Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.
—Psalm 37:4 (NLT)
Do you find joy in knowing Jesus Christ?
This verse says to “take delight in the Lord.” When you take something, you possess it. You own it. Joy is yours in Jesus. The Holy Spirit calls for you to take it—to own the joy Jesus has given you. He didn’t give His life for you to wrestle with shame and live in fear. Jesus wants you to possess what He possessed for you—to take ownership of what is yours through grace. Joy in Him. Righteousness in Him. Freedom in Him. Strength in Him. Peace in Him. Rest in Him. To own any of these truths, you understand the value they bring to your life. You grasp the change they make. You believe by faith that they are yours.
“Always be full of joy in the Lord,” Paul wrote. “I say it again—rejoice” (Philippians 4:4, NLT).
In Philippians 4:3, Paul tells the Philippians that when they choose to take delight in Jesus, they receive His benefits. In Philippians 4:4, he tells them to be full of joy in the Lord, and then he emphasizes its importance by reminding them once more to be full of joy.
Taking delight in the Lord—being full of joy in the Lord isn’t a feeling. It is a decision. You take something when you choose it. And your attitude determines the value of your gift. The enemy throws everything he can at you to steal your joy. But when you choose to believe and praise Jesus for His righteousness—His freedom—His strength—His peace—His rest, then they are yours. When you take delight in them, they are real to you. When you believe in your mind—when you take on the new identity Jesus has purchased for you, you own that identity. You possess it. You take delight in the joy of your salvation.
Jesus knows your heart’s desires. He placed His own desires within you the moment you were born again. He fulfilled them in the spiritual realm the moment you believed in Him. For you to realize what this means in your life, the Holy Spirit changes your understanding. He renews your thoughts and your mind with God’s truth. He transforms your understanding from the natural realm to the spiritual realm. You no longer believe what the natural realm says is true. You believe what God says is true. You believe what can’t be seen, heard, or felt.
The evidence of God’s truth exists in the spiritual realm. Your feelings and what you perceive with your natural mind are of the flesh. This is why you can only understand God’s truth spiritually, and why you speak with Him spirit to spirit.
“The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10, NLT)!
You own joy from a position of strength. Joy is yours when you believe the worth and value Jesus has placed on your life. And when you know His value in your life, you can “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power,” (Ephesians 6:10, NLT). God’s truth becomes real for you when you choose to believe it—when you take possession of it and make it your own.
Over two thousand years ago, Jesus declared you were His heart’s desire. Make Him your heart’s desire. Allow the truth of God’s righteousness that is yours in Christ to change your perception of who you are. And be transformed by that truth. Believe in the change He brings in your life. Take all His truth as your own—not just some of it. Take it all. He died for you to have it.
“These things I have spoken to you,” Jesus told the disciples, “that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11, NKJV).
Choose His joy. Possess it. It is not an earthly feeling which will pass away. It is His truth. Possess what He possessed for you.
© 2022 Lynn Lacher
www.lynnlacher.com/2022/09/possess-His-joy.html
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