A Christian should be a Joyful Person, having Joy Unspeakable and Full of Glory!

We believers in Christ are full of joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, for we love the Lord and rejoice in Him; a Christian should be a joyful person – joyful in the Spirit, even when the outward environment is full of difficulties and problems. Amen!

By abiding in the Lord as the vine, we enjoy all that He is, and we bear fruit spontaneously; when we bear fruit, we are full of joy, for the Lord’s joy is made full in us.

There was once a brother, George Cutting, who was very much used by the Lord in his time; he was one of the few Brethren who spoke concerning the word enjoyment and about enjoying the Lord.

He wrote a book called, Safety, Certainty, and Enjoyment, and in his days it was the third best-seller book after the Bible and The Pilgrim’s Progress.

Toward the end of his life, even though he had dementia, when brother Watchman Nee visited him, this dear brother kept saying, I cannot live without Him, and He cannot live without me.

He may have forgotten the verses and the Bible teachings, but he remembered that he cannot live without the Lord, and the Lord cannot live without him.

He still maintained his joy toward the end of his life.

When we remain in the organic union with the Lord, we are filled with joy, for it is a joyful matter for us to abide in the Lord and enjoy the riches of His life being constantly dispensed into us.

Our joy comes from abiding in the Lord, for when we abide in Him, we also abide in His love, and we are full of joy.

When we abide in the Lord and enjoy all that He is, He as the all-inclusive One is our portion, and we are full of joy.

We abide in the Lord by exercising our spirit to remain in the organic union with Him.

Our joy is in the spirit, not merely in the soul.

Yes, the soul is the organ for enjoyment, but the real enjoyment is the enjoyment in the deepest part of our being, our mingled spirit.

Our Triune God is a God of joy; the Father is the source of our joy, Christ is our joy, and there is joy in the Holy Spirit.

May we be made normal believers in Christ by enjoying the Lord so that His joy becomes our joy and our joy is made full in Him.

Hallelujah, the Father has qualified us for an allotted portion of Christ, who is the all-inclusive One to be our portion as the saints in the light!

By faith into Him, we have been brought into an organic union with Him, and now we simply abide in Him and enjoy all His riches, and we are full of joy!

The Believers Exult with Joy that is Unspeakable and Full of Glory, for they Enjoy the Unseen One!

According to 1 Pet. 1:8, we believers in Christ exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. Hallelujah!

We believe into someone that we have never seen or met physically, and we love someone that we have never touched with our hands or seen with our eyes.

Although we have never seen the Lord Jesus, we love Him.

Even though at present we cannot see Him, we believe into Him, and we love Him!

How can we love the Lord Jesus? How can we believe into the One we have never seen?

It is because of the faith that has been infused into us through our hearing of the living word of God (Gal. 3:2).

When we hear God’s word, we are infused with God Himself, and we spontaneously believe.

When we hear about the Lord Jesus and are infused with faith, which is Himself being infused into us to become our faith, we love Him and we exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.

The joy we have by believing into the Lord is immersed in glory – it is immersed in the Lord as glory, so it is full of the expression of the Lord.

Such a joy is unspeakable, being beyond our ability to utter.

We all can testify that, when we touch the Lord, when we enjoy the Lord, we have a joy that is beyond our ability to express or explain; we simply enjoy the Lord and He is our joy. Amen!

Glory is God expressed; whenever God is expressed, there is glory.

Even in our enjoying Him, in our enjoyment of Christ, there is the expression of God.

When you go to a football game and see so many people being outwardly joyful when someone scores, you realize that, yes, there’s the expression of the flesh there, but there is no glory.

There’s no glory unless God is expressed.

When we believe into the Lord and love Him, we obtain great joy.

Our normal condition as Christians is to have joy that is full of glory!

This doesn’t mean that we are outwardly happy and smiling all the time; rather, joy is something inward, something that comes from within our being.

Whether we are saved for two months or twenty years, Christ is our joy, and it should be normal for us to exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.

Sometimes we may lose this joy because of our sins and failures, so we need to come to the Lord and confess our sins, repent for our failures, and receive the fresh cleansing of the blood of Christ.

