Jesus delights in seeing everyone who believes in His Name being joyful. He came for this very purpose to the world. An angel declared at the time of his birth to a group of shepherds, as they watched over their sheep at night:“ .. Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.”
Luke 2:10 NKJV
These shepherds became the carriers of God’s message, which later brought His prosperity to the world. They’d trained themselves not only to listen attentively to each sheep, but they had learned to joyfully care for each one of them. The sheep trusted the shepherds. They had faith in the words which the shepherds used, to groom them into maturity.
As Jesus later said about the True Shepherd:
“To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
John 10:3-5 NKJV
The shepherds on the field who had received with faith and joy the good news to all men, were doing exactly what Jesus came to the earth to do for His own sheep. They had spent enough time with their sheep in the field, so as to be able to identify with each one of them. Jesus is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11, 14-16). He gave His life so that every believers in His Name, may have access to eternal life with Him. The joy of spending eternal life with the Good Shepherd, is at the center of the Christian message to all nations.
Jesus came to give us the joy that lasts beyond the life on this earth into eternity with Him. Eternal life with God is something that is unattainable to those, who put their faith in this world of sin. Joy is a spiritual force. The devil can’t give joy, because he does not have it. It is a spiritual power which is available to those, who do believe in the Name of Jesus. Joy is given to them in overcoming everything, that the devil throws across their pathway on the earth.
In declaring His mission to the world of spreading His joy to all the earth, Jesus first of all sowed His life into the vision, which the Father had given Him to accomplish on the earth. If you therefore do truly believe in spreading the joy of knowing Christ to the world, you will have to sow your life into it. You will have to separate yourself from the world of sin, so as to be solely focused on spreading the joy of knowing Christ. The good news of Jesus is the good news of joy.
By sowing your life into the mission of spreading the joy of salvation, you’re positioning yourself to become a world changer with Jesus. Not only that, but the angels are rejoicing over every life, that you are spreading the joy of knowing Christ to (Luke 15:10). Also every time that you are taking the Holy Communion, you’re reminded of the urgency and the joy in Christ Jesus, as He gave His life on the cross for us. He said:
“ .. With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
Luke 22:15-16 NKJV
A fervent desire is an urgent one that is delightful. Jesus was delighted to give His life for us all. Partaking in the Holy communion is therefore a joyful spiritual experience. It is far beyond the experience of the religious tradition of men.
The message of Christ is the gospel of joy
How did Jesus accomplish everything that He did on the earth? He said it in His own words that:
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
Luke 4:18-19 NKJV
These was His joyful message to the world. Every one who will believe in His message today, receives the joy that comes with it. Jesus gave joy to the world through the words that He spoke. It was with the spoken words that God created all things on the earth. And words are seeds. Jesus as the Son of Man showed us, how we can do the miracles that He did with spoken words. He became the perfect example for us to follow. You can’t save those who are lost, heal the sick and deliver the captives; if you are not being joyful with the spoken words from your mouth.
And it’s important to note that the devil uses his own words also, as the evil seed to hinder the joy of the believer from manifesting in power. The seed of the devil comes with his lies and deceptions, to prevent the Holy Spirit from making you joyful in the midst of the trials of your faith (James 1:2). You do however have the choice of rejecting the evil seed of the devil, that often comes through the thoughts, which are often being entertained by many people.
As a child of God you don’t ever have to be entertaining evil thoughts at all. Jesus came to the world for the purpose of destroying the works of the devil. The Word of God that was personified on the earth, came to destroy the words and the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). The devil had been defeated already by Jesus. You have no business buying into his lies and deceptions.
You are victorious over the devil, because of Christ’s victory on the cross for you (1 John 5:4-5). And you can only affirm that victory with joy on this earth. You need the joy of the Lord to be able to affirm your victory over the devil on the earth. You need to be joyful always, if you’re going to stand firmly and boldly in the freedom that Christ had given to you (Galatians 5:1).
You can bring the joy of the Lord upon yourself, to destroy the words and the works of the devil, with your own spoken words. The devil uses the thoughts of evil, depression and sadness to steal joy from the heart of a believer in Christ Jesus. But you will need to be imitating Christ, by testifying about the good news which was given to the world, so that you can counteract the thoughts and words of the enemy.
You can’t be joyful by just taking a thought about joy. Joy needs to be expressed with words and bodily expressions. Joy comes to you in the power of the Holy Spirit to save, heal and deliver. Everything that God in Christ Jesus does for you, brings joy with it into your heart. And that joy is permanent. Joy is the expression of your prosperity on the earth (3 John 1:2-4). Joy that is constantly being expressed is contagious. It spreads and affects all those who are witnesses of it being expressed.
Sowing in joy brings the harvest
David said:
“Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.”
Psalms 37:4 NKJV
When you are delighting yourself in the Lord, you’re actually rejoicing before Him. Delightful expression is a joyful expression. It is a spiritual exercise that moves God’s hand to favor you.
