A Joy Made Full

Today's Word of Encouragement from Wayne:

"The foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, and to love the Name of the Lord, to be His servants... even those I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer"

Isaiah 56: 6-7

Hallelujah, beloved child of God, our Lord is looking for people who will: minister to Him, love His Name, and be His servants. When God sees a person who has this heart, for the Lord Himself, God brings that person into His house.

In His house, with our Lord, is where our ministering to Him is perfected and fully realized. In His house, with our Lord, is where our love for His Name and service to Him become highly personalized.

As grateful priests to our Lord God, born again into a new covenant, to be God’s "royal priesthood" (1st Peter 2:9), we "have believed and have come to know," as Peter said (John 6: 69), that Jesus Christ, Himself, is our joy. Jesus said "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).

Christ, our joy, lives within us at this moment, our Immanuel, "God with us" (Matthew 1: 23). The offer from Jesus to us is that "your joy may be made full." So, do we want to see our joy made full? Well, then, let us join our Lord in His presence. Let God bring you to His house of prayer so He may make you joyful.

When we minister to God in His presence, in our "inner room" (Matthew 6: 6), in the "temple of the living God" within us, loving His Name and being His servants, it is then that we are allowing our joy to be made full.

Paul wrote, "We are the temple of the living God; just as God said," and, quoting from Leviticus 26:12, Paul continued, "I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people" (2 Corinthians 6:16).

God is dwelling in us right now. This word of God, of His dwelling in us, has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ and is our present reality. So, beloved, don’t wait for joy to come in a federal express package. Minister to your Lord today. Praise and love His Name. "Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful singing" (Psalm 100: 2).

Believe this word from Isaiah. Believe this word from Jesus of His joy. Don’t be passive or fatalistic about joy, as if joy comes from somewhere outside of you. Joy is within you right now.

Be pro-active, child of God and priest of His presence. Minister to your Lord. He loves seeing this. Love His Name, serve Him, and let Him make you joyful in His house of prayer.

Stay joyful in His house of prayer until your own joy is made full. And then, stay in the blessed habit of "topping yourself off," joyfully in His presence, every time you minister to your loving Lord God. Hallelujah!