"I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 2:1 KJV)
"Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!" (PSALM 34:8 NLT)
Thinking about this for most of the day, off and on, although Solomon uses the word, "mirth," which pretty much means joy, gladness, and rejoicing, it is a word that also speaks of pleasure; but because it is a noun, it is something you have or have not, not something you do! I really don't know how else to express it, other than to say that happiness and joy are not the same thing.
If you have real joy, then your joy is based upon something that is secure and doesn't get easily taken, by the basic cares of this world; this is the kind of joy we have when we put our faith in the LORD! The joy is not based upon what we can do or not do, but upon what God has done for us, meaning it has already been done, because God does not go back on His word!
Having said that, there are some basic principles that are ours, most of which I have already covered, as in surrendering and repentance; basically, something that doesn't require work or making up for things we might have done, but just surrendering our lives and asking God to forgive us! From that, we live by faith, believing in His forgiveness, which is the power of His great mercy and love; receiving His great grace, by which He gives us the righteousness we do not deserve!
Again, not anything that we can mess with, because it isn't anything that we have made or can take away; our joy comes from the LORD! However! Joy is expressed in us by doing His will for our lives; even if we mess up, as we most likely will do from time to time, it is His will and purpose for us to ask for mercy, even though we might not deserve it, He gives it freely!
Okay, I might not fully understand everything, because I really don't need to try; but the basic principle of what it means to trust God at His word, that much I believe is not something based upon what you think you understand, but what put your faith in, and is based upon what God has promised. You don't have to explain how God works your salvation out, only that He has saved you, and you believe that you have been saved!
If you don't believe that you are saved, then get saved, as soon as you possibly can; all you have to do, is just reach out and grab hold of it...
"One day the group of prophets came to Elisha and told him, "As you can see, this place where we meet with you is too small. Let's go down to the Jordan River, where there are plenty of logs. There we can build a new place for us to meet." "All right," he told them, "go ahead." "Please come with us," someone suggested. "I will," he said. So he went with them. When they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees. But as one of them was cutting a tree, his ax head fell into the river. "Oh, sir!" he cried. "It was a borrowed ax!" "Where did it fall?" the man of God asked. When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water at that spot. Then the ax head floated to the surface. "Grab it," Elisha said. And man reached out and grabbed it." (2 Kings 6:1-7 NLT)
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