We have Joy in the Holy Spirit by Living in the Kingdom and being Filled in Spirit

Our Triune God is a God of joy; God is our joy, Christ is our joy, and there is joy in the Holy Spirit, for God wants us to enjoy Him and He gives Himself to us to be our enjoyment in our spirit, soul, and body.

Hallelujah, what a wonderful God we have!

Most Christians, however, know only that we need to worship God, fear God, and know God; they do not know that we need to enjoy God.

Throughout the Bible, God reveals to us that He is our food, our drink, and our supply for us to enjoy Him.

The Lord Jesus specifically said that, even as He came and lived because of the Father, so he who eats Him will also live because of Him (John 6:57).

Unless we eat the Lord, which involves enjoyment, we cannot live Him.

As believers in Christ, we need to realize that God’s intention is for His people to eat and drink of Him.

He is not only the God in the heavens who created all things and who dwells in unapproachable light.

He went through a process so that He could be received and enjoyed by man.

God went through a process of being incarnated, living a human life, dying on the cross, being resurrected, and being ascended, and He became a life-giving Spirit.

Now as the life-giving Spirit, He comes to us to be received by us as life and also to be enjoyed by us in many ways.

Man was created by God with the need for enjoyment.

We need to enjoy something, and the real thing that we enjoy is God Himself.

God wants to be the fountain of living waters to us for us to enjoy. So God is our joy, and Christ is joy to us and in us.

This joy, however, is not the joy that we see in the world, a joy that is caused by some good thing that happened; this joy is a person.

When we touch the Lord, we’re filled with joy within.

When we contact the Lord in prayer and in His word, we have the joy of God.

Our joy is Christ Himself, and when we abide in the Lord, His joy is made full in us.

The Lord Jesus was despised and rejected by man, but He was full of joy.

He was so full of joy that He even paid the highest price, the price of His human life, for the joy set before Him.

The joy set before Him was the church; the Lord Jesus loved God and also loved the church to such an extent that, for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross and despised the shame.

He did it all for joy. And He became our joy. He is in us as our joy.

We just need to contact Him and live in fellowship with Him, and we will be joyful Christians. Hallelujah!

We have Joy in the Holy Spirit by Living in the Kingdom and being Filled in Spirit

Rom. 14:17 says that the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

There is joy in the Holy Spirit. Not only there is joy with God and with Christ but also with the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 13:52 we are told that the disciples in those days were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

When we’re truly filled with the Holy Spirit, we’re filled with joy.

As believers in Christ, we need to seek to be filled in the Spirit so that we may also be filled with joy. All people need joy.

1 Thes. 1:6 says that the believers received the word in much affliction and with joy of the Holy Spirit, and Gal. 5:22 says that joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Where is joy? Joy is in our spirit, for we are joined to the Lord as the Spirit as one spirit.

When we are filled with the divine life, we have the love of God toward God and man, and we have joy.

The Spirit of God is the Spirit of the divine life, the divine love, and the divine joy.

When we’re filled in spirit with the Spirit, when we contact the Lord and are filled with the Spirit in our spirit, we are filled with joy and we will be joyful within.

On one hand, we need to be filled in spirit; on the other hand, we need to live in the kingdom of God, even live the kingdom life.

The overcoming life that we live in the church life today is the kingdom life, and this kingdom life is constituted with the joy of the Holy Spirit with righteousness and peace.

When we’re righteous toward God and toward others, we will have a peaceful relationship with God and with others, and the result is that we will have joy in the Holy Spirit.

The fact that we have joy in the Holy Spirit is proof that we are living in the reality of God’s kingdom and under the rule of God; this is the practical church life.

The decree of the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens is in Matt. 5, 6 and 7; here we see a portrayal of the nature of the kingdom of the heavens (5:1-12).

The Lord concluded this portion with, Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in the heavens.

When we live in the kingdom of the heavens, when we allow the Lord to rule and reign within us, we will rejoice and exult.

Outwardly, the situation may not be prosperous and positive, but inwardly we know that God is our reward today and especially in the coming age.

