What benefit will having Jesus' joy be to me in troubling my trouble? I know Jesus intended it to benefit me because He said, "I left it for you." He said, "I've spoken these things so that you can have my joy and that your joy might be full."

So Jesus must expect us to live with a full tank of joy. But what is the significance of living with joy? The Bible tells us the importance of joy in Nehemiah chapter eight.

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep.

For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
(Neh. 8:8-10)

Since Nehemiah says, The joy of the Lord is your strength in verse 10, the implication is that there is a correlation between what he says in verse 10 and what happened in verses eight and nine.

What happened in verses eight and nine? Ezra and the other priests read the Word of God to the people and explained to them what it meant. Then the people wept for joy because somebody finally made sense of the Word of God.

I Didn't Understand One Word!
I'm sure many of you have read the Bible at some point in your life, just as I have, and did not understand anything it was saying. Of course, it's easier to understand the Word after you're saved.

But even saved, I've read certain portions of the Bible over and over at times and still not understood a word of it. And I have gone to a church service where the preacher seemed to be preaching brilliantly, but I still didn't understand anything he was saying. I was as confused when I left as I was when I came in.

Nothing really happened to me spiritually from hearing the Word preached, because I didn't understand one word of the sermon.

But something happened here when the book in the law of God (v. 8) was read aloud to the people. The Bible was read aloud, and somebody explained its meaning. Somebody caused the hearers to understand the reading. And what happened? All the people wept (v. 9).

Can you recall the first time you understood something out of the Bible? Can you recall the first time you heard a sermon and understood what the man was talking about? All of a sudden, something began to happen on the inside of you because you understood.

Suddenly you understood what it meant to pray in the name of Jesus rather than "for Christ's sake."

You understood what it means to walk in authority over demons and devils.

You understood what it was like to be the head and not the tail, above and never again beneath.

You understood how to be the man of your house instead of the wimp of your house.

You understood how to be a submissive wife instead of a Jezebel wife.

You understood. And the Bible says for all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.

I Wept
I'll never forget the first time I heard a sermon I thought God had arranged to have preached specifically for me. I was getting ready to go to a ministers' conference, but before I left I was trying to decide how to handle a very odd and troubling situation in my church.

I went to the Lord about what I should do to solve this problem, but He told me not to do anything until after the conference. And when I got there, I realized why.

At the conference, what a friend of mine, Mac Hammond, was preaching from the Word was exactly what my wife and I needed to hear to handle the problem we had at our church.

As I sat there listening to the preaching of the Word, tears started coming out of my eyes...because I understood. I thought, It makes sense now. Now I understand it, Lord.

And I realized God loves me. God is concerned about me. God loves me so much that He would get somebody to make sense of something that didn't make any sense to me before. I wept with joy, because I finally understood how God's Word applied to me personally.

So I now understand this Scripture. I understand why the people of God wept when they first heard the Word and understood it.

Source: How To Trouble Your Trouble by Creflo A. Dollar Jr.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishing