In the Word Wednesday~ "Contagious Joy"

 

"I'll convert their weeping into laughter, 

lavishing comfort, 

invading their grief with Joy."

Jeremiah 31:13

 "Contagious JOY"  By Christa Kinde

Chapter 2

Turning Sorrow To Joy

My children are like most children they know how to turn on and off the faucet.  Big crocodile tears.  One moment they are in misery.  Weeping tells me they are sad and it is overwhelming them.  But in a moments notice they put on a smile and the tears are gone.  Just like that, their sorrow is turned to JOY.

My own sorrow as an adult is never so simple.  Sadness, dissatisfaction, depression, boredom ~ they're not easy to turn on and off.  God promises that we need never linger in JOYLESS living.  When our life is as flat and gray as ashes, God invites us to trade these ashes for the beauty of JOY.

1.  The story of JOY begins with a sudden change.  It's a matter of before and after.  How does the "before" look according to these verses?

*Job 16:16 ~ My face is red with weeping, deep shadows ring my eyes.

* Job 17:7 ~My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow.

* Proverbs 15:13 ~ A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.

2. But the promise is that JOY can be ours. How do we change form sorrow to JOY?

* Psalm 126: 6 ~ He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of JOY, carrying sheaves with him.

3. In Isaiah 52:9 ~Burst into songs of Joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.  What does Isaiah bid us to do?

4. How does Jeremiah describe the turned tables of sorrow and JOY?

"Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old, together; For I will turn their mourning to JOY, I will comfort them, and make them rejoice rather than sorrow." Jeremiah 31:13 NKJV

5. What will we obtain in Isaiah 35:10?  ~ They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting JOY will crown their heads.  Gladness and JOY will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

JOY gives me calm assurance even though I go through the valley of the shadow of death.  JOY enables me to hold my peace when people say and do ugly things to me.  When we go through troubles, afflictions, persecutions, danger, illness, and distress, when the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy, we can have genuine JOY in or hearts. ~ Thelma Wells

Have you ever had a makeover?  When we get a makeover we are hoping for a transformation.  We see ourselves as ordinary, and are in hopes that the expert can transform our hidden beauty.  All the exfoliation, re hydration, and application in the world can only do so much.  They only polish up the exterior a bit.  If we want to experience a real transformation, we need to start from the inside out.  Let God's JOY fill our hearts, it is so much more effective than mud packs, salt scrubs, and essential oils.  JOY bestows on us a beauty that radiates from within.

6.  God's exchange rate always seems to be tipped in our favor.  What does He offer to us if we give Him our sorrows?

7. JOY is the ultimate transformation in our hearts.  What does Isaiah compare it to in Isaiah 51:3? ~ The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden,her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. JOY and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

8. When do we discover that JOY resides in our hearts?  What does the prophet say in Isaiah 12:3? ~ With JOY you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Belonging to Jesus Christ means you've been given a heart transplant.  With a new heart, He gives the power to be JOYFUL, exuberant, and thankful. ~ Barbara Johnson

9. Those who already belong to the Lord have only to redescover the JOY that already belongs to them.
* What does David pray in Psalm 51:12? ~ Restore to me the JOY of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Ponder & Pray
No matter how dark our day may feel or we may have experienced, there is a promise that JOY will come in the morning. Sorrow will not last forever.  God is able to turn all our sadness into dancing and all our ashes into radiant beauty.  Thank God for the JOY you have now and for the JOY He's promised to give to you when y need it most.

I hope you are encouraged this week from "In The Word Wednesday."  One of the areas I am going to work on this week is letting God's JOY fill my heart and having JOY radiate from within my heart.

Let me know how this lesson has encouraged you.  And if their is anything you need me to pray about I would love to pray for you.  Have a blessed week.

In Him,

Lela