The Joy and Rejoicing of my Heart

“Your Word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.” (Jeremiah 15:16)
I gave my heart and life to the Lord as a very young child. I was taught we should read the Bible. I don’t remember where I got my first Bible but I do remember I began reading the Bible as soon as I could read. The King James Version was the only version used at that time and some of the words were archaic and some even meant something quite different than we understand them to mean today. But wanting to be a dedicated Christian and my desire to know more about Jesus, God the Father, the Holy Spirit and the Christian “way” I began reading from Genesis to Revelation. I read the Bible through many times until I was grown and married without much understanding or joy in what I read. In the early 70’s I was introduced to two books which changed my life, one was, The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith. This book detailed what must take place in our heart to experience the abundant life spoken of in John 10:10 – the “deeper life.” The second was Beyond Ourselves by Catherine Marshall which told how to make a complete commitment of all we are and of our past, present and future, and the subsequent joy and freedom of being filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit. I thought I had completely committed myself to the Lord, many times, but these two books helped me to see that I was not experiencing the joy and fulfillment of a committed life and how to move into that greater relationship with the Holy Spirit I had never known. The Holy Spirit placed such a hunger and thirst for His righteousness and to understand His Word, that up to that time it was hard to understand and had become a “duty” to read. I began to seek him fervently for a deeper walk with Him and new understanding of His Word. And just as God promised in Jeremiah 29:13 “if we seek Him with our “whole heart, we will find Him.” I was introduced to some new Bible versions and a paraphrase that talked like I talked and was easy to understand. God’s truths and principles began to unfold to me. A whole new joy and understanding came from reading His Word. Like Jeremiah 15:16 says, “God’s Word became my joy and the rejoicing of my heart.” Now, no other book thrills and excites me more than seeing in the Bible’s pages God at work in olden days but are still so new and relevant today. And all His promises are “yes and amen” for me today, and for all who will believe and trust Him. All of the Bible is “God breathed and instructs me in how to live a righteous and holy life; it reproves me of my sin; corrects me when I am in error; disciplines me in obedience; trains me in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose and action; all so that I may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work” (II Tim.3:16-17 Amp.). Proverbs 1:3-5 tells me, “If I receive the wise words of instruction from the word it will give knowledge, discretion and discernment. Those already wise will hear instruction also and will increase in learning and will acquire skill and will listen to wise counsel so that he may be able to steer his course in the right way” (Amp.). It also tells me “If I desire Godly wisdom (the worshipful and reverent, standing in awe of the Lord) is the beginning and principal part of wisdom and understanding?" (Prov.1:7). To stand in awe of God is for me to completely relinquish any assurance in myself and place my full assurance in Him, Who is the Sovereign, all powerful, all wise God. Then and only then will I come to understand what He is saying to me in His Word. In experiencing this new found knowledge, God’s Word became alive to me. I thrilled at every book – the history, the poetry, the prophecy, the gospels and the teachings of how to walk in the Spirit, all of it. God’s Word never becomes old and boring but it is ever new and exciting. We are nothing but He is everything and He chooses to place the “fullness of the Godhead” within us as believers – (now blow your mind trying to figure that out). (Ephesians.3:19). These are a few of my thoughts of why “the Word is the joy and rejoicing of my heart."