8th Fruit of the Holy Spirit
The joy of God that is the Fruit of the Father and of the Lord, the Spirit, and is not the rejoicing joy of the shallow who receive good news and do not endure through troubles and bad news. There is a joy that you can experience in the Lord that is fruitless and useless. —It is the joy of those who receive the good news of the kingdom and do not sink roots into Jesus the Rock, and so wither at the sign of persecution.
Matthew 13:20 “The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.”
The failure to develop roots is the failure to develop a relationship with the Lord and refusal to dig deeper into the things of God…. Remember, when the Gospel is just preached, often it is a message of repentance, believe and be saved, so that you can be blessed—as Peter the Apostle preached it in Acts 3:19,20 Repent then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord and that He may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.
Unfortunately many will repent and receive their salvation with joy, but when the persecution comes with receiving Jesus—they will either fall away or back away. I have observed that there are also those who will not sink roots into Jesus, but maintain a superficial relationship with Him, so that the initial joy of salvation remains. They will not venture out to have their faith tested. Why do you have your faith tested? To see if what you believe in is true and see if you would stick at believing even when nothing seems to be happening. This is a joy that I pray you would have experienced—but it is not the joy that I would advise you to live on, for it is a joy that gives no strength, like a plant which has no roots, has no strength to survive—so this joy has no strength which allows you to endure and embrace the troubles and persecutions that must come with your walk with Jesus.—Yes, persecutions must come if you are truly following Jesus and holding onto His teachings. Why? Not because I said so, or because the devil hates you—No—because Jesus said so! Mark 13:13, Matthew 10:22 “All men will hate you because of Me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” [Luke 21:17-19]
To stand firm to the end you better have deep roots; and the way to have deep roots and to stand firm to the end is to not only hear the word of the Lord—but to put it into practice—Practice, practice, practice!
Matthew 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who build his house on the rock.” You will not be swept away. I don’t care what you practice or how you practice----just as long as it is the Word of the Lord. You can practice fasting in secret or walking on water in secret—you may use a bucket full of water or a bath tub or a swimming pool—as long as you are practicing His Words that you have heard. And after you have practiced, practice some more and hear some more until you have practiced doing all that He has done and are now seeking to do even greater things because He said, “I tell you the truth, if anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing, He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:12
So the joy of God, the joy of the Lord—that is the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) - and God is Spirit—is not the fruitless initial joy of receiving the good news—but it is the enduring joy that comes from a deeply rooted commitment to the Word of God, that is tested with patience and endurance, which results in the salvation of souls. 1 Peter 1:8,9 Though you have not seen Him, you love Him and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
The joy of the Lord comes only to those whose goal of their faith is deeply committed to the salvation of their souls only. Now, the quality of your joy will depend on the goal of your faith. If the goal of your faith is on temporal things like believing for a job, house or car—then that joy will come and go, or wear out like a car wears out or a job is lost.
However, if the goal of your faith is the salvation of your soul—and there is no higher or greater calling or salvation than to be called for participation in the First Resurrection—then you will experience this inexpressible joy that Peter speaks of. It is inexpressible to you, because it is not your joy—No, it is the joy of the Father and the Holy Spirit, for when you take up the highest possible calling of the Lord for your faith goal [as some preachers say] to be part of the First Resurrection—you have undertaken a task to bring glory to Jesus Christ at its maximum level—to follow Jesus and to hold onto His teachings and His teachings alone, even if it costs you your life.
You have chosen to sink roots and endure the troubles and persecutions—the troubles that Jesus said would come if you followed Him. Remember there are those who believe in Jesus and who know Jesus—but they do not follow Jesus or hold onto His teachings, like the demons who used to scream at Him: “I know who you are – the Holy One of God” Mark 1:24. If you believe in Jesus and even say you know He is the Son of God or the Holy One of God—you are only keeping company with demons.—Unless you follow Him and hold onto His teachings, you are not disciples and you may not be in fellowship with Him.
So, do not be surprised that many, who confess to be Christians, because they believe in Jesus or because they know He is the Holy One of God, are riddled with demonic problems. You will find that these have never been taught to listen to Jesus, to follow Jesus and to put His words into practice…. But they have been taught to listen to men and women, to follow men and women and to put their words into practice—and there is very little joy in their lives—certainly not joy that goes against circumstances and endures troubles and persecutions.
No, the joy of God is the joy of a Father who has a wise son who is a righteous man. For it says in Proverbs 10:1; 15:20 a wise son brings joy to his father - and Proverbs 23:24 The father of a righteous man has great joy. Indeed the plead of the Father is Proverbs 27:11 “Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart….” And he who is wise wins souls. [ Proverbs 11:30 He who wins souls is wise.]
Jesus is the wise and righteous Son because He laid down His life to save the souls- all living souls – for God, to redeem them from the power of sin by using His blood to sign the New Covenant for the forgiveness of sins by faith. Thus the joy of the Lord – the joy of God the Father – is the joy of a Father who has a wise and righteous Son – a son who wins souls. Unless you begin to imitate Jesus as a soul winner by preaching the Gospel - whether in the flesh or in the spirit - whether in visions or in dreams, you cannot experience the joy that Jesus has brought to the Father. Too often you are lulled into inactivity, sit and listen, put your money with a great evangelist, and he will preach the Gospel. Yes, you may share in the reward, but you have denied yourself the experience of a direct, unshared reward—that which Jesus experienced. “All that belongs to the Father is Mine.” John 16:15
It is when you have experienced that direct reward from the Father, that you can also say, “All that belongs to the Father in mine.” And it is when you can truly say that, that you are a co-heir of Christ, and Sonship blossoms in you.
