“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12 NIV
Could a key to our daily walk, really be this simple?
Being joyful in hope: How important is this, as we fight to maintain our walk with Jesus, while living in the world?
Joy, by definition, is “a feeling of great pleasure and happiness” Why then, would this be a key to a successful daily walk with our Lord? As we strive to live our lives as close to the way Jesus lived his, we must recognize he is filled with joy.
He says, while praying for his apostles on the night he was arrested “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.” John 17:13 NIV Jesus wants us all to have the full measure of his joy within us, it’s really that simple.
David said, when praying to God in repentance after the fall with Bathsheba, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Psalm 51:12 NIV David sought the joy of the Lord, in what is arguably his biggest failing.
Hope is “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen”
Paul writes, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV
John also writes, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.” 1 John 1 :1-4 NIV
Joy plays a significant role in our ability to walk with God and remain in him, while still in the world. By John’s writing above we can be sure of this: Hope has a name – Jesus!
So, being joyful in hope can be expressed like this: Take great pleasure and have happiness always, and have great expectation – in and only in Christ Jesus our Lord. It starts with Jesus, as all things do. He does not want our walk with him to be complicated- praise him – he makes following him easy.
For us to have a committed walk with him, he asked we be “joyful in him”.
It really is that simple…..
May we all have the full measure of his joy in us today, and be “joyful in hope”
Barnabas
Special thanks for this submission by guest blogger – Barnabas
God has made everything about our walk as simple as possible so that “The wayfaring man, tho’ a fool, should not err therein”. We made His way difficult for ourselves and others that we might find a place to “glory” in OUR achievements.