Then, the joy of our salvation is restored, and we can go on enjoying the Lord.

Enjoying the Lord has many aspects, for the joy of the Lord is so rich and multi-faceted.

When we enjoy the Lord, we have the joy of the Lord’s presence (Psa. 16:11) and we have the joy of living in the divine romance (Song of Songs 1:1-4).

When we enjoy the Lord, we have the joy of receiving and enjoying the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity (2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 3:14-21)!

Amen, when we enjoy the Lord, we have the joy of drinking the river of God’s pleasures (Psa. 46:4; 36:8) and the joy of knowing the love of God (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 8:38-39).

As we enjoy the Lord, we have the joy of doing God’s will (Psa. 40:8) and the joy of contentment in all circumstances (Phil. 4:11).

As we keep enjoying the Lord, we will enter into the joy of the Lord in His kingdom (Matt. 25:21, 23).

The Lord wants us to enjoy Him as much as possible in this age so that we may enter into the joy of the Lord in the next age.

May we be those who enjoy the Lord day by day, deal with any problems between us and Him, and are filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Lord Jesus, we love You! We have not seen You with our physical eyes but we believe into You and we love You! Hallelujah, we are filled with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory! Amen, Lord, we love to enjoy You and be filled with Your riches. We love to enjoy You and have the joy of Your presence. Thank You for the joy of living in the divine romance, loving You and pursuing You in love for satisfaction. Thank You we can experience the joy of receiving the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. Oh, what a joy it is to drink of the river of God’s pleasures and to know God’s love! Amen, Lord, we love to come to You again and again, deal with any problem that would hinder our fresh seeing and enjoying of You, and just enjoy You! We love to be filled with Your joy, have the joy of doing God’s will and the joy of contentment in all circumstances! Oh Lord, our desire is to enjoy You day by day until we enter into the joy of our Master!

A Christian should be a Joyful Person, a Person Joyful in the Spirit by Enjoying the Lord

In Phil. 4:11 Paul said that he learned the secret, in whatever circumstances he is, to be content; he was a joyful person, for he was joyful in the Spirit.

A Christian should be a joyful person, a person joyful in the Spirit by enjoying the Lord all the time.

This doesn’t mean that our circumstances are all OK and there are no more problems, so we rejoice and are full of joy.

Our joy and joyfulness as believers in Christ has nothing to do with our outward environment.

In Dan. 3:19-20 and 25 we see the three friends of Daniel who were not in a pleasant place: they were thrown in the fiery furnace because they did not want to deny the Lord, yet they were joyful.

Our surroundings and our environment may be quite miserable, but we ourselves are joyful, for our joy is in the Lord in spirit.

We may be in a blazing furnace and everything and everyone may be against us, but we are joyful in the Spirit because we inwardly enjoy the Lord.

In Acts 16:23-25 we see Paul and Silas being put in prison, even in the innermost prison, with their feet in stocks, yet they were rejoicing.

Their environment was terrible, their surroundings were miserable, and their outward condition was not that great, yet they were rejoicing.

A Christian should be a joyful person not because of anything that is from the outward circumstances or accomplishments but joyful in the Spirit by enjoying the Lord.

Paul and Silas were in prison, humanly speaking, but in their consideration and feeling, they were in God.

To them, the jail was simply the representative of God, and they were imprisoned in Him, prisoners in the Lord (Eph. 4:1).

The Lord is our joy when we are in Him (Rom. 14:17).

When we exercise our spirit to abide in the Lord and enjoy Him, we are joyful persons, for we’re joyful in the Spirit.

We are joyful because the Lord is our joy.

When we are abiding in the Lord, no matter what problem we have and what our circumstances are, we are joyful, and any difficulty only deepens our joy in the Lord (John 15:4). Amen!

May we be those who are burning in spirit and joyful in the Holy Spirit so that we may enjoy God, reign as kings in life, walk in newness of life, and serve in newness of spirit!

When we’re joyful in the Spirit by enjoying the Lord, we will spontaneously reign in life as kings, and our walk will be in newness of life.

