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Friday, January 14, 2022

And, Yes, Joy



 

Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

—Isaiah 12:3 (NKJV)

 

Joy comes from what we believe and not from what we experience. We draw from our salvation with joy.

 

Salvation is within us. In our born-again spirits, we are new creations in Christ. All things are new. Joy comes from the new person Christ has created us to be. When we lack joy in our lives, we lack knowledge and belief of this new person we are in Christ. But when we live believing by faith—when we walk by faith and not by sight, we draw from what is within us. We rejoice with praise. When we really believe God, we have joy. 

 

“Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8, NKJV).

 

Peter had walked with Jesus every day for three years. He had heard Jesus speak and perform miracles. Peter had even beheld the transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:1-9). But none of these experiences kept Peter from denying Christ (Matthew 26:69-75, Mark 14:66-72, Luke 22:55-62, and John 18:15-27).

 

Before Christ’s resurrection, the disciples had only known Christ in the flesh and not through the spirit (2 Corinthians 5:16). When Peter rejoices in 1 Peter 1:8 with “joy inexpressible and full of glory” he is walking by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). With joy, he is drawing from the wells of his salvation. Knowing Jesus by faith is greater than knowing Him by what we sense. When we have to feel or see to believe something, we are not walking by faith. 

 

“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38, NKJ).

 

The river of living water that flows out of our born-again spirits produces fruit in our lives. Galatians 5:22-23 says that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” These qualities are nothing that our flesh produces but should flow from within us—just like an artesian well. For these to flow in our lives, we have to conform our thinking to God’s Word (Proverbs 23:7; Isaiah 26:3; Romans 8:6, and 12:2). When we conform our thinking to His Word, we begin to believe in our hearts the new creation we are in Christ. 

 

Rivers of living water flow in your life when the new person you have become in your spirit is believed in your heart. Be renewed by the Word to believe (Romans 12:2). Walk by faith and not by sight, and draw from the well of your salvation. Out of the new creation you are in Christ flows rivers of living water. Love, peace, and, yes, joy! Believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory!

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/01/and-yes-joy.html

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