Swimming in Joy

To the church, Pentecost brought light, power, joy. There came to each illumination of mind, assurance of heart, intensity of love, fullness of power, exuberance of joy. No one needed to ask if they had received the Holy Ghost. Fire is self-evident. So is power!
~Samuel Chadwick (1832-1917)

Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
~ from Acts 17

Words fail in space like this.  We are in G_d.  And we (those born again by His Spirit) are His very offspring.  We are the many brethren to come after the Firstborn.


It seems there is a fabric to the medium of existence.  It is through this fabric that He communicates Himself to creation.  Perhaps the 11-dimensions envisioned by most String Theory give shadow to the underlying (and overlaying) truth here. 


The threads are items like time, space, truth, wisdom, beauty, justice, nobility, joy, purity, and similar threads up.  The warp and weave of the fabric is the same that is the foundation of His throne – Righteousness.  


And this is a fabric beyond liquid or plasma in nature.  These states of matter are simply like light sparkling off a pond in a breeze.  Rather, all of it all.  All of this is about Him.  There is no separation.  We are wrapped, filled, poured out, in, under, above, around, by and for Him.


Ok, i’m lost.  But thankfully i’m lost in Him.  Gorgeous territory.


Further, though, it seems that this reality that in Him we live and move and have our being, is a beginning to understanding the reality of the spiritual world.  It is not that spiritual is something other than here – rather it is the full representation of now.  What we see and feel is incomplete.  We know this, but we hate to admit it.


Now, to the point.  Throughout Scripture it is abundantly clear that abundant joy is the result of being near G_d.  Joy is His strength imparted on us by Him.  It is invincible.  And beloved, we are in His presence.  We are swimming in it.


So, why so little joy in the world and in our lives?


Sin.  Yeah, sin.  That which separates.  That which is born of the wretched middle letter of the same word “I.”  And, we can push it away.  We can push joy away, just like holding our breath to keep out oxygen.


But, we don’t have to stay in sin.  We don’t have to hold our breath and grit our teeth.  We can rest in Him.  We can breath Him in.  We can experience the very near Presence of G_d continuously in our existence.  We have but to yield to it and reckon true the truth that He is right here with us.   We can literally swim in His joy.


This is very good news.