You see, your joy as a Christian gladdens the heart of your Heavenly Father. God is always thrilled to see His children on the earth rejoicing, especially in the midst of everything that, the devil is doing to steal that joy away from them. Being joyful as a Christian in the midst of trials and troubles, makes God so excited to move in doing something on your behalf in changing your situation in life. God is moved to favor you in life, because of the expression of your joy.
Joy is one of the righteous virtues in the life of a Christian, that needs to be evident whenever he is sowing seed. Your harvest increases and multiplies when you are joyful in sowing. As Paul once told the Corinthians:
“But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”
II Corinthians 9:6-8 NKJV
A grudging or necessity sower is not joyful. Such a sowing activity comes out of pity and not compassion. Such a sower should never expect the grace of God, to increase and abound into prosperity and the harvest for him. Grace is only available whenever we use our faith to sow words or finances joyfully before the Lord.
But a cheerful sower or giver is prosperous. He has the favor of God over his life and over the seed in his hand as he sows. God loves such a sower. The harvest of a joyful sower can never be curtailed. His harvest is unmeasurable, as long as the joy of sowing and reaping is constantly being expressed through his life. He is the only one who can stop the overflow of the Lord’s prosperity in his life. All that he will have to do is to stop being joyful.
Sowing seeds does not necessarily pertains to financial seed alone. Words are seeds (Mark 4:14). But you can’t be a truthful financial sower into the Kingdom of God, if it’s not joyful with the spoken words that goes with the sowing of the financial seed from your heart.
You can’t be fussing your face with the seed in your hand, while wondering whether it’s the right thing to do or not; but still expect God to bless you. No, there is no harvest for a fussing sower or giver. God loves a cheerful and joyful giver.
Attitude is everything in the Kingdom of God. God looks at the attitude of the heart in the sower. It’s not about the quantity of the seed, but the attitude of the heart in sowing. You can definitely obey God without a willing heart. It will only hinder your harvest, even though you’re being obedient to Him. A willing heart expresses the joy of the Holy Spirit, as a righteous man sows (Isaiah 1:19).
Have you ever seen a preacher of the gospel who is not joyful while preaching? He can’t even get people’s hope lifted up, not to even mention about saving souls. His preaching brings depression instead of joy, laughter, salvation, healing and deliverance to those listening to him. The sick begins to get sicker and the poor gets poorer. Those who are oppressed and depressed will start acting under the influence of the demons, that the negative words which has been sowed by such a preacher has attracted over their lives, as they start exercising faith in those lies of the devil.
A joyful preacher of the gospel reaps salvation, healing, deliverance and prosperity in the lives of the receivers of his words. Jesus told us what a good preaching does to those who are listening. They are not supposed to be figuring out if they are going to be saved, healed or delivered. No, they’ve come to listen with a heart of expectancy, full of faith and love for what Jesus is about to do for them. And by being joyful in sowing words to help them in believing God for their breakthroughs, the fire of God is being ignited in their hearts for miracles, signs and wonders.
That’s why Jesus said:
“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”
John 15:11 NKJV
Jesus does not only want you to have joy. He wants your joy to be full and complete also. Jesus is the joy Sower. His words to us are the seeds of joy, that has been given to us. He gave you the Holy Spirit, so that you can live joyfully before God. The joy of the Lord is what gives physical and spiritual strength to the sower of the seed (Nehemiah 8:10). You can’t be defeated when you are walking in the joy of the Lord. The devil can’t stand before a joyful believer.
You are enjoying life to the fullest by being joyful
It is the joy of the Lord that makes it possible for you to live life to the fullest. Joy gives you a long life with a healthy body. As the Apostle Peter said while preaching the first message, to bring in the first harvest of souls into the early Church at Jerusalem:
“You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’”
Acts 2:28 NIV
You can’t be in the presence of the Lord without being joyful. Joy from your heart is what moves Him to get your attention. It’s just like every earthly father will always rejoice to see his children being joyful. An earthly father is never joyful to see his children sad, not to even mention about your Heavenly Father.
Being joyful makes you strong in the Lord. It makes you ready and willing to obey God at all times. The lack of joy will drain you of both physical and spiritual strength. Joy heals the physical body. It also gives you a perfect spiritual and physical health (Proverbs 3:8).
A joyful heart is open to receive from the Lord. Joy opens your heart to know God more. You are able to tap into the mysteries of God with the joy of the Lord. Joy brings God’s glory into your life. It causes His grace to increase over your life; thereby empowering you to do greater exploits in the Kingdom of God.
As Moses said:
“And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.”
Deuteronomy 12:7 NKJV
There is abundant prosperity and riches available to the joyful sower. Joy is the godly attitude that makes heaven on the earth a reality to you. Delighting yourself in the Lord and in His word will trigger the joy of the Holy Spirit in your life. It’s the way you can live God’s Kingdom on the earth, and to become successful in life (Romans 14:17). So cultivate the habit of being joyful in whatever you are doing. No matter what the situation may look like, you can change it to favor your prosperity by being joyful.
