Joy and You • Deshen Daily

“A joyful heart makes the face cheerful, but by a painful heart the spirit is broken.” (Prov. 15:13 NET.)

The three-letter word called “joy” is one key to a flourishing life. The Lord who created you knows the impact of joy on your spirit, soul, and body. He commands us to “rejoice always” for our own well-being.

Man is essentially a spirit being and is under the laws of the spirit realm. One of those critical elements in the realm of the spirit is joy. The scripture above says joy makes your face to smile, but sorrow in the heart breaks your spirit. You are wired to flourish by joy and therefore will also wither away when joy is absent.

Joy strengthens the human spirit, fortifies the soul, and causes the body to flourish with health and vitality. Perpetual grief, sorrow, bitterness, and even depression in the heart will wither your life like a dry tree under the scourging desert sun. You were created as a spirit to flourish and function in joy. Whatever takes your joy away, no matter what it is, is an enemy that will kill you like slow poison.

The commandment to “rejoice always” is our very life, not for God but for us. I have seen sorrow, bitterness, and depression cause people’s bodies to wither under the tyrannical hands of disease. The joy of the Lord is your strength, so guard it preciously. Rejoice evermore in the Lord your God!

MEDITATE

What do you think God means by “makes the face cheerful”? What is the full meaning of the word “face”?

APPLY THE WORD

Please do not spend another day without joy in your spirit! Get rid of every bit of bitterness, sorrow, and depression, and start flourishing again as you activate joy today!

PRAY

You cannot pray for joy. Joy is not an answer to prayer for the believer. You rather pray that God will help you plant the seed of joy in your heart (the Word) and express its fruit constantly in your life.

Recommended Read: The wonders of joy

Must Read!: What is a Daily Devotional?

Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God. And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you. (Leviticus 20:7–8, KJV)

Jehovah Mekaddishkem showing washing gloves, cleaning fluid and sponge

As the Great I AM that I AM, God revealed Himself as the Lord who sanctifies His people in the Old Covenant—Jehovah Mekaddishkem. But this was only a shadow of something greater that was coming in the New Testament.

Jehovah Mekaddishkem is the English transliteration of the Hebrew words for “I am the Lord which sanctify you” ( “mekaddish” = sanctify, “kem” = you). Divine names and titles in the Old Testament often reveal an aspect of God in relation to His people.

There are three keywords that underlie the meaning of sanctification: “wash,” “consecrate,” and “separate.” Sanctification essentially means to make something holy. Sinlessness is a core aspect of holiness, but there is more to holiness than sinlessness. It is the very nature of God. However, when used in reference to us humans, it means to be cleaned from sin, set apart for God, and consecrated to Him.

In the passage above, God tells the people first to sanctify themselves and then reveals He is the One who sanctifies them. Thus, He gives us the two sides of sanctification—the God side and the human side. There’s something God does and something His people do for their sanctification.

This truth was only a shadow in the Old Testament. It is in Christ that we see God fully revealed as Jehovah Mekaddishkem to His people through the sanctifying work on the cross. In speaking to the Corinthians, Paul revealed,

“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11, KJV)

This is Jehovah Mekaddishkem fulfilled in Christ: We were washed and sanctified. Note that these are in past tense, describing something God has already done. The day you received Christ, you received the bath of your life, a heavenly bath by the Spirit of God that removed every stain of sin through the precious blood of Christ. And as you continue to live on earth, the Spirit continues to sanctify you daily.

Following the sanctifying work He has already done in us, He commands us,

“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:” (1 Thessalonians 4:3, KJV)

Now that you are clean, washed, and sanctified, He tells us to put that sanctification to work outwardly. Paul explicit states it is what God wants—His will. He gives us a very specific example of sanctification here: abstain from sexual immorality. Few things defile us, like sexual impurity. But sanctification certainly includes more than abstaining from fornication or adultery. As above, it includes living a consecrated and separated life to God daily in the way we talk, act, think, feel, and handle our bodies.

He is Jehovah Mekaddishkem, the God who has Sanctified you in Christ and continues to sanctify you every day.

Meditate

Is our sanctification completed, ongoing, or both?

Apply the Word

This is the crucial part of this devotional. Until you receive the truth that God has already sanctified you by His Spirit, you will not be empowered to be sanctified practically. Put God’s sanctification power to work in your life daily by faith in the finished work of Christ.