Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Peace with God

Chapter 2: The God of Peace
Chapter 3: Righteousness and Peace
Chapter 4: The Prince of Peace
Chapter 5: Peace on Earth
Chapter 6: The Holy Spirit and Peace
Chapter 7: The Lord of Joy
Chapter 8: The Spirit of Joy
Chapter 9: The Joy of Obedience
Chapter 10: Joy in Heaven
Kingdom Faith Resources
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First published in Great Britain in March 2004 by Kingdom Faith

Kingdom Faith Trust is a registered charity (no.278746)

Copyright © 2004 Colin Urquhart

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the
prior consent of the publisher. Short extracts may be used for review purposes.

Unless otherwise stated, Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION.
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Hodder and Stoughton Limited.

ISBN 1-900409-54-2
Acknowledgements

God’s peace brings much healing into our lives, and He wants our joy to be full.
I am so thankful to the Lord for all these blessings that come through His grace.

My thanks also to Michelle and Cliss for all they have done in the production of
‘True Peace and Joy.’ And to all at Kingdom Faith with whom I share daily in
‘the peace and joy of the Lord Jesus Christ.’

Colin Urquhart
Peace With God

God is the God of peace. Therefore He wants us to be at peace with Him, with
others and with ourselves. God’s peace is not simply an absence of conflict,
confusion or enmity with others. It is a quality of His life that He wants to impart
to us. In other words, He wants to give us His peace!

One of the main reasons for God sending His Son to sacrifice His life on the
cross was to make it possible for us to have this peace!

God created man to be at peace with Him. The story of Adam and Eve shows the
close relationship they had with the Lord in the garden paradise, as He walked
with them daily.

Sin disrupted that unity and caused Adam and Eve to lose this fellowship and
their peace with God. Instead of being at peace with Him, they felt ashamed and
tried to hide from Him in fear. They had lost their innocence before God and one
another. Soon, instead of peace there would be conflict; their son, Cain,
murdered his brother Abel out of jealousy!

Throughout the period of the Old Testament God’s people had periods of
obedience to His will. At such times they experienced victory over their enemies
and enjoyed times of national peace. However, when they no longer needed to
depend on the Lord to free them from trouble, compromise and disobedience
would set in. This had far-reaching consequences, for again their enemies would
begin to triumph over them. Usually they refused to heed the warnings of the
prophets God sent to them. They stubbornly refused to repent and so lost both
peace with God and the national peace they had enjoyed.

Throughout Israel’s history there is a clear lesson to be learned. When we are at

peace with God we can also be at peace with others, not only personally but at a
national level. In times of war, people pack churches as they cry out to God for
His help. When peace comes most soon forget their need of God and return to
their own ways, walking in disregard for the will of God, and undisobedience to
the Lord. So things have not changed much!
God looked forward to the time when He could free His people from the
consequences of their sin and again make it possible for them to be at peace
with Him. Then their internal conflicts would be resolved, enabling them to live
in peace and love with one another. Again they would be able to overcome their
enemies.

Sin is disobedience to the Lord and rebellion against Him; so it has dire
consequences. It separated man from God and brought all manner of disputes
and conflicts into their lives.

God had to judge sin. In His righteousness He declared that all who sin deserve
eternal death, separation from Him eternally. They do not deserve to be part of
His Kingdom! However, in His love for us, God sent His Son to take the
punishment we deserve upon Himself. He died the death, that is God’s
judgment on sin, on our behalf. On the cross He took our place. In Isaiah’s
great prophecy about the crucifixion God says:

The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are
healed. (Isa. 53:5)

By bearing the punishment we deserve, God drew us back into the place of
peace and reconciliation with Himself. The benefits of this unity with Him are
numerous as we shall see, for, as the God of peace, He promises to do such great
things for us, in us and through us! However, it is of great importance to
appreciate that God does not want us only to be at peace with Him; He wants to
impart His peace to us.
The God of Peace

The Lord is our peace. Apart from Him there is no true peace. Through the
sacrifice of Jesus we have been restored to unity with the One who is our peace.
To be at one with Him is, therefore, to be at peace.

When the Lord met with Gideon he was a fearful man. He was afraid of the
nation’s enemies that occupied the land, and he was fearful of the task placed
before him: to deliver his nation from their enemies. Above all he feared he
would die having had a face-to-face encounter with the Lord. It was commonly
believed that to meet with God would mean death, for He is so great, mighty and
holy.

But the Lord said to him, "Peace, do not be afraid. You are not going to die". So
Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord is Peace. (Jud.
6:23-24)

In the midst of all his fears God imparted peace to Gideon in such a way that he
came to realise ‘The Lord is Peace.’ This is true for you: the Lord is peace; He is
your peace, no matter what your circumstances. It is His desire to bless you
with His peace. David said:

The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.
(Ps. 29:11)

When writing to the Ephesians Paul says: ‘He himself is our peace.’ (Eph. 2:14)
He explains that through Jesus we are not only made one with God, but also with
one another. The wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile has been broken
down.

His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making
peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross,
by which he put to death their hostility. (Eph. 2:15-16)

The gospel is, then, the gospel of peace. Jesus came ‘and preached peace to you
who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both
have access to the Father by one Spirit.’ (Eph. 2:17-18) We could say, then, that
God’s whole purpose involves peace — peace with Him and with one another.
No wonder Paul later told the Ephesians:

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Eph.
4:3)

It is no surprise therefore that our enemy the devil, the thief, wants to do
whatever he can to steal our peace! Of course, on the cross Jesus overcame the
enemy and everything that can deprive us of peace. So Paul told the Romans:

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. (Rom. 16:20)

He does not expect us to overcome the enemy by fighting him in our own
strength. He is overcome through our trust in the God of peace. When the Lord
brings us to a place of peace, we then have to guard that peace by using the
shield of faith against all the fiery darts of negativity that the enemy will
inevitably throw at us.

