How to be Inexpressibly Happy
This is a beautiful verse, a verse that you all know, but I wonder how many of you have ever discovered its wonderful wealth of meaning.
Pay attention to the last part of this verse, “Even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.”
This verse informs us that one who really believes in Jesus Christ, our unseen, but ever living Lord and Savior, rejoices with “inexpressible and glorious joy.”
The Greek word translated “joy” is a very strong word, describing extreme joy. The word “inexpressible” declares that this extreme joy is of such a character that we cannot, by any possibility, explain it adequately to others.
Everyone who really believes in the Lord does rejoice with this extreme joy that is beyond all description. Others may have a certain amount of joy, a certain measure of gladness, but the only people who really know “inexpressible and glorious joy” are those who really believe in Jesus Christ.
This may seem impossible, but it is so true. Finding this form of happiness can be as easy as following His plan for your life, let me explain.
Who doesn’t want to be happy? Happiness is the one thing all people are seeking. One person seeks it in one way, and another seeks it in another way, but all people are in pursuit of it. Even the person who is “happy only when he is miserable” is seeking happiness in this strange way of cultivating a delightful melancholy by always looking on the dark side of things.
One person seeks money because they think that money will make them happy. Another seeks worldly pleasure because they think that worldly pleasure will make them happy. Still another seeks learning, the knowledge of science, or philosophy, or history, or literature because they think that learning brings the true joy; but they are all in pursuit of the one thing, happiness.
There is a way, and a very simple and sure way that is open to all, not only to find happiness, but to be unspeakably happy. This verse tells us what that way is. Listen, “Even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.”
This statement of Peter’s is true. How do I know it is true? In the first place, I know it is true because the Word of God says so. In the second place, I know it’s true because I have put the matter to the test of personal experience, and found it to be true.
I was not always happy. I was once unspeakably miserable. I had desperately tried to find happiness. I had searched for happiness through my own means and found not joy but misery. In my pursuit of happiness, I finally turned to Jesus and believed in Him and I found not merely happiness, but something better, joy, “inexpressible and glorious joy!”
Whatever heaven may be or may not be, I know that on this earth he who really believes in Jesus, who puts himself in Christ’s hands to be led, taught, guided and strengthened, will find “inexpressible and glorious joy.”
Why Those Who Believe in Jesus Christ Have Inexpressible and Glorious Joy:
Receiving Forgiveness
Those who believe in Jesus Christ have “inexpressible and glorious joy” because they know that their sins are all forgiven. It is a wonderful thing to know that there is not one single, slightest cloud between you and God, to know that no matter how many, or how great your sins may have been, that they are all forgiven.
The Christian knows his sins are all forgiven for another reason, because the Holy Spirit bears witness in his own heart to the fact. One day, when the Apostle Peter was preaching to Cornelius, the Roman officer, and to his household, he said “To him give all the prophets’ witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”(Acts 10:43), and everyone there believed in this.
The Spirit of God descended right then and there and filled their hearts with the knowledge of sins forgiven, and they “began to magnify God” with joyful hearts and voices filled with praise.
“If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” He says again in the thirty-sixth verse, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:31& 36.
Free from Fear
Those who truly believe in Jesus Christ are saved from all fear. They are delivered from fear of misfortune; they are delivered from fear of man; they are delivered from fear of death; they are delivered from fear of eternity. A true believer is not afraid of but delights in thoughts of eternity and knows eternity is living in peace.
He who believes in Him rejoices with “inexpressible and glorious joy” because he knows he will live forever. Is not that something to rejoice over? We read in 1 John 2:17, “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
God is Our Heavenly Father
Those who truly believe on Jesus Christ rejoice greatly with “inexpressible and glorious joy” because they know they are children of God. It is a great thing to know that you are a child of God. How does the Christian know it? He knows it because God says so in John 1:12, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” A child of God, think of it! If you are not already a child of God, anyone can become one right now by receiving the Lord Jesus into their heart.
The Gift of the Holy Spirit
Those who truly believe on Jesus Christ, those who open their hearts to Him, those who surrender to Him, rejoice with “inexpressible and glorious joy” because God gives them the Holy Spirit. There is no other joy in the present life like the joy of the Holy Spirit. Once we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, he guides us and helps us instinctively want to please God and love doing this! This really adds to inner happiness and contentment.
As I previously said, before I came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ I was one of the most depressed persons who ever lived. I would sit for hours and sulk. I have had troubles. I have had losses. There have been times in my life when I have lost pretty much everything the world holds dear.
I know what it is to have a family, and to lose everything of a financial kind I had in the world, and not know from meal to meal where the next meal was coming from. But I knew it was all in God’s hands and that it would all come out right somehow. By trusting Him and dedicating my life to Him, of course it came out right, and much better than I had ever hoped!
Why? Because I was a child of God; I had the promises of the Bible; I knew they were absolutely certain. I never lost an hour’s sleep. I never worried, I just trusted. I knew my family would be provided for. A Christian is happy at all times and under all circumstances. We rejoice with “inexpressible and glorious joy” every one of the twenty-four hours of the day that we are awake, and sometimes in our sleep. You too, can have that joy.
How to Get This Inexpressible and Glorious Joy:
“What should someone who does not have this inexpressible and glorious joy do to get it?” The way to be inexpressibly happy at all times and under all circumstances, is just by believing in the unseen Christ Jesus. What does it mean to believe in Him? It simply means:
· Believe in Jesus Christ to be what He claims to be and what He offers Himself to be to us.
· Believe in Him as the One who died in our place, the One who bore our sins in His own body on the cross.
· Trust God to forgive us all our sins because Jesus Christ died in our place.
· Believe in Him as the One who was raised from the dead and who now has “all power in heaven and on earth,” and therefore is able to keep us day by day, and give us victory over sin.
· Believe in Him as our absolute Lord and Master, and therefore to surrender our thoughts, decisions and lives entirely to His control, believing in Him.
· By obeying His commandments and to put confidence in Him as our Divine Lord and confess Him as Lord before the world and worship and honor Him.
It’s wonderful the joy that comes to him who believes in Jesus and has accepted Him into their heart. But one must really believe to have this joy. Merely being a member of a church, being baptized, reading your Bible, praying and doing good deeds is not what will give you joy.
Through prayer profess your belief in Jesus Christ, that He died and was raised from the dead for our sins, then confess your sins and ask God for forgiveness and surrender your life to Him as your Lord and Saviour.
When you have prayed this then you will have opened your heart for the Lord Jesus to come in. When He lives, rules and reigns there, you will have “inexpressible and glorious joy” at all times and under all circumstances. Be patient and rest in His wisdom and love, then watch your life transform.
R. A. Torrey
Verona