The Anointing Oil of Joy

For as long as I can remember, I have been seeking the meaning behind one of my favourite Bible verses found in Nehemiah 8:10, that says the Joy of the Lord is my strength.  What is the Lord’s joy and how can I make it my strength to help me endure the tough times in life?

I first wrote about my discovery of Joy back in 2017, which you can read here, if you are also on a journey to find more joy in your life.

Recently, during a rough period, I felt God kept bringing me to verses about olive oil, which I discovered is often referred to in the Bible as the oil of gladness, and is used to anoint people with the presence of God’s Spirit, and what we are called to keep our oil full in our lamps to light our way.

Remember the story of Noah when the dove came back to declare dry ground, well I don’t believe it was by accident that it brought back an olive branch. The dove and the olive branch served to tell Noah a time of peace and deliverance had come. When you consider that the word Gethsemane means “olive press”, you realise the significance of what happened there to God's Son, Jesus, the Prince of Peace. 

After reading all the scriptures in various translations through the Biblegateway App of anointing, oil and joy, I began to see that there is a connection between experiencing joy in the anointing presence of God’s Holy Spirit.

Joy is not an emotion, but a place in our spirit that we choose to enter into, and a fruit of His Holy Spirit that is grown in us.

In Hebrews 12:2, we see how joy was something that Jesus set before Him, so that He could endure the agony of the cross. His joy was in the knowing the outcome and the end result of what He was going through, and knowing it was in God’s will.

The secular definition of joy falls short of the original meaning of rejoice, or be glad.

Joy is found in our gladness and gratefulness of our salvation and in the knowing of the deliverance and reward we can look forward to in the outcome of our trials. Joy is in the receiving of God’s promises. Joy is a focus before it will ever become a feeling. Joy is a fruit we grow when we choose to abide in God’s Holy Spirit, and it is our biggest treasure that the devil seeks to steal from us every day. 

To keep hold of our joy, we need to be waking up every morning with the song in our heart, declaring “This is the day, this is the day, we will rejoice and be glad in it…”

To self-study further about joy and how it relates to the anointing olive oil of the Tree of Life, here are some further verses to take a look at, in various translation versions, to help unpack their hidden meanings:

• Ecclesiastes 9:8
• Isaiah 61:3
• Zechariah 4
• Hebrews 1:9
• Psalm 45:7
• 1 Chronicles 16:27
• Acts 10:38
• Acts 13:52
• Matthew 25:23
• John 15:11
• Romans 15:13

Pruned for Growth

When you think of the word pruning, you think of the idea of cutting off all the dead branches or just trimming bushes that have become overgrown. Right? Well, my horticulturist brother-in-law Andrew, has educated me by explaining that sometimes we also need to prune some perfectly good branches as well, in order to train the plant in the direction it should grow. When it comes to fruit trees, pruning also forces the tree to put more energy into fewer but larger, sweeter, higher quality fruits. 

 

I like to believe the same is true of how God prunes our lives… Whatever God has chosen to prune out of our lives, whether it be the loss of a loved one, a job, a relationship or something material, we can be assured that He is doing it for our ultimate growth in sight.  We may not like it or understand it, and yes, it is often very painful, but we need to trust that even when we cannot see the big picture or see it from God's perspective, it is needed for our growth.

 

This Covid-19 Pandemic and lockdown has also pruned a lot of things out of our lives. Some of them like people and hugs we may be sorely missing, and other things not so much, like traffic or crowds, but the truth is that both the good and the bad has taught us what really matters in life and has surely made us more resilient. 

 

We may look and feel like this stumped plant during our pruning seasons, but we need to encourage ourselves with the knowledge that God is either changing the direction He wants us to grow or using it to help us grow into better, stronger people, with sweeter, juicier, larger, more excellent fruits…

Connect instead of Communicate

Whilst many of us have improved at keeping in touch with family and friends since the Lockdown began, we may have failed to authentically engage and connect in a meaningful way. The fact that many of our contacts might be suffering from loneliness, anxiety, worry or even depression, we will never know this if we fail to ask the right questions. Although sharing inspirational or funny Whatsapps or other social media pictures may communicate that we thought of them, it does not help to lighten their load or help them in anyway.

I have recently discovered that although these quick picture messages are well intended and are appreciated, they do little to intimately connect with another. There is nothing as special as being sent a heartfelt message inquiring of your situation and what you are going through. Ashamedly, had I known this, I would have learnt that a friend who had lost her job, could no longer afford her rent and was forced to move back in with her parents, or that another friend had been in bed with the Coronavirus, or another suffering from depression, not to mention the many other prayer needs I had failed to enquire about.

In all honesty, and in my defense, although I call them my friends, the correct relationship status would be an acquaintance, something we seem to have distorted, thanks to Facebook. A valid excuse for choosing to communicate instead of spending that extra time to intimately connect, is that we lead busy lives and don't always have the time. Or it could be that we have become so self-absorbed in our own problems, that we fail to think of others.

Whatever the reason, I've discovered a solution which I thought was worth sharing.  Each morning, as you spend time in prayer, ask God to bring to your mind just 3 people who need your encouragement and time.  Then instead of sharing all those picture messages to one and all, use your time that day instead to meaningfully engage and connect with those 3 people God has laid on your heart.  However you choose to connect, be sure to honestly ask them how they are doing, how you can help them and what prayer needs they may have and then be sure to listen, to respond and to act accordingly!

And as the receiver of a meaningful connection, let us all be bold and brave enough to be truthful, instead of just responding with the customary "I'm fine"... for only when we choose to be honest with ourselves and with others, can we begin to find the inner healing and growth that God has in store for us...