By Invitation Only

TO READ: Psalm 45:1-17

You love justice and hate evil. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.

Psalm 45:7

Jesus is the source of joy and he lives in our heart, so why are we miserable so often? With Jesus in our heart, it should follow that we would be overflowing with joy.

The psalmist, writing prophetically, described the coming one whom God would anoint with the “oil of joy” (Psalm 45:7). In the New Testament, Hebrews 1:8-9 quotes this psalm as referring to Jesus. Do you think of Jesus as a joyful person? Jesus is the absolute source of joy.

Jesus talked with his disciples about this great joy (John 15:11). In John 17:13 he prayed that his disciples would be filled with his joy. Then he added that he was praying not only for his disciples but also for all those who would become his followers through them (John 17:20) —that’s us! Jesus wants us to share in his complete joy.

So how can we possess this wonderful joy of God? It can be ours when the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of joy, invades our life. Joy is a fruit of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life (Galatians 5:22). And how does the Spirit invade our life? By invitation only. He waits to be invited into our heart. What words should we use to issue such an invitation? We can address him as Savior and Lord, for that is who he is. We can simply say, “Come into my life, Lord Jesus, by your Spirit.” We dare not keep him waiting —and why would we? Who would not want to know total joy?