Psalm 16:11 “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
There is a real difference between what the world calls happiness and Biblical joy. Some Christians think they are the same thing.
Happiness is largely based on circumstances. When everything seems to be going right, most people are happy. Their happiness can quickly end when the good circumstances change. This is not at all what the Bible talks about when it speaks about joy.
When your “happiness” depends solely on your circumstances, it will cause you to have a wavering Christian life. It also means that you are looking to the wrong things to make you happy.
Instead, Christian joy is not based on circumstances. Because of this difference, you can have joy much of the time – regardless of what is happening. Paul even talked about having joy while in a Roman prison – which certainly was not a pleasant place to be.
Biblical joy is given by the Holy Spirit – it is one of His fruits. When a believer is in tune with the Spirit (surrendered to do His will), all of the fruit of the Spirit will naturally be present.
Before He left to go back to Heaven, our Lord told us that He wants His people to have the same joy that He enjoys. It is part of His prayer in John 17, verse 13: “And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”
Notice also that the text verse says: “in thy presence is fulness of joy.” It means that by spending more time in the Word and in the prayer closet, you can enjoy more of His joy in your life. And remember that “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10) – which makes it easier to serve our Lord.
Christian, is your prayer closet only collecting dust?