The enemy wants to create disruption and disorder both in our personal lives and
in the Body of Christ; but:

God is not a God of disorder but of peace. (1 Cor. 14:33)

When His peace descends on us and fills our hearts we have a great sense of
well-being that is totally the opposite to what satan desires. Jesus makes ‘peace
through his blood, shed on the cross.’ (Col. 1:20) That is where the enemy was
overcome, together with everything that can cause disruption and confusion in
our lives. Now the God of peace wants to establish His order, His Kingdom in
our lives. Peace is such a central element to God’s purposes that Paul says:

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.
(2 Thess. 3:16)

This means He wants us to have peace in every part of our lives. Every Christian
experiences turmoil, persecution, rejection and perplexity at times. It seems that
his or her life is far from peaceful at times. Yet the Lord wants to impart His
peace ‘at all times and in every way’ right in the midst of the confusion and the
problems he or she faces.
When beginning his letters Paul usually says: ‘Grace and peace to you from God
the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.’ Both the Father and Son want to impart
supernatural peace into our natural lives. It is important to see why:

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought
back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you
with everything good for doing his will and may he work in us what is pleasing
to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Heb.
13:20-21)

From these verses we can learn a number of significant truths:

The God of peace wants to equip you with everything you need in order
that you may be able to do His will. It is significant that Paul uses this
title for the Lord in this context.
This is a work He will do in you. It is not a matter of you trying to be
peaceful, but of God Himself doing a work in you.
The impartation of this peace is part of God’s covenant relationship
with you. When God makes covenant with His people, He binds Himself
by His promises to do certain things for them. He is always faithful to those
covenant promises.
Jesus Christ is your Good Shepherd, a great Shepherd. Part of His
shepherding purposes in your life is to lead you ‘beside quiet waters’ where
He restores your soul. (See Ps. 23:2-3) He leads you to the place of peace
where you can be restored!

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the
Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love. (2 Jn. v.3)

You can begin to affirm these truths over your own life: ‘Grace, mercy and
peace will be with me in truth and love — from God my Father and Jesus
my Lord!’ To believe this is to be directly in line with God’s will for you,
irrespective of your circumstances.

His mercies are new every morning; so He is always ready to be merciful to you.
Whenever you experience His forgiveness you receive His mercy, restoring you
to a place of peace with Him. Jesus came full of grace, and from that grace you
can receive one blessing after another.

God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times,
having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Cor. 9:8)

He always wants to be merciful and gracious. And He always wants to

impart His peace ‘at all times and in every way.’ God is utterly consistent;
He never changes, neither is He moody!

He is always ready to be merciful, always wants to give to you by His grace,

because His love for you is constant. And He always wants to impart peace
to you!

Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance. (Jude 2)

Speak the truth over your own life immediately: ‘Mercy, peace and love are
mine in abundance from God my Father and my Lord Jesus Christ!’ That is
a good truth to affirm daily, irrespective of your circumstances.

What will the effect of this peace be? Not only will it bring relief to your
immediate situation, but the God of peace wants your whole being, spirit, soul
and body to be saturated with His peace!

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your
whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. (1 Thess. 5:23)

This peace is to permeate your whole being as part of God’s sanctifying work in
you. Those who are sanctified are those who God has called, chosen and set
apart for Himself and for His purposes. They are His holy children, every born
again believer!

In God Himself there is no lack of peace, no striving or straining. There are no

disagreements or tensions between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are
always in complete accord! And He wants His children to be like Him!
Therefore He wants to eradicate all these tensions from our lives. This is why
Jesus said:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…Who of you by worrying can
add a single hour to his life?….Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt.
6:25,27,34)
At first it may seem impossible to put such teaching into practice. However, this
is not merely good advice from Jesus; it is a command to all His followers: ‘Do
not worry.’ He does not issue commands without making it possible for us to
obey them! So He is ready to impart the peace we need in order to obey what He
is directing us to do.

It is not that Jesus promises us a life free from tension and turmoil. Far from it.
In fact He also says: ‘In this world you will have trouble.’ However the
statement is sandwiched inbetween two important statements. After saying this,
He immediately adds:

But take heart! I have overcome the world. (Jn. 16:33)

Primarily, He has been telling them that although He is about to leave them, they
will see Him again when He is raised from the dead. So He says:

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. (Jn. 16:33)

If you are sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, you will often hear Him
warning you of what lies ahead, so that you can be prepared. Instead of meeting
these situations with fear or trepidation, you will know that in trusting Jesus you
will be kept in His peace.

This is another important truth. You do not always have peace in your soul, your
self-life, but you always have peace in Jesus, in your spirit where the Holy Spirit
dwells. He wants that peace to influence your soul life — your mind, emotions
and will, no matter what trials you have to face. The Holy Spirit’s peace is
already within you and when you willingly submit yourself, your soul life, to
Him, He will bring your mind into a state of peace. This in turn will affect your
emotions. Instead of feeling aggravated by the adverse circumstances, the Holy
Spirit reminds you of what Jesus has said and done. As you trust Him in that
particular situation, so His peace seems to descend on you. Somehow you
know He is able and willing to deal with the situation, to lead you through the
difficulties, and you can be at peace within yourself!

I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you
will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (Jn. 16:33)

With God on your side, what is there to worry about? With the Psalmist we all
need to affirm: ‘I will listen to what God the Lord will say: he promises peace to
his people, his saints.’ (Ps. 85:8) You are one of those saints!
Righteousness and Peace

Of course, there is no point in wanting God to impart peace to you if there are
things going on in your life that are against His will and therefore undermining
your peace. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that in the Bible there is a close
connection between righteousness and peace.

Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.
(Ps. 85:10)

This verse suggests a very close, intimate relationship between righteousness

and peace. To be righteous is to be in right standing and relationship with God.
To walk in His ways is to do what is right in His eyes. So you have peace with
God when you are living in right relationship with Him, doing what is
pleasing in His sight!

Our actions do not bring us into this right standing with the Lord. This is a gift
from God in response to our faith in all Jesus has accomplished for us. He is our
righteousness! However, it is our responsibility to live in that relationship, to live
at one with Jesus.

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who
believe. (Rom. 3:22)

This righteousness is God’s gift to every believer when he or she is born again.
Having received that wonderful gift, it is then the responsibility of the believer to
live in the good of that gift by obeying the Word of the Lord. When he does this
he enjoys peace with God. The relationship of righteousness brought him into
this peace. Obedience enables him to walk in righteousness, and therefore to
continue in this peace. When we obey the Lord there is no tension in our
relationship with Him! Obedience is both a demonstration of our love for God
and a submission to His authority and Lordship.

Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.
(Job 22:21)
Any discerning pastor can tell when people are at peace with God, because this
affects their other relationships and their attitudes towards all spiritual things.

The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be

quietness and confidence forever. (Is. 32:17)

The message is simple. Peace is the fruit of righteousness, whereas sin or

disobedience destroys that peace with God. The sinner is comfortable with his
sin because he does not have a relationship with God. The Holy Spirit shows us
as believers our need to repent when disobedient to the Lord. When we confess
our sins,

The Lord is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness. (1 Jn. 1:9)

This restores us to the place of peace and unity with the Lord.

