Tag Archive for fullness of joy

Fullness of Joy

2021-07-28 Hymns No comments

Facing His darkest hour,
what did Jesus long to
share with His disciples?
The fullness of His joy.
This hymn helps us
understand and receive that joy.
Set to a familiar tune.

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Fullness of joy in You, my Father,
I find in Christ Your Son,
Sharing Your Spirit’s breath, uniting
Our lives to breathe as one.
I share His love, His faith, His peace,
His deep and humble prayer,
Strong in His perfect weakness, trusting
Our Father’s tender care.

How can Your path of tender care be
So rough and dark and steep?
How can Your loving wisdom lead us
To groan and grieve and weep?
My Lord has walked this road before,
And I am not alone.
Fullness of joy is mine in Jesus,
And He will lead me home.

Sharing His life in You, my Father,
I share His fuller joy,
Joy beyond words, aglow with glory
No sorrow can destroy.
This lesson Christ in love would teach
And prove profoundly true:
Father, Your goal and greatest gift is
The joy of knowing You.

by Ken Bible, © 2015 LNWhymns.com.

Fullness of Joy

2018-11-12 Devotional with Hymn No comments

My tears have been my food day and night.
O my God, my soul is in despair.
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over Me.
(Psalm 42:3, 6, 7, NASB)

Father, grief and sorrow have come in like a flood,
and I am overwhelmed.
Tears are my constant companion.
I need joy, the joy that comes only from You,
but I cannot grasp it.

Father, now I am ready to hear the words of Christ.
Now I am ready to look hungrily at His example.
Hours before His arrest, torture, and brutal execution,
what was He so eager to share with His disciples?
The fullness of His joy:

“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” (John 15:11, NASB)

“[Father,] now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.” (John 17:13, NASB)

Jesus stood on the brink of the greatest
physical, emotional, and spiritual assault
any human has ever faced.
What strengthened Him, encouraged Him, and drew Him on?
His fullness of joy.

“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1b-2, NASB)

Jesus endured every humiliation that unbridled hatred could throw at Him, yet
He despised the shame.
He considered it unworthy of consideration in light of
the joy set before Him.

Father, Jesus found His joy in You, in
knowing You,
pleasing You, and
glorifying You.
Father, You are the fullness of joy for me as well.
With Jesus, I seek,
not joy,
but You. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Fullness of Joy
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About “Fullness of Joy”

2017-08-09 Devotional with Hymn One comment

I have written elsewhere about my search for joy after our son took his own life (see Unchanging Joy). God had directed me to focus, not on my grief, but on my unchanging joy in Christ – the joy that is always available to me in Him, no matter what the situation. I wrote the hymn Christ My Joy as a way of reconnecting with that joy.

But my hunger for unchanging joy continued. Once again I had come across the folk tune, “Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes” and had felt compelled to use it as a hymn tune. In searching for an idea for a text to go with it, I was brought back to my search for joy.

Writing this hymn text proved to be a very emotional experience for me. I shed more tears in the writing of this hymn than with all my other hymns combined. I struggled.

Throughout my grief, I had never wanted to lash out at God with bitter questions. But in writing this hymn, I sensed Him compelling me to ask the questions found in the first half of v.2:

How can Your path of tender care be
So rough and dark and steep?
How can Your loving wisdom lead us
To groan and grieve and weep?

I needed to verbalize the questions in order to get at the truth. God’s answers are found in the last half of verses 2 and 3.

Sometimes God won’t answer the questions on our hearts until we ask them. So ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you. But as you ask, continue to trust His wisdom and love. Otherwise your heart may be focused in the wrong direction, and you won’t hear the answers when they come.

Often when we ask the “Why?” questions, God will not explain Himself. But He will assure us of His presence. That’s the way it was with me. When I asked the “Why?” questions through this hymn, He gave me a new sense of Christ walking this road with me. And He has. He truly has walked every step with me. My grief has brought a deeper sharing with the suffering Christ.

He has showed me that I should seek, not joy, but Him. He Himself is the fullness of joy.

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Hymn: Fullness of Joy
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Rejoice in Jesus Christ!

2016-05-19 Devotional with Hymn, One with Our Father No comments

from the book, ONE WITH OUR FATHER 

John 15:11

“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” (John 15:11, NASB)

Jesus has just painted a beautiful picture of our life in Him.
We are like a branch connected to the Vine.
We are fruitful as we remain in Him.
Our prayers are answered as we remain in Him.

Why has He told us all this?
What was on His heart?

Jesus longs for us to share the joy He finds in His Father, in
loving His Father,
trusting His Father, and
obeying His Father.
He wants us to know His joy, and
He wants our joy to be full!

How is joy different than happiness?
Normally we connect happiness
with temporary circumstances.
We are happy because
we are on vacation, or
our relationships are going smoothly, or
our health is good, or
we feel financially comfortable.

But we are joyful because of what doesn’t change:
Who Jesus is,
Who He is to us every day,
our relationship with Him, and
our future in Him.

Jesus wants us to rejoice because of
what is always ours in Him.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Joy in Christ
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