(Proverbs 15:13 KJV) "A Merry Heart Makes A Cheerful Countenance"

“A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken” (Proverbs 15:13 KJV).

A joyous spirit is the result of time spent in constant union and fellowship with the Heavenly Father. It is a spirit baptized and immersed in and with the Holy Spirit, who inspires in us holy and upright character. It is quality time spent under the microscope of the Word of God. Time spent in the holy presence of God. Beholding His glory, for only the pure at heart shall see God is what the Lord Jesus Christ told us in the beatitudes (Matthew 5). The beatitudes beautify our spirits and when we obey them we are filled with joy. In His presence there is fullness of joy. God is the master of abundance and there isn’t any lack or poverty in Him and His joy is our strength.

I value the time that I spend daily in personal fellowship with the Father. I command my day in order that I can make and take time to unwind layers and layers of self, and I witnessing the diminishing of self before my eyes. I ask the Holy Spirit to remove me out of the flesh and every dictate of the flesh and transport me into the spirit realm into the presence of God. It is the spirit that quickens the flesh profits nothing. I stand still and know that He is God and avail myself to receive His instruction on how to do things His way according to His will.

I ask for wisdom, (Proverbs 8:11) tells us that wisdom is better than rubies and all the things that we may desire cannot compare with the wisdom from above. (Proverbs 8:18-19) adds that riches and honor are with it, yea, durable riches and righteousness and that the fruits of it are better than gold, yea, than fine gold and its revenue than choice silver.

"Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser, teach a just man, and he will increase in learning" (Proverbs 9:9 KJV).

As I increase in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the kingdom of God. I feel it necessary to yield this knowledge to the Holy Spirit for wisdom. I need to know how to righteously use what I know. How do I use what I know Lord? When do I speak? What do I say? Where do I go? My desire is to know How to use it Lord? I need instruction, direction, and guidance. Please allow Your will to pave my path. Father, You know best and life is Your program.

I am just an instrument desiring to be used, but I want to be an effective instrument. Therefore, I need to know how to use knowledge correctly, or it puffs up and no one is edified and some may even be hurt in the process. Knowledge should operate by love. To operate in love we have to walk close, live close and near to the heart of God. It means walking with the Spirit of Jesus and allowing Him to walk with us. It is a duel endeavor. I desire an in depth personal relationship with who Jesus is in reality.

"That I may know him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death" (Philippians 3:10 KJV).

Not a surface probe, because I do not want to walk with a concept of Jesus, I want to walk with Him in reality and truth. If I am not aware or in touch with the true nature of Jesus, I will leave myself open to subtly settling for an imitation or counterfeit. It is God who is the cause of a cheerful countenance.

A cheerful countenance is the result of a personal fellowship with God, which produces joy and a merry heart inward first, it is when God embraces the heart and fills it with Himself that a merry heart is reality and not a whimsical glow of the external. The outer countenance is affected as a result of what is taking place inside, the radiance of His glory manifested in a cheerful countenance as the Son arises in the heart and expels all of sorrows symphonies. The joy of the Lord cancels all of the bitter chords of sadness.

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones" (Proverbs 17:22 KJV).

My spirit is lifted to a higher plane where joy is in full operation. It is the Father who causes the Son to arise in our hearts. He heals all of our sorrows, inner woes, and is the mender of our broken heart. He is the lifter of my bowed down head. The preparation of my heart and the answer of my tongue are from the Lord.

"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13 KJV).

He is at work in us, not just to will to do His will, but to also empower us to do what pleases Him. There is a definite reconstruction, restoration and reestablishment going on in us.

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10 KJV).

By His mercy, truth, kindness, grace and love, iniquity is being purged and pruned out of us, as we by faith receive His love and allow it to progressively reveal His nature and heal us. All impurities surface as we submit to Him and are emptied and we allow Him to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We can stand before a holy God, not with the filthy rags which our own righteousness produces. Why would we want to wear rags, when the King of glory has clothed us in royal array and recommends that we wear them every day. We can wear riches every day; love, truth, forgiveness, repentance, kindness, gentleness, goodness, holiness, righteousness, godliness, peace, joy, faith, hope and I can go on and on about our regal daily attire.

I am striving to keep my life under investigation and examination; this is a full time endeavor, because every feeling, intent, motive, desire, thought, deed, word, and action in me must be tried by the Spirit of God to emit the pureness necessary to experience the mirth of the spirit.

Anything contrary to the Word and the nature of God has to go. He creates in me holiness unfeigned in all truth and actuality, and creates in me a clean heart. He can dwell in my heart with delight and renew in me a right spirit that can stand before Him in peace.

"Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right" (Proverbs 16:8 KJV).

The Lord will make complete and perfect that which concerns us. His mercy endures forever and He will not leave us alone, nor forsake the works of His own hands. I am confident that He who has begun a good work in us, shall perform it daily unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus.

"Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say, rejoice"(Philippians 4:4 KJV).