If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like
a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. (Is. 48:18)

This message in the Psalms is clear and direct:

Turn from evil and do good: seek peace and pursue it. (Ps. 34:14)

Sin disrupts our peace; righteousness enables us to enjoy God’s peace and to
walk in it, even if our circumstances are difficult. ‘There is a future for the
man of peace.’ (Ps. 37:37) Earlier in the same Psalm we read that ‘the meek will
inherit the land and enjoy great peace.’ (v. 11) The meek are those who live in
humble submission to the Lord.

Just as there is a direct link between righteousness and peace, so there is also a
direct relationship between wisdom and peace. This is hardly surprising, for in
scripture sin is regarded as foolishness. It is wise, therefore, to be righteous. And
the rewards for wisdom are great:

Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace. (Prov. 3:17)

The man or woman of God wants to enjoy peace, the calmness and serenity that
come from trust in the Lord. Even in the midst of the storm, the house of the one
who does God’s Word will stand!
Not only is the believer to enjoy the Lord’s peace; he is to promote peace. There
is ‘joy for those who promote peace.’ (Prov. 12:20) The book of Proverbs has
much to say about the virtues of wisdom and the benefits to the believer in the
way that living in wisdom promotes peace in his life. ‘A heart at peace gives life
to the body.’ (Prov. 14:30)

It is to the heart that God wants to impart His peace, through His mercy and
forgiveness, through His love and by His Spirit, establishing in us this peace that
He Himself enjoys. How comforting it is to know that God will never lose His
peace, despite the willfulness of His people. He knows that His plans and
purposes shall be fully accomplished. Those who live their lives in conformity to
His will shall surely enjoy His peace!
The Prince of Peace

In the prophecy of Isaiah, the coming Messiah will be the Prince of Peace. We
have seen that this was a fitting title for Jesus, because He made it possible for
us to know God’s peace through bearing the punishment we deserve on the
cross.

Part of the same prophetic word promises that: ‘Of the increase of his
government and peace there will be no end.’ (Is. 9:7) Whenever God’s Kingdom
is extended and men and women come into a saving relationship with Jesus
Christ, His peace comes as a gift to God’s people.

Just as our walk in righteousness and wisdom enables us to enjoy that peace, so
we are to be a people whose focus is on the Lord, and our trust in Him, no matter
what the circumstances or our feelings!

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in
you. (Is. 26:3)

If the Lord is our peace, we will be able to maintain our experience of that peace
when our eyes are on him. If, instead, we put our focus on ourselves, on our
problematic circumstances, we very rapidly lose peace. Our peace is in Him,
but there is no peace in worrying about the problems that arise. This is
natural to our flesh, our self-life, but not to our walk in the Holy Spirit. The
Spirit wants to remind us continually of the peace that God has already
established for us:

Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done
for us. (Is. 26:12)

You can live in continual awareness that God has already established that peace
for you through what Jesus has done for you. You can appropriate that peace,
receive it as a gift from God and live in the good of it.

There is a profound truth in this verse. What you try to do in your own strength
inevitably leads to frustration and failure — with yourself! However, this
frustration often affects your relationship with God. If you ask Him to help you
to do what you are attempting, the substance of your prayer is usually that you
want still to be the one in the driving seat, but with the Lord’s help.

It usually takes a little time for believers to realize that the Lord Jesus must be
allowed to remain in control. After all, He is Lord! Living in peace is
dependent on living in the good of what He has done for us, rather than
returning to a life of straining and striving. Our humble submission to the
Lord is expressed in our willingness to face the truth that apart from the Lord we
can do nothing. By contrast, through our trust in Him all things become possible
for us.

When we reflect on when we have seen God move powerfully in our lives, we
readily acknowledge that this was the fruit of what He did by His Spirit, not the
results of our efforts. What appears to be our accomplishments are really the
works He has done for us, and all the glory belongs rightly to Him!

In the time of His humanity, this was also true for Jesus. He could enjoy perfect
peace with His Father in heaven, because He depended on Him at all times. He
made it clear that He would never act independently of the Father. He had come
to do the Father’s will, not His own. Even though the Son of God, Jesus
acknowledged that He could do nothing without the Father. He spoke the words
the Father gave Him to speak and did the things He saw His Father doing. Living
in such dependence on the Father not only enabled Jesus to retain His peace but
also to honour the Father by the works He performed. These, Jesus
acknowledged, were the works the Father was doing through Him. He did not
regard them as His own works; they were the result of His unity with the Father.

Through the blood of Jesus Christ we can live in the same kind of
relationship of peace with the Father, not striving in our own strength, but
trusting Him to work in us, through us and for us! And, like Jesus, we are to
proclaim to others the gospel of peace.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who
proclaim peace. (Is. 52:7)

To live in this peace is to live under the authority of Jesus, just as He lived under
the authority of His Father. This is why prayer was so important to Jesus. He
would never allow anything to replace His times of prayer with the Father. If He
was kept busy during the day because of the demands of the people, He would
pray at night. He had to know what the Father wanted Him to do next, so that He
could continue in His will and maintain His relationship of unity and peace with
His Father.

If prayer was such an essential element of the life of God’s Son, it must surely be
even more important for us. It is certainly an essential element in the life of the
believer who wants to walk continually in God’s peace.

My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be
removed. (Is. 54:10)

Covenant speaks of a relationship of peace that God wants us to maintain with

Him. He never breaks His covenant promises to His people; He always keeps
His side of the agreement, and it is to our definite advantage to fulfil our
responsibilities.

The Lord links this peace with His unshakeable love. Our faith in that love,
together with His faithfulness, keeps us in the place of peace, no matter what the
circumstances. For nothing in the whole of creation can separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus! Living in such a way will bring blessing to
our children also; they will share in this peace. For it is certainly true that we
create atmosphere around us whether of peace and trust in the Lord, or worry
and anxiety.

All your sons will be taught by the Lord and great will be your children’s peace.
(Is. 54:13)

Children certainly respond readily to atmosphere. But our example to our

children is an encouragement for them to draw into a loving relationship with the
Lord for themselves, and so receive peace directly from Him.

The Lord lives ‘in a high and holy place,’ but also ‘with him who is contrite and
lowly in spirit.’ (Is. 57:15) His purpose is to revive the hearts of those who are
humble before Him that they too may bring peace to others.

"I have seen his ways, but I will heal him, I will guide him and restore comfort to
him, creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel. Peace, peace to those
far and near" says the Lord. "And I will heal them." (Is. 57:18-19)
By contrast, "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked." (Is. 57:21) This
has become a common saying, but is in effect a word of judgment from the
Lord! How important that believers do not see themselves as ‘the wicked’ and do
not imitate their activities, but rather live in righteousness and holiness that will
enable them to remain in God’s peace!

