October 10
Fountains of joy
“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 14:17).
“And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away”(Isa.35:10).
The reason why Christians are not overflowing with joy is because they are not filled with the Holy Ghost. “The Kingdom of God is . . . righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” When the blessed Comforter fills the heart of a believer, He opens such a fountain of joy within him, so sweet, so full and so lasting as to utterly extinguish all desire for base delights. “I am dwelling,” wrote the seraphic Payson in one of his letters, “in the land of Beulah, the celestial city is in full view. I can hear its song; I am gazing at its sunshine; I am breathing its sweet odors. Oh, that I had only known what I now know twenty-five years ago! I might have walked all my days in the light of Heaven.”