We rejoice not because of any outward factor but because Christ lives in us and dwells in us.

The indwelling Lord is the cause of our rejoicing, and the Holy Spirit who moves within us is the motivation of our constant rejoicing.

May we contact the Lord and enjoy Him again and again to be filled in spirit and have joy in the Holy Spirit, and may we live in the kingdom of the heavens so that the Holy Spirit may be the factor of our constant joy and rejoicing.

God wants us to enjoy Him and live for His purpose (Neh. 8:10; Eph. 3:11).

He speaks to us, He exposes our situation, and He shines to expose our idols, our weaknesses, and our forsaking of the Lord.

As He shines, we repent, and we also rejoice, for though the Lord convicts and touches us, we are full of joy, and the joy of Jehovah is our strength.

Outwardly we have afflictions and even persecution, and there may be many negative things in us and around us.

Inwardly, the Lord is within us and we have Jehovah as our joy, for the joy of Jehovah is our strength.

This strength will keep us going on with the Lord and will maintain us until the Lord’s appearing.

The Triune God is a God of joy, and the apostles are fellow workers with the saints for their joy (see Rom. 15:13; John 15:11; 17:13; Acts 13:52; Gal. 5:22; 2 Cor. 1:24; Phil. 1:25; 2:17-18).

Not only is God a God of joy to us, and we have much joy in the Holy Spirit, but the apostles – and we need to imitate them – are helping the saints be filled with joy.

In all our contact with one another, we need to be a factor of joy to others, helping them to have joy of the faith.

We are not here to do an outward work for God; we are here to be filled in spirit and have joy in the Holy Spirit, and we work together with God to impart God as joy in the Holy Spirit into others.

We may even pray like Paul that we may be poured out as a drink offering upon the service and service of the saints’ faith, and we rejoice with the saints.

It is good to pray about this and tell the Lord,

Lord Jesus, fill us in spirit! Hallelujah, there is joy in the Holy Spirit, and we are joined to the Lord as one spirit! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to contact You and be filled with joy! We exercise to live in the kingdom of God, under the inner rule of God, so that we may enjoy and experience righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. We enthrone You in our being, dear Lord. You have the first place. You are the Lord and King in us. We want to live in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens, and we rejoice, for You are our great reward! Amen, Lord, we rejoice that we can enjoy You! We do not look at anything outwardly in our environment to give us joy: we look to You, Lord, for You are our joy! The joy of Jehovah is our strength. Amen, Lord, though we pass through so many things and there are many unpleasant things happening to us and around us, Your joy is our strength! We love You, Lord Jesus!

God has given Himself to us as Grace to be our Enjoyment in our Spirit, Soul, and Body

A sweet thought revealed in the Word of God is that in Christ God has given Himself to us as grace to be our enjoyment in our spirit, soul, and body (see John 1:14, 16-17; 2 Cor. 13:14).

God is not distant and away from us; He is intimate and close to us.

He is so close to us that He became a man through incarnation, and He is the life-giving Spirit in our spirit, joined to us in an organic way.

The entire Bible shows us that God doesn’t want us only to worship Him, fear Him, and believe in Him, but also to have a personal relationship with Him so that we may enjoy Him in our spirit, soul, and body.

Many Christians, however, miss this matter.

They enjoy God as the Shepherd, and the words of Psalm 23 are real and sweet to them.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. How wonderful it is that the Lord is our shepherd!

But if He is only our shepherd, He can at most care for us outwardly but not enter into us inwardly.

God is our Shepherd and He cares for us in love, taking care of all our needs; this, however, is not all that God is to us.

God is very intimate and personal with us. He wants to come inside of us and be our very life and life supply.

He wants to enter into our being and be joined to us intimately to make us one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17).

And this is not once for all: as revealed in the gospel of John, God in Christ wants to be our enjoyment, for He is the reality of all that we need.

He is our living bread, our bread of life, and the bread that came down out of heaven for us to eat and live because of Him (John 6).

He is the living water flowing out to all men who are thirsty to come and drink (John 7:37-39).

