1 Pet. 1:8 Whom having not seen, you love; into whom though not seeing Him at present, yet believing, you exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory
Phil. 4:11…I have learned, in whatever circumstances I am, to be content
The Lord is with us today (Matt. 28:20) but in a hidden, veiled way. His coming back will be His revelation, when He will be seen openly by all
Although we have never seen the Lord Jesus, we love Him. At present we cannot see Him, yet we believe in Him…We love Him whom we have not seen because of believing, that is, because of the faith that has been infused into us through our hearing of the living word (Gal. 3:2)
According to 1 Peter 1:8, the believers “exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.”…This joy is immersed in the Lord as glory; thus, it is full of the expression of the Lord. This joy is also unspeakable; it is a joy that is beyond our ability to utter…By believing into the Lord and loving Him, we obtain great joy. The normal condition of a Christian is to “exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.” (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp
3854-3855)
Today’s Reading
Romans 14:17 says, “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Righteousness is toward ourselves, peace is toward others, and joy is toward God in the Holy Spirit. We need to be joyful in the spirit. A Christian must be a joyful person. This does not mean that our circumstances will be wonderful
It may actually mean that we are in a “furnace,” like the three friends of Daniel (Dan. 3:19-20, 25). They were in the blazing furnace, but they were still joyful. Our surroundings and circumstances may be miserable, but we ourselves must be joyful. If between us and God there is no joy, we are wrong. If we are right with God, there will always be joy, even if we are suffering. When the apostles Paul and Silas were put into prison, their surroundings were terrible, but they were joyful (Acts 16:23-25). To their feeling they were not in the jail but in God. To them, the jail was simply the representative of God, and they were in Him (Eph. 4:1). Therefore, they were joyful
When we are burning in our spirit and joyful in the Holy Spirit, we enjoy God, reign as kings in life, walk in newness of life, and serve in newness of spirit. In our service we will not give people a feeling of oldness. Rather,…we will always give others a feeling of freshness and newness. Our being new and fresh requires that we walk in the spirit and according to the spirit, set our mind on our spirit, be burning in spirit, and be joyful in the Holy Spirit. In this way we will boast in God and enjoy Him as our portion. We will spontaneously reign in life as kings, walk in newness of life, and serve in newness of spirit…All the matters mentioned in…Romans 12 through 16, are the things we will enjoy in our spirit. When we enjoy God in a burning and joyful spirit, we have all these matters. (CWWL, 1966, vol. 2, “The Divine Spirit with the Human Spirit in the Epistles,” pp. 273-274) Today the reason some of the elderly saints are so lively is that they have the eternal life in them…In particular, we see many elderly saints in the meetings who welcome people with smiles and are full of vigor. What is real in them is manifested outwardly. They have a life in them that is a never-aging life. When this life is expressed in them, it becomes joy, because our Lord is the Lord of joy. There may be nothing in the outward environment to make us joyful, but the Lord who lives in us is our joy. We are joyful when we sing, and we are even more joyful when we testify for the Lord. The more we open our mouths, the more joyful we are. Even by saying Amen or Hallelujah, our faces become glowing, shining, and full of joy. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 3, “Being Up to Date for the Rebuilding of the Temple,” p. 30)