Lasting Joy

“The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

Perhaps in that word “of” lies the whole secret of lasting joy. This joy is not merely joy about the Lord, or even joy in the Lord. It is His own joy flowing into the soul. Jesus prayed that His followers “might have My joy fulfilled in themselves” (John 17:13). Let us seek not the stream but the fountain; not primarily the joy but the real and living union with Jesus by which His joy becomes ours.

—Frances Ridley Havergal