Those who walk uprightly enter into peace. (Is. 57:2)

This is why God gives this wonderful promise to His people:

I will make peace your governor and righteousness your ruler. (Is. 60:17)

This is a great comfort: that peace and righteousness will rule over us, that we
will be under their authority and power. And there is great power in God’s peace
— the power to impart that which stills the storm, brings blessing to the home
and allays the fears of His children. This is why the Lord wants to extend peace
to His people ‘like a river.’ (Is. 66:12) And why through the prophet Jeremiah,
He says,

I will heal my people and let them enjoy abundant peace and security. (Jer. 33:6)

Ezekiel speaks of the everlasting covenant of peace that God will make with His
people. (see Ez. 34:25, 37:26) To Daniel the Lord says: "Peace, be strong now;
be strong." (Dan. 10:19) These are words I have used to great effect in prayer.
When you receive these as words spoken to you personally by the Lord, then
you can receive His peace and strength through them.

God ‘calls things that are not as though they were.’ (Rom. 4:17) There is a
principle of faith here for us to practise, for it is written:

I believed; therefore I have spoken. With that same spirit of faith we also believe
and therefore speak. (2 Cor. 4:13)

Jesus tells us that the way we use our tongues directs the course of our lives, just
as the rudder directs the course of a ship. A small part with enormous influence!

Those who live by faith in Jesus need to learn to speak the good He promises
over their lives right in the face of the circumstances and feelings that are totally
contradictory to His purposes. In this way your circumstances and even your
feelings and attitudes are changed. In the face of pressure, confusion and fear
you can speak the words of Jesus: "My peace I give to you", or these words
spoken by God to Daniel: "Peace! Be strong now; be strong." And then you can
thank the Lord for the peace and strength He imparts to you. As you persist in
speaking these positive truths of God over your life, the negatives are overcome.

This is much more powerful than complaining about the circumstances,

worrying or sharing your fears with others. The more you speak about the
negative, the greater its place in your life. The more you speak God’s words of
life, healing and release over your life, the more these truths will impact
you. Remember that His words are Spirit and life. They are not the words of
man, but of the One who created the entire universe by speaking it into being!
What power and authority they contain!

So, speak peace over your life. Even when the circumstances create stress and
your feelings are utterly negative, speak the truth of God’s Word over your life.
Do not simply think it; the scripture is clear — you need to speak the truth and
as you do so believe in your heart that what God says becomes yours! This is His
will and intention.

There is little wonder that Jesus should come as the Prince of Peace, for all the
Old Testament prophetic scriptures look forward to the time when God will
establish peace among His people in a way that was not possible under the law
of the Old Testament.
Peace on Earth

When John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, prophesied concerning Jesus, he said
that he would "guide our feet into the path of peace." (Lk. 1:79) When the angels
spoke to the shepherds of the birth of God’s Son, they proclaimed:

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour
rests. (Lk. 2:14)

We are saved through God’s grace. On all who know the Lord Jesus, therefore,
His favour rests. We need to see ourselves as the children of God’s peace. This is
God’s will for you as a believer. Not only did Jesus want His disciples to
experience His peace; He wanted them to impart this peace to others.

When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If a man of peace is
there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. (Lk. 10:5-6)

This is a good example of the power of the words we speak. Jesus is not telling
the disciples to give a polite greeting. God’s peace is contained in these words,
‘Peace be to this house.’ That peace has to go somewhere, it has to be imparted
to someone. If the disciple is welcomed this peace will descend on the one who
receives him. If the disciple is rejected, that peace will descend on the disciple.
No doubt he will be pleased about this, if he has just been rejected!

Again we are faced with the power of the words we speak, and with the
truth that we can impart to others His life when we speak the words God
gives us to speak!

Jesus needed to impart peace to His disciples before He went to the cross and
when He appeared to them in His resurrection body. What He says is not a polite
greeting, but an impartation of peace into their hearts and lives. At the Last
Supper, He said:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world
gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (Jn. 14:27)
Clearly these are words of impartation, not a greeting. Peace is a gift He is
leaving with the disciples, but a peace of an entirely different order to anything
the world can give. This peace is the antidote to anything that would cause their
hearts to be troubled or cause them to be afraid. Taken in the context when Jesus
first spoke these words, you can see that they are a continuation of what He said
to the disciples a little earlier:

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. (Jn. 14:1)

With the crucifixion imminent there must have been a general atmosphere of
foreboding at the Last Supper. Clearly the disciples were grief-stricken at the
thought that Jesus was about to leave them. They were perplexed, confused and
afraid. They did not understand all that was beginning to unfold or why it needed
to happen. It was only after the crucifixion and resurrection that they understood
the significance of these great events.

It is also clear that, however they had interpreted what Jesus said about being
raised on the third day, they did not expect to see Him in His risen body.
Presumably they thought He was to return directly to the Father in heaven.

So they were startled when Jesus did appear to them. They were afraid that, as
His followers, they too could soon be arrested and even sentenced to death like
their Master.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together,
with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them
and said "Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them his hands and
side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. (Jn. 20:19-20)

The fear that had gripped them was replaced by the joy of seeing Him. Yet Jesus
again repeated His words, further emphasizing that this was not a greeting, but
an impartation of peace from God. You do not need to repeat a greeting!

Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending
you." (v. 21)

Not only was Jesus imparting peace, He was sending them out with the blessing
of His peace. Once the Spirit had come upon them, these same men became bold
witnesses to the truth, as we can see in the Acts of the Apostles. In the midst of
persecution the disciples were able to radiate a trust and peace that was surely
supernatural.

Even after being arrested, imprisoned and warned not to speak in the name of
Jesus, they immediately returned to public preaching on their release. In their
obedience to the commission Jesus had given them they maintained the peace
that is the fruit of such obedience. God was in control and all that mattered was
that they fulfilled His will for their lives. The men of fear were now the men of
faith, enjoying the peace of knowing they were being faithful to the Lord!
All this was the outworking of all that Jesus had said to them:

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In world you will
have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (Jn. 16:33)

The world gives trouble. The Lord gives peace. That is the contrast and shows
where our trust is to be!

We can see clearly the link between faith and peace, between trusting Jesus and
being able to enjoy His peace. Trusting Jesus enables us to continue in the
peace He imparts.