Even when we’re at the peak of our human enjoyment, when we have a feast and enjoy so much what this world has to offer, the Lord still comes and calls us to come to Him and enjoy Him by drinking Him as the living water.

Whoever drinks of the water that this world offers will thirst again, but whoever drinks of Christ as the living water will never thirst (John 4:13-14).

God wants to be enjoyed by us; this is why He has become even our very joy. God is our joy, Christ is our joy, and there is joy in the Holy Spirit.

God is a God of enjoyment, and His desire is to be enjoyed by man. He created us with a spirit, a soul, and a body, and He comes to meet all the needs of our spirit, soul, and body.

Only God can satisfy the needs of our tripartite being.

First, He comes to save our spirit by entering into us to regenerate us with His life.

When we believe into the Lord, our spirit is regenerated and is filled with life; now our spirit is life (Rom. 8:11).

Then, as we set our mind on our spirit, even our mind becomes life, for the Lord as life spreads into our mind – the leading part of our soul – to impart His life into us (v. 6).

Finally, at the time of our glorification, we will experience the redemption of our body, and even our mortal body will be swallowed up by God’s life. Hallelujah!

Today we can enjoy God in our spirit, soul, and body, and He is becoming our life and everything in every part of our being.

We can testify that, though God is invisible, untouchable, and intangible, we can enjoy Him in our spirit, in our soul and even in our body.

What a blessing this is!

How wonderful it is that we can enjoy God, for He wants to be enjoyed by man in many ways!

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to us not only to save us and regenerate us but even more to be enjoyed by us. We open to You today. We want to enjoy You. We come to You to partake of Your riches. Thank You for being not only our Shepherd taking care of our needs but even more, our life and life supply. You can satisfy our needs in our spirit, soul, and body. Amen, Lord, we open to You and we come to You again and again. We want to touch You in spirit. Fill us with Your life in our spirit. Spread from our spirit into our soul to make our mind life and fill our soul with life. Amen, Lord, may Your life spread even into our body to swallow up our mortal body and transfigure it to conform it to the body of Your glory! Amen, Lord, what a blessing it is for us to enjoy You in our spirit, soul, and body! You are our enjoyment. We enjoy You not only in Your sovereign arrangements and provisions but also as our varied and bountiful supply to our inward being!

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, 1958, vol. 1, “How to Enjoy God and How to Practice the Enjoyment of God,” pp. 365-366, 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:
  – Righteousness, Peace, and Joy in the Spirit Now and in New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The Ministry of the Spirit and of Righteousness (1), via, Shepherding Words.
  – Our Spiritual Remedy: The Spirit as an All-Inclusive Dose, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – The human spirit in the experience of the Triune God, article by John Pester in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Praying in the two spirits, via, Living to Him.
  – Joy in the spirit, a portion from, Life Messages, Vol. 1 (#1-41), Chapter 38, by Witness Lee.
  – What does “the Spirit was not yet” in John 7:39 refer to? Via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Love, joy, comfort – a portion from, Conclusion of the New Testament, The (Msgs. 079-098), Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – O let us rejoice in the Lord evermore, / Though all things around us be trying, / Though floods of affliction like sea billows roar, / It’s better to sing than be sighing. / Then rejoice evermore, rejoice evermore, / It is better to sing than be sighing: / It is better to live than be dying; / So let us rejoice evermore. (Hymns #717 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – With a life strict to self we must righteousness hold, / Kind to others in peace, and with God joyful, bold; / In the Kingdom’s reality e’er to remain, / For its manifestation prepared thus to reign. / Then Christ when He comes with the kingdom from God / Will to us grant His kingship to share as reward; / Thus the Lord will His righteousness thru us maintain / And His wisdom to heavenly powers make plain. (Hymns #947 stanzas 4-5)
  – For my words I take His wisdom, / For my works His Spirit’s power; / For my ways His ceaseless presence / Guards and guides me every hour. / Of my heart, He is the portion, / Of my joy the boundless spring; / Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, / Glorious Lord, and coming King. (Hymns #564 stanza 4)