Today as I was just doing life… nothing big… nothing extraordinarily special… just regular old life. Sweeping, reading, cooking, listening to a bunch of preteen girls giggle… and as I did this life I realized how very filled with joy I am… a joy unspeakable.

There is a joy that fills me that brings a peace that I cannot even comprehend. It is a joy that exists regardless of surrounding circumstances or world events. It is a joy that I can find every time I breathe deep. It is a joy that I can find every time I bow my knees.

 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them,

and the glory of the Lord shone around them;

and they were terribly frightened. 

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid;

for behold, I bring you good news of great joy

which will be for all the people; 

for today in the city of David

there has been born for you a Savior,

who is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:9-11

This great joy is mine only because of Christ.

The word joy used in Luke 2 in the Greek is Chara and it means joy, gladness, the joy received from you, the cause or occasion of joy, of persons who are one’s joy…

Jesus is the cause and occasion of our joy. He is the One who is our joy. He is the joy that we can give to another because God first gave Him to us.

The last time this word for joy is used is in 3 John…

I have no greater joy than this,

to hear of my children walking in the truth.

3 John 1:4

We are able to maintain this joy of ours only as long as we walk in truth. The moment we step outside of truth we begin to lose our joy. The moment we choose to entertain the liar or rebel against the Word of God… our joy begins to slip away from us.

Joy is something that only believers know.

Joy is something that only believers who are in fellowship with the Cause of joy and Occasion of joy can know.

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit of God… and when Mary conceived by the Spirit of God she gave birth to Love, to Joy, to Peace, to Patience, to Kindness, to Goodness, to Faithfulness, to Gentleness, to Self-control… she gave birth to Christ the Lord.

She received the Son, the Christ by faith. She believed God. She simply took God at His Word and received the Word.

And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord;

may it be done to me according to your word.”

Luke 1:38

We to0 receive this Son, this Christ by faith. We too just have to believe God. We just have to take Him at His Word and receive the Word. When we receive Him and He grows within us, we too will give birth to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

The thing is… just as Mary gave birth to Jesus- to Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control through pain, the pain and labor of childbirth… we too must go through pains and labor in order to give birth to these things of Him… because they are not naturally of us… they are of our God and we can not truly possess them until we first possess Him.

I have Him, so therefore I have this joy, this unspeakable joy… this joy that I can find with every deep breath and with every bowed knee…