There are many occasions when we need answers from God. Often, all He seems
to say is: "Trust me." This is His way of building faith and confidence in Him,
teaching us to be at peace. Jesus is never late in what He does, neither is He
early. Sometimes we want instant answers, whereas God orders things in His
way and at His time! He certainly never loses control of a situation.

When you are in a place of real faith concerning any situation, you will certainly
be at peace, because faith is being sure and certain of the outcome. We lose
peace when we question and doubt what will happen, or try to work things out
according to our own situations.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
(Heb. 11:1)

It is this assurance that enables us to continue in the peace that God gives us.
The apostles referred to the gospel of Jesus and the Kingdom as ‘the good news
of peace.’ (Acts 10:36) Through the shedding of His blood and the forgiveness of
our sins, we can have peace with God. Through trust in Jesus we can continue to
live in that peace.
The Holy Spirit and Peace

Peace is part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, who lives within the born-again
believer, the person of God within him or her. The God of peace has put His
Spirit of peace within us. As with all aspects of the Holy Spirit, God’s intention
is that the Spirit of peace flows through our lives and out of us as rivers of living
water.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul gives us important teaching about the way in
which the Holy Spirit wants to operate within believers so that they live in His
peace. He contrasts the life of the flesh, the self-life, in which Jesus says there is
nothing good, and the life of the Spirit that will fill us with peace.

Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the desires of the flesh
— their own selfish desires. Those who live according to His Spirit set their
minds on what God’s Spirit desires. To set your mind on the flesh is spiritual
death. Paul says, however;

The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. (Rom. 8:6)

The fleshly mind, Paul continues, is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s
law and indeed cannot do so, making it impossible to please God. However, Paul
tells his readers that they are not controlled by their flesh, but by the Spirit ‘if the
Spirit of God lives in you.’ (v. 9) Paul’s message is clear: when we obey the
leading of God’s Spirit and walk in His ways, we enjoy life and peace. This is
because our minds are set on the truth and the Holy Spirit enables us to live in
the good of that truth.

However, if we choose to set our minds on ourselves and pleasing ourselves, we

soon lose that sense of God’s peace. In other words, this supernatural peace is
not in your self-life, but in the Spirit who indwells you. Where you place your
focus will determine whether you live in that peace or not.

When God filled you with His Spirit, He imparted that peace to you along with
the other dimensions of the fruit of the Spirit. You have the peace of God within
you and can walk in that peace through submission to God’s will for your life.
And this peace is an important aspect of God’s Kingdom that is within you as a
believer.

The Kingdom of God is…righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Rom.
14:17)

God wants to reign in your life, expressed in the righteousness, peace and joy
produced in you by the Holy Spirit. This leads us to the key question: How do
we walk in the Spirit, so that this peace is truly experienced in our lives and can
flow out of us to others?

Let us review what we have discovered so far, for this will help us in finding the
answer to this question.

It is definitely God’s purpose that we should be at peace with Him and should be
able to enjoy that peace by walking continually in it. Through His death on the
cross Jesus has borne the punishment we deserved for our sins, so that instead of
receiving the punishment we deserve, we can be at peace with God —
completely forgiven and accepted by Him.

Through the cross we are made righteous in God’s sight, and there is a clear
connection between righteousness and peace. As we walk in righteousness, we
enjoy God’s peace.

It is foolish to then revert to a life of sin; wise to walk in obedience to God. And
so there is also a clear link between wisdom and peace.

God has given us His Holy Spirit to live within us, and peace is part of the fruit
of His Spirit. He has placed His Kingdom within us: righteousness, peace and
joy in the Holy Spirit. If we set our minds on pleasing God by doing His will,
we live in that peace. If, on the other hand, we are preoccupied with ourselves
and pleasing ourselves, we soon lose our peace. And it is spiritual death to set
your mind on sin that opposes God’s will and purpose for His children.

We have also seen that this peace is the answer to the fear, confusion and
perplexity in which we sometimes find ourselves. No matter what our situation,
God wants to impart His peace to us, and He does this as we live by trusting
Him, rather than by focusing on the problems. It is powerful to speak peace over
our lives, even when the circumstances around us cause stress and confusion. We
speak the things that are not as if they are!
So we can see that all this Biblical teaching is to have a very practical
outworking! How can we put all this into practice, for all of us know how easy it
is to lose our peace?

When we sin and grieve Him we lose peace with God. When we look at
ourselves, we are often overcome with a sense of inadequacy and failure, the
very opposite of peace. All too often others around us seem to be judgmental,
critical and unaccepting of us, causing us to lose peace. And all too often we are
critical of others, perhaps because they have failed us in some way, and there is
little sense of peace between us!

Paul is continually pointing his readers to the peace of God and is wanting to
impart peace to them. It seems he is constantly aware of their need of this. Life
in his time would have been just as pressured as today (although some of the
issues challenging their peace would have been different), especially when the
church was undergoing persecution.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that
you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom. 15:13)

The God of peace be with you all. Amen. (Rom. 15:33)

The God of love and peace will be with you. (2 Cor. 13:11)

The God of peace will be with you. (Philip. 4:9)

The devil is a thief. He likes nothing better than to steal the believer’s peace by
causing disruption in his or her life. Regularly the Lord reminds me not to allow
the enemy to steal my peace from me. Peace is God’s gift to me as a believer,
and the Lord intends me to enjoy all the benefits of that peace. The same is
true for you!

The most common way the enemy seeks to do this is by prompting us to focus
our attention on ourselves, instead of on Jesus and the revelation of truth we
have in God’s Word. If our focus is on ourselves and our problems we will try to
solve those problems ourselves, and there is no peace in that!

To be self-focused makes it very difficult to walk in faith, righteousness and

wisdom — all the things that contribute towards our peace. We have to learn to
make a conscious effort to turn away from ourselves and trust in the Lord by
fixing our eyes on Him. This is why Jesus said that daily we would need to deny
ourselves if we are to follow Him. And this is why Paul tells Timothy:

Pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace along with those who call on the
Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Tim. 2:22)

Peace is something that is to be so highly valued that you pursue it! The writer to
Hebrews tells us that discipline ‘produces a harvest of righteousness and peace
for those who have been trained by it.’ (Heb. 12:11)

An undisciplined life leads to compromise, sin, unrighteousness and a

consequent loss of the sense of God’s peace. Jesus was concerned to teach His
followers the kind of discipline that would enable them to experience both
His peace and joy. Just as there is a clear connection between walking in right
ways with God and enjoying His peace, so there is also a clear relationship
between peace and joy! This is hardly surprising, for the Lord who is our peace
is also our joy!
The Joy of the Lord

When we think of Jesus in the days of His humanity on earth we readily think of
the One who taught with great authority, who performed miraculous signs and
wonders, and lived a holy life in perfect obedience to His Father. Yet there is a
fascinating revelation about Jesus given us by God:

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God
has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. (Heb.
1:9)

It would seem that Jesus’ joy marked Him off from all others: the Man of great
joy! We could say that He was the most joyful Man ever to walk on the face
of the earth!

