The Holy Spirit and Joy
By Pastor Darryl Manning
Rom. 14: 17for the kingdom of God is
not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2: 4And they were all filled with
the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance…. 13Others mocking
said, “They are full of new wine.”
Eph. 5: 18And do not be drunk with
wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with
the Spirit, 19speaking to one another in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and
making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20giving
thanks always for all things…
Joy is
part of the Kingdom of God and is very closely related to
the Holy Spirit. In the Romans passage above, joy is
clearly tied to the Holy Spirit. In the Acts two passage
and the Ephesians five passage, joy is also related to the
Holy Spirit.
When
filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts Chapter two, the
people of God were mistaken for being drunk. St. Paul
commanded God’s people to be filled with the Spirit and
equated it in some ways with drunkenness.
I would say from these passages that
joy is one of the indications a person is full of the Holy
Spirit. If one is not full of joy I would seriously
question whether that person is full of the Holy Spirit. I
would not say they do not have any of the Spirit, but they
must be lacking in the Spirit. The question now arises,
how can we be filled with more of the Holy Spirit.
First,
the Holy Spirit is given to those who ask the Father.
Luke 11:13If
you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Second,
the scripture says that the Holy Spirit is given to those
who obey God.
Acts 5: 32And we are His witnesses to these
things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given
to those who obey Him.”
If you
think about it, a wise earthly father would not lavish
gifts upon a disobedient child. That would only reinforce
rebellious behavior. On the other hand a wise earthly
father would honor an obedient child with gifts, praise,
and recognition for being obedient.
Let us
trace this in Jesus’ life and then in the life of the
Apostles.
Matt. 3: 13Then Jesus came from Galilee to
John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14And
John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized
by You, and are You coming to me?” 15But Jesus
answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for
thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
Then he allowed Him.
16When He had been baptized,
Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the
heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the
Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon
Him. 17And suddenly a voice came from heaven,
saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased.”
Notice
that Jesus submitted to the baptism of John as an act of
righteousness. In other words it was the right thing to do
and was in obedience to God. Now upon the conclusion of
Jesus’ obedience we see the Holy Spirit descended upon
him. The Holy Spirit was given because Jesus obeyed his
Father. As the Spirit alighted on Jesus in the form of a
dove, God expressed his approval from Heaven.
If you
want incredible joy, just let God speak his approval about
your obedience. A number of years ago I had led my church
to be disobedient financially to the denomination of which
I was a part. One day, I was thinking about another
minister and judged that man in my heart over what he was
doing. In our fellowship, all ministers are required to
pay their tithes into the conference. This man’s church
was struggling financially and he was paying his tithes
into his church. The conference had stepped in to deal
with the man for his rebellion.
As I
was thinking about this I made a judgment against that
pastor. “If the man paid his tithes into the conference
like he was supposed to, he would likely have to reduce
his salary since the church was struggling.” Suddenly, God
spoke to me.
“You are doing the same thing.”
In an
instant I knew what the Lord meant. My church was just
barely getting by as well. I was having the church be
disobedient financially to its obligations to the
conference. The Lord said.
“If you have the church pay what is right, where
will that money come from?”
It
would have to come out of my salary. There was no room in
the church budget from which the funds could come. I knew
what I must do to make things right.
Now the
devil got involved.
“You know you can’t afford this. It will cost you $100
per month to do it. You are just barely getting by. There
is no way you can do this.”
I was
wise enough in the Lord to know disobeying God was not a
good option, no matter what it cost. So I said in my mind,
“I don’t know how I can afford this but I know what I must
do and I will do it.”
Suddenly, I felt God very near. It felt like he put his
arm around my shoulder. Then he said this,
“Son, I will take care of you!”
Incredible joy filled my heart! The word “son” leapt in my
Spirit and the assurance of God, gave me confidence to go
to my church board, admit my sin, and bring the church
into obedience.
Then,
something wonderful happened. I was on percentage at the
church and God blessed the church that year financially.
Instead of it costing me $100 per month I got an increase
of $200 a month. In other words, my income was a total of
$300 per month more and out of the $300 the $100 was paid.
Don’t tell me that obeying God is not profitable and
pleasurable
I could
tell you a number of other incredible things that happened
that year out of my obedience to God. A habitual sin I had
not been able to break was broken off me. I had a much
greater anointing to preach and minister. I began to walk
in peace with my denominational leadership. God brought a
man into my church that God raised up to be a pastor and
later an apostle. He now travels the world preaching and
ministering in power. (Rev. Bob Shafer)
These
were great and wonderful things but the greatest was that
I walked in a greater fellowship with God than ever before
in my life. The Holy Spirit is indeed given to those who
obey God.
