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| PentecostalTheology.com
“You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence,” (Acts 2:28 quoting Psalm 16:11).
Where will I be filled with the Lord’s joy? In His presence. What does that mean? Isn’t God present everywhere? It is talking about awareness of His presence from paying attention to Him in our lives.
And Nehemiah 8:10 says “the joy of the Lord is my strength.”
So my strength comes from the joy of experiencing God’s presence.
Philippians 4:4-8 talks about Joy and how we can experience inner Peace:
4”Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” Notice Paul repeats himself – so it must be important. But how do we rejoice if we don’t feel it?
5” Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.” A key – remembering that “the Lord is at hand,” or, in other words, with us.
6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;” – Note – Thanksgiving is a key!
7 “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Our minds and hearts are the battlefield.
So how do we be anxious for nothing and not worry. Through prayer with thanksgiving. The next verse gives us another key – change the subject. We often distract a child from bad behavior by changing the subject – diverting them to something better. We need to do the same with our minds as we count our blessings:
8 “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate (think) on these things.” Change the subject of our thinking to truth, purity, beauty and everything worthy of praise.