So much for all those sombre pictures of Jesus painted throughout history! No,
He was (and is now in heaven) the Lord of joy. And He made it clear to His
disciples that He wanted His joy to be in them and for their joy to be complete.

God did not become the Lord of joy when Jesus became man, for He revealed
the eternal, unchanging nature of God; He has always been the God of joy! So
David speaks of being made ‘glad with the joy of your presence.’ (Ps. 21:6)

Clearly there is a close connection between joy and praising God. Worship
should be a joyful experience. So much for those sombre, lifeless services where
there is little sense of the Lord’s presence or of His life. One of the most joyful
services I have ever attended was a funeral service, so greatly were God’s people
rejoicing that His victory over death is complete and that our departed brother
was already enjoying the glory of heaven!

And certainly there is much joy in heaven, for heaven rejoices over every soul
that receives the salvation made possible through Jesus Christ.

There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over
ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. (Lk. 15:7)
We can only try to imagine the great joy that another soul is saved from the
devil’s grasp, from condemnation and hell, and now has an eternal inheritance in
heaven through God’s mercy and grace, made available through the sacrifice of
Jesus on the cross!

Because God wants His Kingdom on earth as in heaven, so He desires to see our
lives filled with joy. As with His peace, He wants us to draw on the joy of
heaven, rather than try to draw from our circumstances.

Clearly some situations give us a sense of joy, but many do not. God’s joy is
eternal and is not dependent on feelings or circumstances. By His Spirit He
gives us the ability to rejoice in Him, no matter what our feelings or the
problems that confront us. And when we rejoice we are joining in that
continual joy that surrounds His heavenly throne.

Trusting God changes circumstances. We begin to see things as He sees them

and realize that nothing is impossible for Him. He is the great Redeemer, the
One who is able to transform any situation. David knew what it was to cry out to
God in times of great and pressing need; and to see how He was able to turn the
situation around completely:

Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me; O Lord, be my help. You turned my wailing
into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart
may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.
(Ps. 30:10-12)

To David, God was far more than the One who rescued him from difficulty and
gave him joy; he describes the Lord as ‘my joy and my delight.’ (Ps. 43:4)

When God is your joy there is no difficulty in worshipping or praising Him. You
have no desire to lapse from a life of prayer. You want to walk daily in His joyful
presence. If He is your joy then you will be able to fulfil Paul’s words to rejoice
always and give thanks in all circumstances, believing this is God’s will for you
in Christ Jesus!

When someone is truly saved, there is great joy in his own heart, as well as great
rejoicing in heaven. Having met with God in forgiveness and come to the
realization that he is now totally accepted by God and has been given the
gift of eternal life, he is filled with joy. As the Holy Spirit enters into his
heart so does the joy of the Lord. This is no longer an external joy, but a joy
that is within him, in his human spirit. God will never take that joy away.

This does not mean that the believer will always express that joy; but it does
mean he is able to do so. The Lord would not tell us to rejoice always unless He
had made it possible for us to do so! And this is His Word: "Be joyful always"!

To stray from God’s will causes the Christian not only to lose his sense of peace,
but also his joy as well. God has not taken either the peace or joy away. It is
simply that soulish, fleshly, selfish things have been allowed to push Jesus from
the central place in the believer’s life. As soon as God is restored to His rightful
place the peace and joy are restored. David prayed:

Restore to me the joy of your salvation. (Ps. 51:12)

He had sinned in a grievous way and had lost all sense of the joy of salvation
and of his relationship with the Lord. In His love and mercy God forgives David
and draws him back into close relationship with Himself, and the peace and joy
return! Later David says that God’s commands are ‘the joy of my heart.’ (Ps.
119:111)
The Spirit of Joy

We have God’s promises and His words of encouragement. When we truly

delight in Him, we are able to praise Him no matter what the circumstances, and
even rejoice in His commands. We know that to obey the Lord is always wise
and profitable for us, and leads us into a sense of satisfaction, of knowing that
we are pleasing Him. This, in turn, gives us a great sense of both peace and joy:
"The prospect of the righteous is joy." (Prov. 10:28) He gives to His people:

A crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and
a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. (Is. 61:3)

God’s saving work in our lives is completely transforming. The believer has the
oil of gladness and a garment of praise. God’s purpose is that: ‘you will go out in
joy and be led forth in peace.’ (Is. 55:12)

Does this mean that as Christians we are expected to live on an emotional ‘high’
all the time? No, for although both peace and joy are emotions, God’s peace and
joy do not come from the emotions. They spring from His Spirit who lives
within the human spirit of the believer. They are not born of emotions, of the
soul, but as the Spirit is allowed to impact our soul lives, so the joy and peace
touch our emotions. They are a response to what God is doing within us, rather
than living in response to circumstances or people around us.
This diagram helps you to understand that the born again Christian has the mind
of Christ in his human spirit. In his soul he has his natural mind. By submitting
himself (his soul life) to the Spirit, he can receive revelation of what God thinks
about his present situation; the Holy Spirit will take God’s Word and declare it to
him. In this same way the fruit of the Spirit, including God’s joy and peace, can
impact his soul when he is submitted to God. In this way his natural feelings and
emotions come under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

The soul can be happy at a natural level without any reference to God. Such joy
is not long lasting, for natural emotions change rapidly, as they are a response to
circumstances. The qualities of the Holy Spirit are different. They stem from
relationship with God, irrespective of circumstances. So Paul could be in prison
and in chains, and yet write to those who were outside the prison telling them to
rejoice and give thanks in all circumstances. The situation he was in could not
affect the resources of the Spirit, including His joy, within him. For the same
reason Paul tells the Romans that nothing in all creation can separate believers
from God’s love in Christ Jesus. That love is not an emotion; it is the
steadfast, unchanging love of God.

The Holy Spirit causes us to focus on Jesus, who He is, what He has done for us,
His presence with us, His anointing and the power He gives us that enables us to
overcome, no matter what the circumstances. As the life of the Spirit impacts our
souls, so we experience, sense, feel on occasions, the love, joy and peace of God.

What we experience of God’s joy now is only a foretaste of what is to come. We

can all look forward to the time when Jesus returns:

Everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and
sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Is. 35:10)

Jesus knows what it was to be filled with the Holy Spirit’s joy. The seventy-two
that He had sent out returned with joy that they had seen God work so
powerfully through their ministries.