And when the Father begins to share His joy with you – the joy of a Father who has a wise and righteous Son—He will give you children, children who may be natural born to you in marriage, or children born by the will of God—that is children, people who become children of God, because you shared the Gospel of Jesus with them. Children who grow up before your eyes, whether in the flesh or spirit, who are wise and righteous, and then you experience this joy—the joy of God the Father—the joy of One who knows the end from the beginning—the Joy that sits right next to the Peace of God—the joy that comes from knowing everything has been worked out for good for those who love God.
It is through your children, the children that you will bear for God, whether natural or spiritual, that you will be filled with joy, a joy that will only come to its fullness of fruit—when you see them growing up winning souls and developing righteousness. This is the joy that Jesus tasted as the Son who brought the Father joy—for God the Father has given unto Jesus the privilege of also fathering children through His Gospel. John 13:33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer…” Jesus came to address His disciples as His children, and when they came back in Luke 10:17, the seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your Name.” It is written at that moment – Luke 10:21 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.”
When Jesus gave out what He had received from the Father to raise up disciples that could be like Him, He received the full measure of joy—the joy of the Father through the Holy Spirit. It is this joy, the Joy of God the Father seeing His children raised up and returning to Him which Jesus had—who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross Hebrews 12:2
This is the joy that does not wither when hard times come—the joy of the disciples of Luke 10:21 does not endure unto the cross—it is the joy of the Father—the prospect of raising up wise and righteous sons just like Jesus that endures—and this joy comes through the Holy Spirit.
This joy does not come through success, or through people, or through anything or anyone else except through the Holy Spirit—and if our people are not taught to fellowship with the Holy Spirit; where will they get this measure or type of joy? -- They cannot. This is why – where Christians are not taught to grow up and become wise and righteous sons like Jesus, where Christians are not taught to be fathers like God is a Father and where Christians are not taught to fellowship with the Holy Spirit – the full joy of God is not manifested, and their relationship with the word of God is shallow and seeks to compromise, in order to avoid troubles and persecutions.
However, it is in the midst of the persecutions, that the 100-fold is experienced. Mark 10:29,30 “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers, or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields- and with them persecutions)—and in the age to come, eternal life. [“ that they may know You, the Only true God and Jesus Chris whom You have sent” John 17:3] --The 100-fold not only in temporal things, but the 100-fold of joy in its full measure. Jesus prayed in John 17:13 “I am coming to You now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of My joy within them.” The “My joy” of Jesus is the Father’s joy, for all which belongs to the Father belongs to Jesus.
But what of the joy of the Holy Spirit?—We have spoken of the joy of the Father and of the Lord, but what of the Holy Spirit? If you ignore the joy of the Holy Spirit which you will already have, if you were not shown or taught or you have willfully ignored to fellowship with the Holy Spirit—you will have no strength—no strength to endure, to persevere and overcome. Again, that is why so many of our brothers are weak—weak in endurance, commitment, perseverance, and in their ability to overcome.
When Nehemiah said in Nehemiah 8:10 “for the joy of the lord is your strength”; most people see it as receiving joy from God, but if you read what Nehemiah said, bringing joy to the Lord would be their strength, because they were listening and understanding the Book of the Law that was being read. And as Paul has written – the spirit is the Lord!
So for us, the joy of the Holy Spirit is our strength—that is it brings joy to the Holy Spirit, and is what will give us the strength to do the work required.—The strength to endure and overcome—and what will bring joy to the Holy Spirit in these last days as He prepares for His departure is for Him to see a group of people, His Elect, whom He can entrust this world to watch over until Jesus returns—a group that has allowed Him to complete His destiny and calling. As Jesus was sent by God to save the world—so the Father sent the Holy Spirit to empower us to raise us up as sons also—that is why He was sent as the Spirit of Sonship.—Sons who understand the Father and who experiences the Father’s joy of seeing His children raised up—wise and righteous.—Sons just like Jesus, who not only knows how to be a wise and righteous Son, but also a righteous Father to those given to Him by the Father. [You cannot do that unless you have practiced the words of Jesus]
And there is the joy of the Holy Spirit, the joy that comes as a relief of a work finished, completed so that He may go back to the Father with a good report. We can bring and are bringing joy to the Holy Spirit as we continue to agree with Him, work with Him and fellowship with Him. The joy He gets now is the joy of a person near the completion of a long task.
However, you and I stand in a very unique place, time and position—whereby—not only can we bring joy to the Holy Spirit—for like the Jews of Nehemiah’s days, we are listening to the Word and understanding and practicing the words of the Word, who fulfilled the Law. We are in a position to increase and multiply the joy of the Holy Spirit. He was sent as the Spirit of Sonship to raise up sons of God just like Jesus. And as it is written, the first man Adam became a living being, the last Adam, a life giving Spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so we shall bear the likeness of the man from heaven. 1 Corinthians 15:45-49
And as Eve was taken from the side of the Adam as his equal and helper—so now, the extra, over and above, pressed down, flowing over joy that we men can give the Holy Spirit, is to see taken out of the side of the Body of Christ, as it was taken out of the side of the body of Adam, the daughters of God – a helper and an equal – a co-heir – a female, a daughter of God in the fullness of the stature of God – for Christ did say: “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, [OKJ] shall men give unto your bosom [heart] and into your lap [NIV] Luke 6:38
THE JOY OF GOD -- AMEN HOLY SPIRIT
