Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. —Psalm 100:2-3
God is a God of gladness. Not only does He have unfathomable mercy, but God also possesses powerful pleasures beyond our comprehension. His rejoicing emotions are infinite in measure and eternal in duration. Experiencing God is like riding a roller coaster that never ends but gets better with each curve. He smiles with delight and enjoyment when He gazes on each one of us. This strikes many people as strange. They are accustomed to relating to a God who is mostly mad or mostly sad when they come before Him. They imagine that He is either mad because they have rebelled, or sad and grieved all the time because His people are not dedicated enough.
{ PRAYER STARTER }
Father, show me Your gladness. Let me see You smile with delight as You gaze upon me. Let me experience the exhilaration of joy that comes from living my life in Yours.
When the Father finds us in the struggle of our
weakness, in some shabby place of sin and
self-loathing, He lifts us out of it with
great enjoyment.