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise
and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your
good pleasure." (Lk. 10:21)

And He said this immediately after telling them that He had given them
authority ‘to overcome all the power of the enemy.’ (v. 19) This same authority
has been given to believers today, and it gives the Lord great joy to see His
people exercising the authority to save, to heal and set people free. We feel
joyful when participating in such ministry, because the Lord Himself is
rejoicing!

The Lord certainly wants all His people to be joyful! When the angel announced
the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, he said:

I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. (Lk. 2:10)

The gospel is the good news of great joy for all people. Of course, it is only by
accepting the gospel and believing in Jesus that a person can know that great joy.

It is easy to rejoice when everything is going well. Yet Jesus encouraged His
disciples to keep rejoicing, even when there was opposition and persecution.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. (Lk.
6:23)

When the disciples were full of grief at the prospect of the imminent death of
Jesus on the cross, He tells them: ‘your grief will turn to joy.’ That proved true
when they greeted Him in His risen body.

All of us experience tragedy and difficult situations at times. As Jesus did with
the disciples, so we need to look beyond the present circumstances, knowing that
the Lord will be faithful in leading us through those difficulties. In the Christian
life problems are only temporary, our joy eternal! And that eternal joy is
already in us by the Holy Spirit.

The person of faith learns to rejoice even in the midst of the most horrendous
situations, because the circumstances have not changed God, His love for the
believer and all the resources of His power available to him. He is always the
same, is greater than the circumstances and has the power to change them!

Joy is the barometer of your faith. While you keep rejoicing, you keep
believing. As soon as you stop rejoicing in the Lord and praising Him, you have
allowed the circumstances to dictate your response and take your feelings
captive.
Two contrasting things can be happening within you at the same time. Your
natural feelings, your soulish feelings, may be heavy yet the Holy Spirit of joy is
still within you. The joy in your spirit can be released through your soul,
changing the natural negative feelings in the process. The more you rejoice and
praise the Lord, the more rapidly you establish the victory of the Spirit over
the negative feelings and reactions of the soul.

The gift of speaking in tongues is very useful in this context. When you pray in
tongues, the Holy Spirit is drawing on His resources within you and releasing
them through your soul so that His life is expressed in your body. Then rivers of
living water can pour out of you, even when you are having to face great
personal problems and dilemmas.

At the same time we continue to pray with faith believing all the wonderful
prayer promises Jesus gave:

Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. (Jn. 16:24)

God wants your joy to be complete, not partial. When Jesus prayed to the Father
for His disciples on the night of His arrest, He said:

I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full
measure of my joy within them. (Jn. 17:13)

Jesus had to endure a great conflict in the Garden of Gethsemane as He faced

going to the cross. It seems He had to pray through to the point of rejoicing to be
crucified, even though it would involve having to experience something He had
never known before: a sense of complete isolation and separation from His
Father. When we have to go through crisis situations we are to –

Fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set
before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand
of the throne of God. (Heb. 12:2)

Often we have to fix our eyes ahead, on Jesus, keep trusting God, keep praising
Him and rejoicing in Him, until He brings us right through the trying situation.
And He never fails to do that if we keep trusting Him!

God has given you His Kingdom. That Kingdom is within you and it is not a
matter of talk but of power: ‘Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.’
(Rom. 14:17) The life of this Kingdom is greater than any of the darkness we can
experience in the world.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that
you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom. 15:13)

Paul could testify: ‘In all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.’ (2 Cor. 7:4)
Here is a man who lives out His own teaching, not focusing on the
circumstances, but rejoicing in the Lord always, even when in chains in prison!

By contrast, Paul asks the Galatians: ‘What has happened to all your joy?’ (Gal.
4:15) Instead of maintaining their life of faith, they had returned to their
religious legalistic attitudes. There is no true joy in formal religion, for God’s joy
can only be made known to us by the Holy Spirit. Paul also said that he always
prayed with joy and you, too, will be able to do this whenever you focus on
Jesus rather than on the trying circumstances, or your negative and fearful
feelings. He said:

We work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm. (2 Cor. 1:24)

The life of faith is a life of joy and enables you to stand firm even in times of
great adversity. When you stop rejoicing you stop actively trusting in the Lord!
James agrees with this:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. (James
1:2-3)

Peter also agrees. To believe in Jesus is to be ‘filled with an inexpressible and

glorious joy.’ (1 Pet. 1:8) John says at the beginning of his first letter: ‘we write
this to make our joy complete.’ (1 Jn. 1:4)
The Joy of Obedience

We have already seen that the joy of the Lord is not an emotion; it originates
from the Spirit within us. However, what is in your spirit can touch your
emotions and so enable you to feel the Lord’s joy. This joy is most obvious in
your life when you obey the Lord, trust in Him and follow the leading of the
Holy Spirit. Jesus said: ‘If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love,
just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told
you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.’ (Jn.
15:10-11)

Jesus was the Man of great joy because He obeyed His Father and
submitted to Him at all times. We cannot expect to experience the joy of the
Holy Spirit if we are living at odds with God in wilful disobedience to him. Not
only do we want to know that the Spirit’s joy is within our human spirits; we
want to experience that joy because we know we are pleasing the Lord.

What is the specific command that Jesus is referring to in the scripture above?
‘My command is this: love each other as I have loved you.’ (Jn. 15:12) Loving
others is not only to obey the Lord; it also enables you to be filled with His joy.
To bless others, to give to them and encourage them will enable you to
experience His joy. It is indeed more blessed to give than to receive, for Jesus
promises that when we give, we shall receive back in overflowing measure.

It is self-defeating to live for yourself. The most joyful way to live is to ‘lay
down your life for your friends’, to live for others rather than yourself! When
you have given to others in some way, when you know you have obeyed the
Lord, you have almost certainly experienced what I call the ‘joy bubble!’ It is as
if there is a bubble of joy that springs up within you. This is the Holy Spirit
saying: "Well done! That is exactly what pleases your Lord!"

You will have experienced the joy of giving to those you love. You want to bless
them, help them, care for them and encourage them — and you enjoy doing so.
Somehow we do not receive the same satisfaction when our giving is not marked
with love. We could formulate an equation: LOVE THAT IS EXPRESSED IN
GIVING TO OTHERS EQUALS JOY!

Giving to others rather than living for ourselves is part of Jesus’ teaching on
being a disciple:

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me
will find it. (Matt. 16:25)

In giving to others we give to the Lord; in serving them we serve Him; in

loving others, we express our love for Him. This is the joyful way to live, and
disciples are to be people of joy!

