Think about it: the joy of the Lord doesn't just fill you with strength, it brings us all together. It's a joy that's not meant to be kept to yourself; it needs to be shared. Just like the Israelites were instructed to celebrate and share what they had with each other, you can spread the joy of the Lord with everyone you know.
This joy challenges you to love your neighbor and share the Gospel. When your heart is joyful in God, you are strong and empowered to spread that joy throughout your community. It's a lasting joy, something no one can take away.
Psalm 98:4-6 says, "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn— shout for joy before the Lord, the King." You can find so many verses like this that talk about the joy of our God.
And I will make you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing.
So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Again they shall speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I shall again bring their captivity: Jehovah bless you, O home of justice and mountain of holiness.
In that day Israel shall be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land;
And He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your land, your grain, and your wine, and your oil, the increase of your cattle, and the flocks of your sheep, in the land which He swore to your fathers to give you.
And Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and peace offerings.
Reside in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. For to you and to your seed I will give all these lands; and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
And he blessed them that day, saying, In you shall Israel bless, saying, God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
And I will bless those that bless you and curse the one who curses you. And in you shall all families of the earth be blessed.
And their seed will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the seed Jehovah has blessed.
by the God of your father, who shall help you. And may the Almighty bless you with blessings of Heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
in that I command you today to love Jehovah your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, so that you may live and multiply. And Jehovah your God shall bless you in the land where you go to possess it.
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
Speak lovingly to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is done, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received of Jehovah's hand double for all her sins.
And it happened from the time he had made him overseer in his house, and over all he had, that Jehovah blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. And the blessing of Jehovah was upon all that he had, in the house and in the field.
And it will be, as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you shall be a blessing. Do not fear, but let your hands be strong.
A Song of degrees. They who trust in Jehovah shall be like Mount Zion; it is not shaken, but remains forever.
As the mountains are all around Jerusalem, so Jehovah is all around His people from this time and forever.
And Jehovah will take away from you all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt which you know upon you. But He will lay them upon all who hate you.
Blessed is Jehovah God, the God of Israel, who alone does wonderful things.
And blessed be His glorious name forever; and all the earth is filled with His glory! Amen and Amen.
Behold, You shall call a nation that You do not know; a nation that did not know You shall run to You because of Jehovah Your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified You.
Jehovah shall cause your enemies that rise up against you to be stricken before your face. They shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways.
Truly it has pleased them, and they are their debtors. For if the nations have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in fleshly things.
For so says Jehovah of Hosts: He has sent me after glory, to the nations who stripped you; for he who touches you touches the pupil of His eye.
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations through faith, preached the gospel before to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all nations be blessed."
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget.
If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth; if I do not prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.
For you had little before I came, and it has now increased to a multitude. And Jehovah has blessed you since my coming. And now when shall I provide for my own house also?
For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall the covenant of My peace be removed, says Jehovah who has mercy on you.
Jehovah has been mindful of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron.
He will bless those who fear Jehovah, both small and great.
And in your Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.
And your seed shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in you and in your Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
And Jehovah your God will put all these curses on your enemies, and on those that hate you, who persecuted you.
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for possession, so that you might speak of the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
except when there shall be no poor among you. For Jehovah shall greatly bless you in the land which Jehovah your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it,
So says the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and have set up My banner to the people; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
Jehovah has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling-place.
This is My rest forever; here I will dwell; for I have desired it.
A Song of degrees. When Jehovah turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing; then they said among the nations, Jehovah has done great things with them.
And say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and will bring them into their own land.
And I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel, and one King shall be king to them all. And they shall not still be two nations, nor shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.
I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem, who will not always be silent all the day nor all the night; you who remember Jehovah, do not be silent.
And give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
Let people serve you, and let nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone that curses you, and blessed be he that blesses you.
There is a river, its channels gladden the city of God glad, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.
For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all lands, and will gather you into your own land.
And I will sprinkle clean waters on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols.
And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
Make the place of your tent larger, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings. Do not spare, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes;
for you shall break out on the right hand and on the left. And your seed shall inherit the nations, and people will inhabit ruined cities.
He has remembered His covenant forever, the Word which He commanded to a thousand generations;
the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac;
and He confirmed it to Jacob for a Law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant,
A Psalm for the sons of Korah, A Song. His foundation is in the holy mountains.
Jehovah loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Selah.
And I will pour on the house of David, and on the people of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of prayers. And they shall look on Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be bitter over Him, as the bitterness over the first-born.
And I will make them, and the places around My hill, a blessing; and I will bring down the shower in its season. There shall be showers of blessing.
And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. And they shall be safe in their land, and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hands of those who enslaved them.
Jehovah shall add on to you, even on you and on your sons.
You are blessed of Jehovah who made the heavens and the earth.
So says the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and have set up My banner to the people; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
And kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nurses. They shall bow to you, faces to the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am Jehovah; by whom they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.
Hear the Word of Jehovah, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands afar off. And say, He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him, as a shepherd keeps his flock.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A Song. Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; also let those who hate Him flee before Him.
As smoke is driven away, You drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, let the wicked perish in the presence of God.
Jehovah, I have loved the dwelling place of Your house, and the place where Your honor dwells.
For from the rising of the sun even to its going in, My name shall be great among the nations; and everywhere incense shall be offered to My name, and a pure food offering. For My name shall be great among the nations, says Jehovah of Hosts.
And it shall be, in the last days the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it.
And many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go out the Law, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.
And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, "There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
I call Heaven and earth to record today against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, so that both you and your seed may live,
so that you may love Jehovah your God, and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, so that you may dwell in the land which Jehovah swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give it to them.
Give strength to God over Israel; His majesty and His strength in the skies.
O God, You are overwhelming out of Your holy places; the God of Israel is He who gives strength and powers to the people. Blessed is God.