Our service will be in newness of spirit, for we enjoy Christ in all things, and there’s no stale or old thing in our service to Him.

Sometimes we meet some older dear saints who are so full of joy and enjoyment, whose living and service is so fresh and new; the secret to this is that they enjoy the Lord.

Outwardly they have sickness in their body and the old age affects their ability to move or do things, but inwardly they are filled with joy, for they enjoy the Lord!

To be joyful does not necessarily mean that outwardly we are jumping up and down and shout; to be joyful is to have an inner satisfaction and to be filled with inner peace and contentment.

It is normal for a Christian to be joyful in the Lord; it is normal for a Christian to be a joyful person, joyful in the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit in us is a Spirit of joy, and if we’re joyful, the Holy Spirit in us is also joyful (Gal. 5:22).

But if we’re not joyful, this may be an indication that the Lord in us is not joyful.

When we do something to grieve the Spirit in our spirit, we cannot be joyful, for the Spirit in us is not joyful.

The Spirit with our spirit is a joyful Spirit, and there is joy in the Holy Spirit.

There may be nothing in the outward environment to make us joyful, but the Lord who lives in us is our joy (Col. 1:27).

Therefore, we practice to always rejoice, unceasingly pray, and in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us (1 Thes. 5:16-18).

There may be some negative things happening to us or in our environment, but we learn to always rejoice in the Lord.

We learn to give Him thanks in all things, and if anything happens, we unceasingly pray to make all things known to the Lord.

As we open to the Lord and fellowship with Him in all things, His life in us flows and is expressed through us, and we are full of joy.

May we be the joyful Christians who are joyful in the Spirit, filled with the Lord’s joy to be our joy.

Lord Jesus, we want to abide in You and enjoy You as our joy. May we be burning in spirit and joyful in the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah, the Spirit with our spirit is a Spirit of joy, and we can enjoy Him as our joy! Amen, Lord, we want to abide in You and enjoy You as our joy. We want to 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! Amen, Lord, may there be a spontaneous reigning in life as we abide in the Lord, and may we walk in newness of life and serve in newness of spirit! Praise the Lord! Praise You, Lord, for everything! We give You thanks for everything. We rejoice in You. You are our joy. We bring all matters to You in prayer. Keep us enjoying You. Make us normal Christians who are joyful in the Spirit! We love You, Lord Jesus!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by James Lee in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1966, vol. 2, “The Divine Spirit with the Human Spirit in the Epistles,” pp. 273-274, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Enjoyment of Christ and our Growth in Life unto Maturity (2023 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 2, entitled, The Joy of the Triune God Becoming our Joy.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – How to Maintain the Joy of Our Salvation, article via, Bibles for America blog.
  – Christ vs Religion – a blind man in the fold, a picture of our condition, a portion via, Christ versus Religion, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee.
  – Eternal Joy in New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The key to experiencing Christ – the human spirit, a portion via, The Key to Experiencing Christ–the Human Spirit, Chapter 1.
  – My Coming into the Church Life, studying at the FTTA, and Serving with the Students, via, Living to Him.
  – From Glory to Glory, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – How to Restore the Joy in Your Christian Life, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – A Christian having Christ, a Christian having the Bible, a portion from, The Pursuit of a Christian, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – O let us rejoice in the Lord evermore, / When the darts of the tempter are flying, / For Satan still dreads, as he oft did of yore, / Our singing much more than our sighing. / O let us rejoice in the Lord evermore, / When sickness upon us is stealing, / No cordial like gladness our strength can restore, / For joy is the fountain of healing. (Hymns #717 stanzas 2-3)
  – We have found the Christ who’s all in all; / He is everything to us; / O how blest upon His name to call, / How divine, how glorious! / It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, / Full of glory, full of glory; / It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, / And the half has never yet been told! (Hymns #1153 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – I have come to the Fountain of Joy; / His joy is the strength of my heart. / My delight is unmixed with alloy, / My sunshine can never depart. / The fig tree may wither and die, / Earth’s pleasures and prospects decline; / But my fountains can never be dry— / My portion, my joy is divine. (Hymns #523 stanza 4)