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. (Acts. 13:52)

There is to be joy in the Church. The writer to Hebrews tells his readers to obey
their leaders and submit to their authority. ‘They keep watch over you as men
who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a
burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.’ (Heb. 13:17)

There is joy in obedience, whether directly to the Lord or to those He sets over
us for our welfare. There is joy in loving and giving. We are encouraged to
rejoice greatly and to rejoice always:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Philip. 4:4)

Even if we find this difficult, we are to obey! We tend to rejoice naturally when
everything is going well. We need to learn to rejoice supernaturally (in the
Spirit) even when we do not feel like it, and there seems little in our
circumstances to warrant rejoicing!

Paul says: Rejoice in the Lord. You will not always want to rejoice in the
circumstances. In fact some situations we should definitely not rejoice about.
However, no matter the circumstances we can always rejoice in the Lord
because by doing this we bring the dynamic of His presence and power into
these circumstances. So Paul also says:

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is
God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thess. 5:16-18)

It is God’s will that you give thanks in all circumstances, not for all
circumstances. You do not give thanks for sin, failure, sickness either in your
own life or in others. However when you sin you can be thankful that God is
merciful and is ready to forgive you. If you are sick you can praise Him and be
thankful that He is your healer. When in need you can thank Him that He is your
provider. When perplexed, you can be thankful that He gives you wisdom. There
is always plenty to be thankful for when you focus on Jesus rather than on the
need.

Paul sees a direct link between being joyful, praying and being thankful. This is
a way of life, not something to be confined to set times of prayer. It is the way
we are to walk in relationship with the Lord, looking to Him and depending on
Him.

I have found frequently both in my own life and when helping others, that God
does not seem to move to our assistance readily while we resent our
circumstances and are full of negative criticism which ultimately is directed
towards the Lord for allowing us to be in such a predicament. But once we start
being obedient by rejoicing in Him and giving thanks that He is greater than the
circumstances, He immediately begins to intervene on our behalf. This is
because it is only when we rejoice in Him that we acknowledge that He is
greater than our need, and He always needs to be the focus of our attention!

Sometimes you have to force yourself to rejoice and give thanks. There is
nothing you feel less like doing. This is when you have to be determined to place
the Spirit above your own fleshly feelings and desires. When you persist in this
you will find again and again that you have a breakthrough in prayer, and
therefore in the circumstances. This does not give us the license to be insensitive
to others when they are in difficult positions.

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. (Rom. 12:15)

It is not helpful to slap someone on the back and say: "Rejoice!" when they are
grieving, even if that is what they need to do. We are to identify with where
people are at, not to join them in their misery, but to gently and sensitively help
them to direct their attention away from themselves and their predicament, and
to focus on Jesus. They will then be able to see how He is not only with them in
the situation, but that He will lead them through it! And the final outcome is
always the victory we have in Christ Jesus because of the salvation He has won
for us:
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to
suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith — of greater
worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved
genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is
revealed. (1 Pet. 1:6-7)

We can always rejoice that, regardless of the problems, we stand in the grace of
God, free from any condemnation. ‘And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of
God.’ (Rom. 5:2)

The apostles always look to the future with a positive attitude, and we need to do
likewise. They were ‘sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.’ (2 Cor. 6:10). They were
not unrealistic; they had learned that rejoicing and giving thanks are the route
to victory in one situation after another. There is never any reason for those
who live in Christ to become downcast, depressed or defeated. Neither will they
become trapped in such negativity if they keep rejoicing and giving thanks to the
Lord, for this is His will for all who are in Christ Jesus, every born-again
believer!

But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be
overjoyed when his glory is revealed. (1 Pet. 4:13)
Joy in Heaven

There is great joy in heaven. This is clear from the great vision of heaven that
was given to the apostle John.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the
power and the kingdom of our God… Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you
who dwell in them." (Rev. 12:10,12)

Those who dwell there are those who have overcome the accuser, the devil, ‘by
the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.’ (v. 11)

Learning to rejoice here on earth is only a preparation for the eternal rejoicing in
heaven. The time of judgment will soon come, and the saints, apostles and
prophets are told to rejoice that those who have opposed God’s purposes are
judged and have their power and authority destroyed forever. (see Rev. 18:20)
Above all, it is because the eternal, sovereign rule and reign of God is
established forever that we have cause to rejoice.

Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and
give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made
herself ready. (Rev. 19:6-7)

How good to know that whatever trials, tribulations and temptations we have to
work through now, this is the final outcome. We shall rejoice at the wedding
supper of the Lamb in heaven! Knowing this helps to keep everything in
perspective.

The One who has called us is faithful and He will keep us blameless in spirit,
soul and body, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (see 1 Thess. 5:23-24) We
have nothing to fear; He has prepared good things for us to walk in, and He is at
work in us now ‘according to His good purpose.’ (Philip. 2:13)

And what is that purpose? That we should rejoice always, pray continuously and
give thanks in all circumstances! How thankful we can be that He has poured
His joy into our hearts by His Holy Spirit to enable this. We only have to allow
His joy to be expressed through our lives and He will be glorified in us.

Love rejoices with the truth. (see 1 Cor. 13:6) And this is the truth as God has
revealed it to us. The Spirit of truth enables us to walk in the truth and to express
that truth in our lives: No wonder, then, that the apostle, John, said:

It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness
to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than
to hear that my children are walking in the truth. (3 Jn. v. 3-4)

I pray, that you will walk in the truth, rejoicing in the Lord, giving thanks in
all circumstances, knowing He hears your prayer, and answers!

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be
evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in
everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to
God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philip. 4:4-7)
The True Series:

The True Series comprises of the following titles:

TRUE AUTHORITY
TRUE CHURCH
TRUE COVENANT
TRUE DISCIPLES
TRUE FAITH
TRUE GOD
TRUE GRACE
TRUE HEALING
TRUE KINGDOM
TRUE LEADERSHIP
TRUE LIFE
TRUE LOVE
TRUE PEACE & JOY
TRUE PRAYER
TRUE PROMISES
TRUE REVIVAL
TRUE SALVATION
TRUE SONS
TRUE SPIRIT
TRUE WORSHIP

All these books by Colin Urquhart and a catalogue of other titles and teaching
materials can be obtained from:

Kingdom Faith Resources, Roffey Place, Old Crawley Road, Faygate, Horsham,
West Sussex RH12 4RU.

Telephone: 01293 854 600 | Email: resources@kingdomfaith.com