Comments on: The Fountainhead

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:12:29 +0000

This is a beautiful picture. I have been learning a lot about joy this year away from home. The Lord has been teaching that freedom breeds joy and freedom is fun. Its funny though that the more I learn the more silly and uneducated I seem. The Lord has so much to offer us. Me, Dar, and Adi were just talking about this: He has so many great things in store for us, now its our decision to get on the wagon and join the party. the Revolution is definitely a party even though there’s a lot of hard work involved. But the joy comes from all the hard work that the Lord does through us and the way that He uses us in the lives of people.

By: lbeech

lbeech — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:50:35 +0000

Strange – during one of the darkest days in my Christian walk – I would contemplate Psalm 51.

Verse 12: Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

I never drew the connection between joy and the active presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life. It seems so obvious now. The thing that is more clear than ever is that God respects free will – if you don’t want him to transform you or to use you in his plan of redemption – then God totally respects that.

This is why David asked for a willing Spirit to sustain him. He knew that without having a spirit that was "on board" with God, then he would not experience the joy of living such an abundant life.

The real clincher here is that David realized that a life lived in the joy – in the presence of the spirit – is a life that turns sinners back to God. True joy is complete when sinners are reconciled with God and when we as brothers and sisters live with purpose in unity and in love. David desired that in spite of his set backs (ie Bathseba, Uriah, etc).
So how again – I ask – how does one sustain "fighting the good fight?" It seems that the will to continue to fight does not come from the one’s self, rather the will to continue the fight comes from the sustaining empowerment of the Holy Spirit who will not over-power our self-will. We must cede our will to Him. Depending upon the endwelling of the Spirit and upon the power and authority given to Christ, we need to ask for our will to become as the Father’s will. When our will is aligned with His – our joy becomes complete – completed through the process of redeeming the lost. (John 16)

Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

So this idea of joy becoming complete – seems to imply that joy is a progression from immature to mature which is only possible through the intervening ministry of the spirit. Am I understanding this correctly?

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:57:19 +0000

You are explaining biblical joy in a way that I’ve never heard before – examining how it is intertwined throughout the scriptures.

I’m surprised there are no comments on this article, however, maybe I shouldn’t be. Joy is something that is abstract and foreign to me most of the time and I would guess that it is that way for most other Christians.

Joy, like wisdom and God’s mysteries, involve active dependence on God. I see the paraellel between joy and the Christian faith walk – we must rely on God to revolt against the world.