THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL
Cameron Gregory
“May the God of hope fill you with all JOY and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may OVERFLOW with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13
Just as it says in John 15, when Jesus shows us the vivid picture of the beautiful union between the vine and the branch, when we abide, joy is completely full and overflowing! I love what it says in 1 Peter 1:8-9,
“8 Although you haven’t seen Jesus, you still love Him. Although you don’t yet see Him, you do believe in Him and celebrate with a joy that is glorious and beyond words. 9 You are receiving the salvation of your souls as the result of your faith.”
Joy is gladness not based on circumstance! The joy of the Lord is our strength! There is a difference between the “World’s joy” and the “Lord’s joy”! Jesus tells us to abide in Him so that His joy may be fulfilled in us! He knew the importance of JOY! Joy that stems from a union of LOVE- where both parties know they are kept - and each one knowing its role and purpose! Union with HIM is so important! We can then live out of the overflow of TRUE joy - so that others may experience it and come to know the saving grace and sweet joys of knowing the Holy Spirit - in intimate relationship and communion with the Father! Hallelujah!
Meditate on these scriptures below on abiding and the benefits of having His true joy flowing through you! God loves you so much and he wants to fellowship with you!
John 15:5-14
5 “I am the sprouting vine and you’re my branches.[e] As you live in union with me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you—but when you live separated from me you are powerless. 6 If a person is separated from me, he is discarded; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire to be burned. 7 But if you live in life-union with me and if my words[f] live powerfully[g] within you—then you can ask whatever you desire and it will be done. 8 When your lives bear abundant fruit, you demonstrate that you are my mature disciples who glorify my Father!
9 “I love each of you with the same love that the Father loves me. You must continually let my love nourish your hearts. 10 If you keep my commands, you will live in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands, for I continually live nourished and empowered by his love. 11 My purpose for telling you these things is so that the joy that I experience will fill your hearts with overflowing gladness!
12 “So this is my command: Love each other deeply, as much as I have loved you.[h]13 For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life[i] for his friends.
14 “You show that you are my intimate friends when you obey[j] all[k] that I command you.
John 16:20-24
20 I tell you the truth, a time is approaching when you will weep and mourn while the world is celebrating. You will grieve, but that grief will give birth to great joy. 21-22 In the same way that a woman labors in great pain during childbirth only to forget the intensity of the pain when she holds her child, when I return, your labored grief will also change into a joy that cannot be stolen.
23 When all this transpires, you will finally have the answers you have been seeking. I tell you the truth, anything you ask of the Father in My name, He will give to you. 24 Until this moment, you have not sought after anything in My name. Ask and you will receive so that you will be filled with joy.