Skip to main content

IBS 65 - Psalm 9:1-2

Psalm 9:1-2
“I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart. I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you: I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.”


The Bible is full of verses that talk about being glad (joyful) and rejoicing.
  • Psalm 100:2 “Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.”
  • Psalm 33:1 “Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.”
  • Habakkuk 3:18 “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”
  • Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

These are just a few of the verses that I’ve found that have convicted me. It’s easy to put on a smile and fake a laugh, but it’s impossible to put on the joy of the Lord that people see and desire. Christians who are truly devoted to Christ have the joy of the Lord in their hearts. They may have bad days and be sad or upset, but they have a joy deep down that will never leave. Joy is not a feeling you, it’s not “happy”. Joy lasts forever. When someone has joy, you can see it on their face. 
Growing up, being joyful has always been really easy. I was always smiling, knowing I had that joy. But recently, that joy has been fading. People haven’t seen that look of a godly joy on my face in a while. They’ve seen that smile that you can put on and that laugh that you can fake, but they haven’t seen the joy that I once had. 

This past week, God’s revealed to me in several different ways that I’ve been lacking joy. I don’t want to be lacking joy, so I’ve been praying and seeking God on this matter. The more that I read verses about joy, studying it, and asking for it, the more I can see that I’m gaining joy back. God’s been faithful in providing a change of heart and new eyes to see things differently. He’s been placing joy back in my heart and it’s been sweet. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

IBS 77 - Luke 1:37-38

Luke 1:37-38 “‘For no word from God will ever fail’. ‘I am the Lord’s servant’, Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’” Trust trust trust. God is faithful and true. He keeps his promises. He will not fail. I never have to doubt or wonder if he will come through. He is constantly showing throughout the Bible how he never fails. Daniel and the Lion’s Den. David and Goliath. God giving Noah the rainbow after the great flood. And there are many many more. God is also constantly showing me his faithfulness in my life. Providing the funds for Ignite, providing food and water, a place to rest, protection, and many many more things. Every day there is always something new that God shows me of how his word never fails. He will guide me and provide my essential needs wherever he will lead me.  Mary knew that God’s word never fails. That’s one of the reasons why God chose her to be the mother of Jesus. The angel Gabriel even greets her by saying, “Greetings, you who are...

IBS 70 - PSALM 51:8

Psalm 51:8 “Let me hear joy and gladness: let the bones you have crushed rejoice.” For a couple of years, people have talked to me about getting broken by God. About what it means for God to crush me. They’ve shared their stories of God breaking them and it always impacted me. Especially because they were so joyful, bringing praise to God so easily. I craved to have that type of joy and to be able to praise God the way they did. But I never wanted to go through the process of being broken. It’s a painful process that I didn’t want to have to endure. I said I wanted God to change me, but I wasn’t completely willing to change and to let Him break me. I didn’t want to surrender, and it became hard for me to praise God. I realized that my relationship with Christ wasn’t what it needed to be, but I wasn’t willing to let God do His work in me. My spirit craved to be broken and to draw near to God, but my flesh refused and fought God so hard.  Through the years, God put people ...

IBS 54 - 2 Timothy 2:2

2 Timothy 2:2 “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” Entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. I desire to be someone who can be entrusted. I want people to know they can come to me with anything and trust me. There are always those people who you know you can’t trust with anything. I used to be one of those people. It might not have been that people knew they couldn’t trust me. But I knew they couldn’t. Whatever they told me, I’d go and tell my friends. I wasn’t someone who trustworthy or reliable.  I’ve changed though, thankfully. I’ve learned to be trustworthy. I’ve learned it’s better to have people trust you then not. I’ve learned the hurt and experienced the discipline of not being trustworthy. My eyes have been opened to the damage it causes when someone comes to me wanting to trust me and rely on me, and I turn around and gossip ab...