doing a little research on the word “joy.” The word in the Greek means cheerfulness, gladness, exceeding (joy), the cause or occasion of joy; of persons who are one’s joy. One dictionary defines joy as:
“The passion or emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good; pleasurable feelings or emotions caused by success, good fortune, and the like, or by a rational prospect of possessing what we love or desire; gladness; exhilaration of spirits; delight.”
The Nature of Biblical Joy
Joy is more than an emotion; more than a just a good feeling. It’s who God is, the God who lives inside of us as followers of Jesus. It’s the overflow of Christ in us, the hope of glory. Joy is a person and a fruit of the Spirit and longs to be made manifest in our lives for the sake of the world. When it was announced that good news was coming with accompanying great joy, it’s because it was true. The angels could have put any attribute of God in that space. They could have added peace or hope or intimacy. But they spoke of the joy that was going to be released to us because they knew this was the one thing that Heaven exploded with and that for all of eternity we would live it. Heaven comes to Earth with great, great joy—at the manger, at the cross, and at our resurrection.
“But the angel reassured them, saying, ‘Don’t be afraid. For I have come to bring you good news, the most joyous news the world has ever heard! And it is for everyone everywhere!’” -Luke 2:10, TPT, emphasis added
Beloved, in spite of this year of crazy and the probability of more crazy ahead, we can still have joy. It’s at our disposal freely, regardless of suffering and pain because it comes from Him who gives it to us in abundance and in great depth. I think these moments in life (these pressure cooker seasons) are when we actually begin to discover what joy actually is and how much we get to live from this place of being continually connected to our Joy Giver. Faith positions us in the receiving. In spite of what our souls experience, we believe the One who is faithful to the end. And in that moment when our eyes are fixed on Him, we can receive joy. Nothing may change in our circumstances, but we fix our eyes and our hearts on Jesus, the very person of joy.
1. Joy in Times of Anxiety
“When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.” -Psalm 94:19, ESV
2. Joy as Testimony
“Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.'” -Psalm 126:2, ESV
3. Joy Through Trust
“Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever. They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.” -Psalm 112:6-7, ESV
Finding Joy in Every Season
“She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” -Proverbs 31:25
“The Father absolutely wants to surprise us with the power of His joy in new and undiscovered dimensions. Literally destroying the false perceptions of what joy should look like in our lives, and even the limits and restrictions we have placed on it. I believe that it is the Father’s heart that we rediscover fresh joy as the Body of Christ. There are deposits of Heaven’s joy that are here to match whatever comes in our generation, and we are invited to lean into and cooperate with His Kingdom and His presence, making room and responding to the invitation to journey with Him and become everything He intends for us to become. This requires us to position ourselves and lean in—responding in order to have the greatest capacity for joy that God intends for us, increasing in our ability to receive it, and closing pathways that cause it to be diverted or depleted in our lives. This is our part of the partnership. His commitment is to supply joy without cost, and without limits.” -Roland Worton, “The Surprising Power of Joy”
As we celebrate Christmas this year with an invitation to enter into great joy, I pray that Heaven opens over you and your family. It’s time for us to return to joy! I pray that God gives you moments of deep gratitude that heal the places in your heart that are tired and worn out and discouraged. I pray that you overflow this Christmas in even greater joy because the most joyous One lives in you. I pray that His presence overwhelms you this Christmas and that your soul is restored by Him, who lays you beside quiet waters and speaks tenderly to you. I pray that the very thieves of your joy would be made to return it to you 100-fold, and you would sing and dance and rejoice into the crossover of 2021! I pray all of this in the powerful and joyous name of Jesus!
Go and love the world with good news this Christmas, accompanied with great joy of the One who lives joyfully in you!
Merry Christmas!
P.S. If you have not ordered “Arise My Darling” in preparation for January 1, order your copy now! We will be joyfully traversing through 31 days of intimate encounter and fasting together with Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit. Please ask the Lord to bring to mind at least one other woman to invite to join you on this journey. We need to position our hunger and longing hearts before Him in preparation for 2021.
