Today’s Scripture: John 16:22, NKJV- “Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.”
Jesus knew of the horrors and evil we would face. He nailed it when advising His apostles that “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.” John 16:2 (NKJV) We see this in Israel and around the world today. As Jesus pointed out in John 16:3 there are those who do these things because they do not know God nor Jesus.
The good news is that Jesus is the Good News with great joy. Two days before Jesus was nailed to the cross, He warned the apostles of the sorrows that would be seen. Then He promised that we would see Him again and our hearts would rejoice. Have you experienced the joy of Jesus in Your heart? When we get to know Jesus and His Father and receive them into our hearts this is truly a joy that cannot be taken away from us by anyone or anything.
In John 15:10-11, Jesus promised us that if we keep His commands and abide in His love our joy would be complete. The joy of Jesus is a joy that no one can take away from us. In John 15:12 Jesus made it clear that His commandment we are to keep is that we love each other as He has loved us.
When we seek to be Jesus’ friend, we can lay our lives down for others. Jesus fills us with a love that only the Father knows. When we cry out and ask The Father to know His kind of love, He will give it to us. The type of love required of us only comes from Jesus and God the Father. In John 15:17 Jesus tells us “These things I command you, that you love one another.”
In John 15:18 Jesus knew the hatred the world would have against God’s people and said, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.” John 15:19 instructed us that “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
In the face of this world’s hatred, now is the time to get closer to Jesus. Jesus went to the Father so we could receive the Comforter in the Holy Spirit. As promised in John 16:8, the Holy Spirit within us proves the world to be in the wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Spirit of truth has come, and He guides us into all truth. The Holy Spirit in us glorifies Jesus.
We do not need to understand we must only receive. What we receive is comfort and joy this world does not understand. The Father will give us what we ask for to turn our grief to joy. In fact, in John 16:24 Jesus instructs us to “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”
When we love Jesus more than this world, we come to know the promise of Jesus in John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (NIV)
When we put our faith in Jesus and receive Him into our hearts, we receive a joy that can never be taken from us. Will we choose the world or Jesus today?
Have you experienced this joy?
Today’s Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for Jesus. Everything I have is a gift from You. I belong to You and am filled with the joy of Your Holy Spirit. I give myself entirely to You God and go into the world as Jesus has sent me. Jesus and Your Holy Spirit please comfort us with Your boundless joy that is complete. Thank you for this overflowing joy that no one can take from us. In the name of Jesus, we do pray, Amen.
Reprint of Page 361 in Every Affirmation you will ever need available on Amazon. https://a.co/d/7iOAYlV
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